Looking for information on MAPC’s official meetings and legal notices? Find it here.
This webinar will discuss climate-smart parks in Metro Boston, covering the available tools, data analysis, and planning and design strategies for successful implementation. The Trust for Public Land and Metropolitan Area Planning Council developed and implemented a Climate Smart Parks data analysis and mapping tool to help Massachusetts towns plan and design urban parks and green infrastructure installations to support urban climate resilience. The metro-Boston city of Medford will showcase these tools and strategies in action with a real-world climate-resilient green infrastructure case study developed and implemented through the Metro Mayors Program.
- Brendan Shane, Director of Climate, The Trust for Public Land
- Darci Schofield, Senior Environmental Planner, Metropolitan Area Planning Council
- Alicia Hunt, Sustainability Director, City of Medford, MA
Learn more: https://www.epa.gov/soakuptherain/soak-rain-new-england-webinar-series
The next deadline for the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) voting cycle is coming up on September 23rd and we want to make sure you have the tools and information you need to complete your voter validation and to get ready for the vote itself. MAPC is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, August 20th from 12:30 to 1:30 PM. Please join us to hear about the next steps in the voting process and other updates on Codes for Climate efforts locally and nation-wide!
MAPC is working to make our building code better for the climate, healthy and safe for the people living and working in buildings, and more energy-efficient. Buildings account for approximately one-third of our GHG emissions as a state. By constructing and retrofitting these structures in a more energy-efficient manner, we will not only improve our climate, but also enhance the quality of life of our residents. To learn more about how MAPC is supporting our municipalities to improve the building code, visit our Codes for Climate page.
We’re postponing… but! In response to the Massachusetts’s Governor’s guidance in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, we’re postponing this event. In the meantime, however, we’re still thinking about these important issues, and know you are, too. We invite you to sign up here to receive occasional emails on this and related topics. We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to being in touch!
How might creative acts of remembering and imagining in public help us reframe the past and present–and see more inclusive futures?
Join the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) for a conversation that explores the power of public art to catalyze critical dialogue around public memory, representation, and belonging, and to transform public life. You’ll hear from artists, curators, and organizers who use creative strategies to reframe public memory and imagine future possibilities for more inclusive, thriving spaces and communities.
Guest Speakers:
Paul Farber – Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Monument Lab and Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Public Art and Space at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design (keynote speaker and moderator)
Erin Genia (Dakota/ Odawa) – Multidisciplinary artist, educator and cultural worker specializing in Indigenous arts and culture
Kate Gilbert – Executive Director of Now + There
Stephen Hamilton – Artist and educator, based in Boston
This event is part of a series organized by the MAPC’s Arts and Culture Department and NEFA’s Public Art Department in conjunction with MAPC’s MetroCommon 2050 planning process. This unique, cross-sector initiative brings together artists and creators, planners, and policymakers to discuss the evolving relationship among public art, public memory, and public policy and to explore how artists can envision and shape more inclusive, thriving spaces and communities in Greater Boston.
Join MAPC to learn how to use our new Community Greenhouse Gas Inventory Tool and Step-by-Step Guide. This virtual training will help municipal staff and volunteers understand the basics of developing a GHG inventory, where they can go to gather the data for their community, and how to understand the data once you’ve completed the Tool.
In the beginning, Small Steps on Climate Change was a dance and embodied movement performance intended to inspire Metro Boston to view climate change as an opportunity to create stronger, collaborative, healthier, and more vibrant communities in the face of climate change. Just six weeks before opening night, COVID-19 altered the path.
Small Steps: Dances of Resilience is a full-length documentary film about overcoming the struggle to create and perform during a global pandemic. The dancers tell their stories of climate, COVID, art, and hope, and, finally, they dance.
Join us for three film screenings on YouTube Live this September 9, 10, and 11. Each screening will be time-limited and all content will be removed between and after each screening, so see it while you can!
After the Friday, September 11 performance, we will hold a “Meet the Dancers” Q&A session on Zoom.
The production was developed by movement artist, screenwriter and Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) Artist-in-Residence Hortense Gerardo and MAPC Senior Environmental Planner Darci Schofield to integrate the arts into climate change planning.
Directed by Hortense Gerardo and produced by Darci Schofield and MAPC.
Featuring original choreography and performances by:
- Laura Sanchez Garcia, award-winning flamenco dancer, choreographer, and educator
- Elizabeth Walker, former Los Angeles Ballet soloist
- Simon Chernow, KRUMP and fusion hip-hop dancer and core leader of Boston’s Climate Strike
- Jean Appolon Expressions, Haitian dance troupe fusing contemporary elements with Haitian folkloric dance
- Olivia Link, contemporary modern dancer and Urbanity Dance educator
- Any Berube and Theo Martinez, competitive ballroom salsa dancers and instructors
In the beginning, Small Steps on Climate Change was a dance and embodied movement performance intended to inspire Metro Boston to view climate change as an opportunity to create stronger, collaborative, healthier, and more vibrant communities in the face of climate change. Just six weeks before opening night, COVID-19 altered the path.
Small Steps: Dances of Resilience is a full-length documentary film about overcoming the struggle to create and perform during a global pandemic. The dancers tell their stories of climate, COVID, art, and hope, and, finally, they dance.
Join us for three film screenings on YouTube Live this September 9, 10, and 11. Each screening will be time-limited and all content will be removed between and after each screening, so see it while you can!
After the Friday, September 11 performance, we will hold a “Meet the Dancers” Q&A session on Zoom.
The production was developed by movement artist, screenwriter and Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) Artist-in-Residence Hortense Gerardo and MAPC Senior Environmental Planner Darci Schofield to integrate the arts into climate change planning.
Directed by Hortense Gerardo and produced by Darci Schofield and MAPC.
Featuring original choreography and performances by:
- Laura Sanchez Garcia, award-winning flamenco dancer, choreographer, and educator
- Elizabeth Walker, former Los Angeles Ballet soloist
- Simon Chernow, KRUMP and fusion hip-hop dancer and core leader of Boston’s Climate Strike
- Jean Appolon Expressions, Haitian dance troupe fusing contemporary elements with Haitian folkloric dance
- Olivia Link, contemporary modern dancer and Urbanity Dance educator
- Any Berube and Theo Martinez, competitive ballroom salsa dancers and instructors
In the beginning, Small Steps on Climate Change was a dance and embodied movement performance intended to inspire Metro Boston to view climate change as an opportunity to create stronger, collaborative, healthier, and more vibrant communities in the face of climate change. Just six weeks before opening night, COVID-19 altered the path.
Small Steps: Dances of Resilience is a full-length documentary film about overcoming the struggle to create and perform during a global pandemic. The dancers tell their stories of climate, COVID, art, and hope, and, finally, they dance.
Join us for three film screenings on YouTube Live this September 9, 10, and 11. Each screening will be time-limited and all content will be removed between and after each screening, so see it while you can!
After the Friday, September 11 performance, we will hold a “Meet the Dancers” Q&A session on Zoom.
The production was developed by movement artist, screenwriter and Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) Artist-in-Residence Hortense Gerardo and MAPC Senior Environmental Planner Darci Schofield to integrate the arts into climate change planning.
Directed by Hortense Gerardo and produced by Darci Schofield and MAPC.
Featuring original choreography and performances by:
- Laura Sanchez Garcia, award-winning flamenco dancer, choreographer, and educator
- Elizabeth Walker, former Los Angeles Ballet soloist
- Simon Chernow, KRUMP and fusion hip-hop dancer and core leader of Boston’s Climate Strike
- Jean Appolon Expressions, Haitian dance troupe fusing contemporary elements with Haitian folkloric dance
- Olivia Link, contemporary modern dancer and Urbanity Dance educator
- Any Berube and Theo Martinez, competitive ballroom salsa dancers and instructors
Solar Remote Permitting & Inspection Best Practices: COVID-19 Impacts and Long-Term Potential
Please join MassCEC, MAPC, and SolSmart to learn about best practices on remote permitting and inspection during COVID-19, and the long-term potential of those practices. The webinar will feature guest speakers from three Massachusetts communities; Gardner, Brockton, and Lowell. If you have questions regarding registration, please contact solar@masscec.com.
Register here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7565282524044732684
Cities and towns are deploying a number of strategies to identify the spread of COVID-19 in their communities. One emerging method: testing sewage from households and buildings for the presence of the virus.
Knowing that COVID-19 is present in wastewater can be an important indicator of where its spread may be accelerating. In places where wastewater testing has been deployed, changes in the virus’ wastewater concentration have been observed several days before changes in reported new cases.
At this webinar, you will hear from experts on the science of wastewater testing for disease surveillance, as well as public health leaders who have deployed wastewater testing in their communities.
Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMod-2sqzgoH9aWTW1FkK9U1lS39EeXLn5x
Municipal Webinar
Economic Development Administration American rescue plan act programs and funding
The Economic Development Administration received $3 billion in supplemental funding to assist communities in their economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
EDA is making funding available through six innovative “challenges.” This webinar will review those funding categories and provide guidance about eligible projects, submitting applications, and developing partnerships.
Read more about EDA’s ARPA funding and the six challenges here.
After you register for this webinar, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.