Climate Resiliency Plan Wins 2026 ACEC/MA Gold Award
- May 1
- 1 min read
Community Organization in the Climate Preparedness and Resilience Category
Selected as one of the top five engineering projects in Massachusetts by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts, the Engineering Excellence Gold Medal Award places our project at the highest level of professional recognition for demonstrating innovation, creative problem-solving, and engineering’s unique ability to improve our world.
With the Wharf District on the front line of Boston’s flood-prone waterfront, the Wharf District Council – a coalition of residents, businesses, and institutions – partnered with Arup to lead the nation’s largest community-led flood resilience planning initiative. With an elevated Harborwalk, living shorelines, wave attenuators, and advanced stormwater systems, the plan envisions a resilient, vibrant, and inclusive waterfront that protects over 60 acres of the City from flooding.
Our stakeholder engagement approach embedded community members directly in the design process, achieving unanimous consensus among the district’s waterfront property owners and broad support within the community. This led to the plan being adopted into the U.S. Army Corps’ Coastal Storm Risk Management project to further advance the design and secure funding for construction of the flood protection system. The project’s replicable framework provides a model to empower other communities, making it a beacon of social impact and engineering excellence worthy of special recognition.
Learn more about our plan, and download our Project Handbook for a step-by-step guideline to launch a community-led resiliency plan in your neighborhood.
