When Worlds Collide
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by Richard Maltzman,
Dave Shirley
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Date
As a young man, I remember a sci-fi book called “When Worlds Collide”. Perhaps instead, I remember the movie, because the book was actually penned in 1933, co-written by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer. The movie came out in 1951 – a little closer to my own timeframe. (I'm old but not that old).
This post is indeed about colliding worlds and colliding timeframes... Long-term timeframes, and short-term timeframes. As project managers we work mainly in the short-term. I know, I know, sometimes our projects last (or seem to last) forever. Some projects, like river diversions, and huge corporate mergers and acquisitions, do indeed take years, even decades. But still, they are short term, relative to centuries. Yesterday, the Boston Globe published a very interesting editorial about two very important reports requested by Mayor Marty Walsh and pits those two reports against each other, and refers to them being on a collision course.
The article begins:
“TWO RECENTLY RELEASED City of Boston planning reports are on a direct collision course. The first one, “Climate Ready Boston,” forecasts an alarming future. The coastlines of mid-19th-century and mid-21st-century Boston will be eerily similar delineations, making Back Bay, South Bay, the Seaport, and other areas that were filled during an era of intensive land-making once again the subjects of major urban reimagination. The second report, “Imagine Boston 2030,” identifies five priority growth areas: Suffolk Downs, Sullivan Square, Beacon Yards, 100 Acres/South Boston Waterfront, and Widett Circle. Astonishingly, four of the five growth areas in “Imagine Boston 2030” are shown to be extremely vulnerable to flooding by “Climate Ready Boston.” How and where we decide to grow will have immeasurable economic and social consequences, so why would we intentionally grow in parts of the city that we know to be extremely vulnerable to flooding?”
The covers of the two reports (with appropriate links, for your convenience) are below:
I read through both reports and didn’t actually see the same dichotomy between them. Perhaps I’m more naïve, but I thought the “Imagine Boston 2030” did speak to the issues of sea level rise and climate change. But whether or not these two documents are really at odds is not the focus of this post. That's not really the collision of which I speak. For us as project managers, these reports raise an interesting and very important point, and in my mind, the need for a new competency for project managers: thinking long term, and pitting short-term project ‘handover” objectives against the benefits realization of the long term (and in this case, the very long term). Sure, here we are talking about the future of a city, not a project. But read between the lines – heck – read the actual lines – and you will see that there are scads of projects being launched in and around Boston to accomplish the near-term and far-ranging goals of these city planners, researchers, engineers, politicians, and architects. That is actually the collision I see: a collision of worlds. In one world – our world, the project management world - we maximize project efficiency and don’t think too much (or at least, I would insist, enough) about the project in the steady state. In the other world – the world of these reports - we think very deeply about what will happen in the next decades or even centuries.
Let’s bring some of the concepts here back down (excuse the expression) to sea level. What the “Climate Ready Boston” report is – in effect – is a risk management plan. The risk (mainly threats) is the collection of effects of climate change on Boston, including mainly some pretty tropical/desert type temperatures in greater portions of the year, and even more strikingly, sea level rise (already happening).
The report is nearly 200 pages, so I’d rather see you refer to it for details – but let’s get a taste for the risk management planning going on here.
Focusing on sea level rise (SLR) first, instead of only looking at the environmental and social effects (they investigate those as well) they did sum up economic impact. It’s often much easier to speak to stakeholders in monetary terms, even if the timeframe is decades away. In the chart above we can see how the projected sea level rises of 9 inches in the 2040 timeframe, 21 inches in the 2060 timeframe, and 3 feet (1 meter) in the 2070+ timeframe affects the annualized loss of revenue to the city. This is only one of many charts but it is representative of the way in which they crisply identify the threat.
How about the response?
Overall, the report recommends a 5-part response to create “Climate Resilience”. They are:
- Generate multiple benefits
- Incorporate local involvement in decision-making
- Create layers of protection
- Leverage building cycles
- Design in flexibility and adaptability
Again, I’d suggest reading through the document for the details on each individual part – it’s presented very well. Below is one example of the “Layers of protection”. I’d like to draw your attention to the obvious number of projects (and thus project management jobs!) involved with these initiatives. Even if you are a climate change skeptic, you probably are not skeptical about a high-paying job overseeing one of these initiatives! So regardless of your view of the science or the politics, paying attention makes sense. From the relatively simple “elevating of mechanical systems to higher floors of buildings” to the larger “Harbor barrier” and creation of “Small Business Preparedness Programs”, there is a plethora of projects here waiting to be managed.
Below you will see a collection of criteria for prioritizing projects and some of the project types that are proposed within what they call “green infrastructure” – such as green roofs, rain gardens, porous pavement, and bioswales (landscape elements designed to concentrate or remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water). Again – this represents a set of projects that will need short AND long-term thinking project managers.
Perhaps you cannot prevent the "worlds" from "colliding". But as a project manager who takes the longer term into account, you may be able to help soften the blow.
Posted
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Richard Maltzman
on: January 03, 2017 09:35 PM |
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