Structural Inequalities and Extreme Heat in the Boston Region. Sharing Adaptation Lessons from Dorchester

This chapter explores how extreme heat has become an important concern for Boston communities and what types of planning initiatives have been implemented to address this issue. We are interested in heat planning initiatives undertaken in historically disenfranchised communities. Our aim is to understand how these communities respond to ongoing heat planning initiatives and what type of work still needs to be done to strengthen, expand, or reinvent current efforts. We focus on the Dorchester neighborhood in Boston, which is home to many socially vulnerable residents and where a series of heat planning initiatives have been implemented. The chapter begins with an introduction to the problem of extreme heat in Boston, paying particular attention to disenfranchised groups. Drawing on interviews with Dorchester residents and community leaders, the chapter highlights the strengths and limitations of the city’s current efforts from the residents’ perspective.