Why listen
A Pulitzer-winning reporter asks why Boston built a $20 billion district where the ocean is headed.
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In this episode
- Why a thriving new urban district may be built on borrowed time
- How cities can make smarter decisions about coastal development
- Practical ways to cope with climate anxiety without looking away
- What Boston's choices reveal about urban climate risk worldwide
About this episode
Cognitive dissonance. That's what David Abel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who's spent a decade reporting on climate change for The Boston Globe, saw in his city.At the same time that he was covering the increasingly dire projections about sea level rise in Boston Harbor, Abel tells Next City, “we were watching this entirely new urban district being built at sea level, on landfill, hard on the coast, and in the bullseye of rising seas in a city that has more climate scientists per capita than probably any other city on the planet.”
His documentary film “Inundation District” examines the impact of rising sea levels and strengthening storms on Boston's Seaport — and questions the city's decision to spend more than $20 billion building a new coastal Innovation District at sea level.
On this episode of the podcast, we speak to Abel about how to cope with climate anxiety, the growing threat of rising sea levels in urban coasts around the world, and how cities can better prepare for these looming crises.
About Next City
Join Lucas Grindley, executive director at Next City, where we believe journalists have the power to amplify solutions and spread workable ideas. Each week Lucas will sit down with trailblazers to discuss urban issues that get overlooked.
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