Departments

Regional Resilience Plan

Welcome to the home page of the SRPEDD Regional Resilience Plan (SRRP). Here you can find information about the SRRP, the status of the project, and any public participation opportunities.

Purpose and Goals

The SRPEDD Regional Resilience Plan (SRRP) officially launched on September 29, 2021.
This two-year, quarter-million-dollar project will improve community resilience by identifying and proposing solutions to environmental, economic, and societal vulnerabilities across southeastern Massachusetts. The work will build upon existing strengths to ensure that our region’s communities can withstand future disruptions to the greatest extent possible.

In an effort to bridge administrative boundaries and recognize commonalities, the plan will develop strategies and best practices for similar types of settings represented in our region. These “typologies” range from seaside villages and agricultural communities to bedroom communities and diverse cities.

 

Project Updates

Check back here regularly for project updates and the latest ways hat you can become invovled in improving the resilience of the SRPEDD region.

The project lead is Helen Zincavage (hzincavage@srpedd.org)

Typology Planning Unit

Typologies are the classification of information into categories based on certain characteristics and shared attributes. The Typologies team is currently developing six core development profiles based on various combinations of land development and environmental assets. These profiles will be paired with specific recommendations about land use to create a custom series of resilience actions for each of our member communities that takes into account their unique connectivity and development patterns.

The Congress for New Urbanism proposes a transect model of understanding development, land use, and open space at the urban , peri-urban , and rural levels. To learn more about the Transect Model (image above), visit the CNU webpage at: https://www.cnu.org/resources/tools
The Congress for New Urbanism proposes a transect model of understanding development, land use, and open space at the urban , peri-urban , and rural levels. To learn more about the Transect Model (image above), visit the CNU webpage at: https://www.cnu.org/resources/tools

Environment

What do we mean by environmental  resilience? Environmental resilience typically refers to the ability of an environmental system to return to its equilibrium status after a disturbance such as a storm or fire. For example, a forest exhibiting high resilience would quickly see the return of flora and fauna after a fire.

In the context of the SRRP, environmental resilience is defined in the three following ways.:

Maintaining and enhancing the inherent resilience of land, air, and water to protect human health and serve essential human needs 

  1. Provide drinking water
  2. Provide clean air 
  3. Grow local food  
  4. Protect from heat and cold 
  5. Protect aspects of mental health related to biophilia / biophilic design 

Maintaining and enhancing the inherent resilience of land to protect human settlement  

  1. Protect from flood, extreme weather/storms
  2. Support waste disposal 

Maintaining and enhancing the ability of land and soil to draw down carbon from the atmosphere 

  1. Protect forests 
  2. Protect carbon critical soils

Economic

What do we mean by Economic resilience?

Prosperity and continued growth hinges on a region’s ability to prevent, withstand, and recover from disruptions to its economic system. Economic resilience is determined by a region’s ability to anticipate risks, evaluate its impact on economic assets, and build responsive capacity. Disruptions often originate from national/international market changes, regional industry downturns, or external shocks such as the most recent pandemic. Fostering economic resilience begins with establishing steady-state, long-term strategies to withstand and avoid disruptions, but also responsive strategies that build capacity among stakeholders.

Social

What do we mean by Social resilience?

Social resilience is the ability for a community as a whole to withstand, respond to, adapt to, and bounce back from acute or chronic stressors. These stressors vary and can be anything from extreme weather events (short-term/acute) to high unemployment or housing shortages (long-term/chronic). Social resilience is built upon strong social networks and interconnectedness that give community members a sense of belonging to and familiarity within a group of people. It is what enables communication, builds trust, and promotes the effective distribution of important resources and information during a stressful event. Social resilience is enabled through stable housing, supportive human services, robust and accessible transportation networks, and quality governance.

Project Steering Committees

The SRRP is guided by an overall steering committee which will provide direction for the SRRP and SRPEDD staff. Subject-specific expertise is leveraged through three working groups dedicated to our main topic areas.

The Steering Committee and Working Groups are in Development.

Overall Steering Committee

In Development

Environment Working Group

In Development

Economy Working Group

In Development

Utilities, Infrastructure, and Transportation Working Group

In Development

Project Timeline

SRRP Timeline

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