People, Planet, Profits & Projects

Think about hot cities. Not 'hot' as in 'popular' or 'desirable' , or 'interesting.  We're talking physically hot cities. What comes to mind?  For me, I close my eyes and picture wavy heat lines coming up from the ground in places like Timbuktu, Mali, Kuwait City, Yuma, Arizona, Quito, Ecuador, Xi’an, China, or Cochin, India.

Then I open my eyes, and see that Boston, Massachusetts is making news for developing a (say, what!?) Heat Plan.  A heat plan?  For Boston, Massachusetts?  The one with the swan boats, snowstorms, and Fenway Paaahk?

Climate change, believe it or not, real or not (it is), has real project consequences.  Project managers will be taking the heat.  Literally.  Boston, Massachusetts is, in fact, already facing increasing temperatures not seen before, and is preparing to deal with it.

The key word here, in fact, is “change”.  It’s not that Boston is a particularly hot city.  It’s that the change to a warmer climate is going to cause hardships, and more so for some communities than others. Boston is one of the cities with the highest rate of change in temperatures already under its belt and with one of the highest forecast increases - in the world. Project Managers as change agents are going to be needed to facilitate – better said, to lead - the response to that change - by adding resilience and solutions to deal with it - and with efforts to help reduce the change in the first place.  This post is about the resilience-to-change part.

In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu (pictured below) has launched a program called Heat Resilience Solutions for Boston.  Just that name itself is a bit (excuse the irony here) chilling. 

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu

As a reminder, we are talking about climate change here.  Not temperature changes by the hour, or day, or week – that’s WEATHER.  Changes that accrue over time – years, or decades – that’s climate.

The heat plan consists of 26 strategies, which we’ll of course approach from a Portfolio, Program, and Project management perspective in this blog.

Here are the 26 strategies – categorized in to 5 … well, I will call them Program workstreams, which I’ll cover from an implementation perspective in future posts.

1. OPERATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS

1.1 Boston Extreme Temperatures Response Task Force

1.2 Pre-heat-wave Resources Mobilization

1.3 Heat Sensor Networks

2. COOLING OFF DURING HEAT WAVES

2.1 Pop-up Heat Relief

2.2 Enhanced and Expanded

2.3 Citywide Cooling Network

3. LOOKING OUT FOR NEIGHBORS

3.1 Expanded Community Climate Leadership

3.2 Extreme Temperature Plans for Outdoor Workers

4. AWARENESS, EDUCATION, AND TRAINING

4.1 Heat Resilience Public Education Campaign

4.2 Heat Survey

4.3 Expansion of Green Workforce Development for Heat Resilience

5. BUILDINGS

5.1 Home Cooling Resources Distribution

5.2 Cool Roofs Program

5.3 Home Energy Retrofits

5.4 Affordable Housing Resources and Retrofits

5.5 Cool Schools

6. PARKS, TREES, AND OUTDOOR SPACES

6.1 Enhanced Cooling in Pocket Green Spaces and Street-to-Green Conversions

6.2 Increased Shade on Municipal Sites

6.3 Expanded Drinking Fountain Network

6.4 Planning for Future Parks

7. TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

7.1 Cool Commutes

7.2 Energy Resilience Upgrades and Microgrids

7.3 Cool Main Streets

8. PLANNING, ZONING, AND PERMITTING

8.1 Updated Climate Resiliency Checklist

8.2 Heat Resilience Best Practice Guidelines

8.3 Zoning Revisions to Support Cooler Neighborhoods

Interestingly, the plan is focused on environmental justice communities that are hotspots in Boston and experience greater burdens as temperatures increase: Chinatown, Dorchester, East Boston, Mattapan, and Roxbury. 

The heat plan is actually part of a larger Portfolio of programs I talk about in my classes, and have blogged about here, called Climate Ready Boston.

The project management aspect of this initiative is gigantic.  For example, as I teach in my courses at Boston University, Programs are all about related projects (and perhaps other programs).  This heat plan (which I will call a Program) is intertwined with, and has dependencies on (amongst others), Boston’s Urban Forest Plan, which has as objectives to improve tree protection, stewardship, and new plantings for nature-based cooling solutions.  Worthy of a blog post or two of its own (which it may soon get), the Urban Forest Plan is described well by this graphic:

But let’s get back to the Heat Plan.

The motivation – the rationale - for this is simple.  Temperatures in Boston are rising.  Again, not by the hour or the day, but over time.  The Plan reference this NOAA data:

And the forecasts for 2070 are striking, making Boston's weather more like Atlanta or Miami by then.  What is important here is not just “rising temperatures” but the effect on people, and indeed, the effect on people who are less able to deal with the heat due to their economic situation and living conditions.  The image below is one of many in the report which provides scientific data that has been intelligently advanced into knowledge – this one showing population density and temperature levels, which shows the true concentration of problem areas and therefore the places that need the most attention from the program.

Like any good program, it starts with the vision of the Mayor’s office:

Our mission is to provide executive leadership, as well as set priorities and goals for the City and its neighborhoods.

And then gives a purpose to the Program itself (although it calls itself a project):

We are preparing Boston for extreme heat and its impacts, both today and in the coming decades.  The Heat Plan provides a citywide framework for heat resilience. Out work focuses on overburdened communities that will be most impacted by rising temperatures in Boston.

The project to develop the Heat Plan was divided into three phases (this is sourced at the Heat Plan):

PHASE 1: ANALYSIS AND EXISTING INFORMATION REVIEW

The first phase included data gathering, review of previous and ongoing planning efforts, and developing a citywide heat analysis. This phase included two stages of extreme heat analysis: citywide and neighborhood-level patterns. The neighborhood-level analysis focused on Chinatown, Dorchester, East Boston, Mattapan, and Roxbury.  The purpose of the neighborhood-level analysis was to evaluate how current day heat impacts vary across the city, identify temperature hot spots within environmental justice neighborhoods, and assess how racism, inequality, historic urban planning decisions, and other policies have influenced existing heat exposure and vulnerability. This phase also included the first community open house and the formation of the Community Advisory Board (CAB) to guide the planning process.

PHASE 2: HEAT RESILIENCE STRATEGIES

The second phase included drafting guiding principles for heat resilience based on community feedback from the first phase. The primary focus of the second phase was developing a series of draft strategies for heat resilience informed by findings from the citywide heat analysis and stakeholder and community perspectives. This phase explored considerations for heat resilience citywide and neighborhood specific applications of strategies within the five neighborhood focus areas.

PHASE 3: IMPLEMENTATION ROADMAP AND FINAL REPORT

The final phase of the project focused on refining the strategies, developing a benefit-cost analysis (BCA) for cooling homes, schools, and streets; creating a neighborhood-scale heat simulation to model the effectiveness of the physical heat reduction strategies; and developing an implementation roadmap.

Here is the roadmap for the creation of the plan:

Note that the report is 351 pages.  So far, all I’ve covered is the overarching program plan.  In future posts, I will discuss their plan for stakeholder engagement and, of course, the all-important implementation roadmap.

I admire the way that this team has structured the planning process and clarified the phases of planning with clear linkage to the purpose of the Program.  I’d even suggest that students of Project, Program, and Portfolio management look at the Heat Plan as a good example.  As mentioned, I’ll be continuing to review this initiative in future posts. 

The heat is on!

Evolution has changed our minds.  I don’t mean like, whether you prefer nachos or potato chips.  I mean… it has literally changed the way we think. As humans have evolved, we’ve developed heuristics – mental shortcuts, and biases based on those heuristics.  These all have to do with preserving our energy and survival, which is ironic, because we need to understand and work around some of these biases which could actually threaten our economic, social, and environmental survival.

This post is related to, but not part of, the series I’m currently running on this blog, Partnering for Sustainable Progress.  That series is featuring examples of partnerships between industry, academia, and government.  This short post supports the fact that those partnerships pay off – in particular, that focusing on ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) aspects actually helps for-profit organizations do better.

Mainly, I want to draw your attention to a new Harvard Business Review article posted this month by Andrew Winston and Paul Polman, called, “Yes, Investing in ESG Pays Off”, and highlight the five “mental hiccups” (rooted in heuristics and biases) that cause us as project managers and other key decision makers to ignore important facts that are staring us right in the face.

 The article summary is:

Why are leaders so reluctant to make ESG investments? Even those who know they’ll pay off are reluctant to do so, for five key reasons. The authors outline each — the numbers hide the truth about the real cost, our biases trick us, we focus on short-term benefits, we think about costs in silos, and we miss the bigger existential costs — and propose a solution for getting past these flawed mental models.

Just Capital, for example has created a list of companies prioritizing stakeholders (not just shareholders) that they call the Just 100. This group has outperformed the market.

See chart below.

As Project Managers we know that shareholders are not the only stakeholders.  In fact, as project managers, we have a chance to be true change agents by pointing this out to senior management, who often have what I will call “shareholder myopia”.  Good project leaders scan the landscape for anyone who cares about or is affected by the project (or has the project affect them) in any way.

Much of the reason comes down to heuristics and biases – mental hiccups.  Below (I will challenge you to read the article to get the full context) is the list of 5 hiccups.

1. The Numbers Hide the Truth About Real Costs

Solution: Price the unpriced.

2. Our Own Biases Trick Us

Solution: Diversify the group making decisions.

3. We Focus on Short-Term Costs and Benefits

Solution: Redefine your tools for investment decisions.

4. We Think About Costs in Silos (Instead of Systems)

Solution: Broaden thinking on value and think in systems.  Comment from  your blogger: this is where we as project managers shine!  We are silo-busters!!

5. We Miss the Bigger, Existential Costs

Solution: Understand the world’s thresholds and learn to think in net positive terms.

Again, from the article:

These five mental hiccups are not the only missteps that affect outcomes, but they are the primary ones that drag down sustainability investment. The mental models expose a win-lose, narrow, and negative mindset. In our book Net Positive, we explore ways to build businesses that solve societal problems and improve the well-being of everyone they impact. It takes courage and humility, but also a mindset that we can, in collaboration, solve many problems and improve the economics on sustainability for all. It’s not as simplistic as “win-win” but working together, we can get more done (what we call 1+1=11).

It’s easier (and frankly lazier) to think in old ways. We can fight these issues and make sustainability fit into a normal model of seeking a good return on investment. But let’s step back a moment. Why exactly do we have to stick with traditional terms? It’s increasingly absurd and surreal to have to justify investing in our very survival — or have to prove that we should stop funding what’s killing us. At the macro level we’ve long passed the point where the cost of action is far lower than the cost of inaction — i.e., huge swaths of the planet becoming uninhabitable, which, again, is kind of bad for business. It definitely pays to invest in our shared future.

The government, industry, and academic partnerships I’m referring to – they seem to get the idea of the long-term (and even short-term) payoff of ESG investment.  They even seem to understand the workarounds listed above for the five hiccups.

How about you?  Are you using old thinking and (hic) finding yourself getting that (hic) short-term windfall only to find that (hic) you should have considered the longer-term impacts and (hic) advantages and short-term benefits of thinking long-term?

Boo! (That was supposed to stop the hiccups, but instead: read the article…get the book).

In this series of short posts, I’m reviewing examples of projects which have two attributes: (1) they are geared to have a positive effect on social and environmental aspects in terms of their outcomes, benefits, and values, and (2) they involve key partnerships of major stakeholders.

In today’s post I am covering EcoCar, a partnership between industry, government, and academia.  In particular, it’s the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Labs, over a dozen US and Canadian Universities, and automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). 

Teams of engineers (mechanical, electrical, chemical, industrial, and others) as well as (of course!) a project leader work under the guidance of their university’s faculty and practitioners from GM, work together to produce a hybrid/electrical version of a particular vehicle (examples: the Chevrolet Malibu, Camaro, and Blazer).  GM donates the car to the university, the teams disassemble it and in a 3 or 4 year period re-assemble it with design changes so that the vehicle is hybrid/electric and must meet or beat the specifications of the production version of the car.  The universities compete against each other, with prizes and awards – but the biggest prize is the hands-on experience and job opportunities that the program opens up for them.  That’s a benefit for the students.  The government wins in helping to increase fuel efficiency and support American innovation.  And GM wins because they get to keep and use the patents and ideas from the competitions.

It's an amazing program, and I am proud to have been part of it – helping to train those project managers.

For more about the history, click here.

It all starts with a vision, and here it is (in some detail).

Vision

• Provide a hands-on, real-world experience in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
•  that:
  • Fosters practical learning in a safe environment
  • Incorporates the use of math-based tools to improve engineering education
  • Enables participants to develop and refine complex vehicle control and safety systems by using industry testing/validation processes and methodologies
  • Prepares students to work in the automotive, mobility and energy industries
  • Fosters a clean energy workforce that reflects the diversity of North America
• Develop highly-skilled engineering leaders and innovators with a strong understanding of:
  • Advanced propulsion systems
  • Propulsion system control
  • Connected and automated vehicle technologies
  • Automotive mechatronics
  • Model-based design (MBD) techniques
  • Structural design and analysis
  • Other critical engineering disciplines
• Support university teams in the recruitment of students in the following disciplines:
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Computer Science and Software Engineering
  • Industrial Engineering, Systems Engineering and other disciplines
  • Communications and Business

This is a great example of a public/private partnership – one that also includes academia.

Everyone wins.  We need more of these!!

Here are a couple of short videos to inspire you:

"COOLSCHOOLS aims to investigate the kind of opportunities provided by the projects being carried out in playgrounds and school environments in Barcelona, Brussels, Paris and Rotterdam," according to Isabel Ruiz Mallén, project leader, and a Ramón y Cajal researcher in the UOC's Urban Transformation and Global Change Laboratory (TURBA).

The European COOLSCHOOLS project will investigate social strategies to respond to the challenges of climate change and to improve the quality of life of citizens and of children, in particular. The project is actually a three-year study conducted by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC).

It examines the transformative potential of nature-based solutions in school environments by creating initiatives such as climate shelters in schools. In line with the theme of this blog post, 16 partners are involved in this project, including European municipal councils, universities, research centers, social associations and cooperatives, and international organizations.

The project’s outcomes will be a better understanding of the factors and potential of these initiative for “driving socio-ecological changes towards urban sustainability, climate resilience, social justice and quality education, and to make the educational community a driving force in municipal districts”.

The projects will focus on increasing green and shaded areas, using more sustainable and environmentally friendly materials and/or will provide greater access to water.

 Barcelona as an example

In the specific case of Barcelona, the projects will investigate actions to deal with the effects of rising temperatures and increasingly frequent heatwaves will be studied with the expansion of green areas and shaded areas, and the installation of water fountains in school playgrounds and premises.

"The solutions that are being adopted aim to protect children against these and other risks arising from climate change, and to improve the schools' adaptation to this new situation," said Ruiz Mallén, who emphasized that the idea is to consolidate spaces in which students can "learn and feel comfortable" in a context of rising temperatures, and to minimize the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on these educational environments.

Combining disciplines and bringing partners together

The researchers are going to study the combination of all these interventions from a multidisciplinary approach. As a result, they will take into account the impact on biodiversity of changes in land use, and also consider health, safety, and governance. "Starting this research will enable us to evaluate aspects such as the relationship between greening spaces in playgrounds and the students' cognitive development, the increase in pollinating insects, and the access to and use of these climate shelters by the community, among many other issues," said Ruiz Mallén. "We are also going to investigate the potential of changes in education. With all the knowledge that is generated from the different perspectives, we will be able to produce guides and applications to make the most of its potential both in terms of inclusiveness and improved wellbeing, and take advantage of learning opportunities in terms of climate resilience."

COOLSCHOOLS has received funding of more than €1.5 million from the European JPI Urban Transformation Capacities (JPI Urban Europe) fund, in which the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) is participating.

 As mentioned in the first post in this series, this is highly connected to the UN SDGs.

This UOC research supports Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, Good Health and Well-being; 4, Quality Education; 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities; and 13, Climate Action.

Source for this post, and credit for this work:

https://www.uoc.edu/portal/en/news/actualitat/2022/072-climate-shelters-schools.html

In this series of posts, I will be discussing how key stakeholders can make a difference in projects related to ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) areas.  I have seen some amazing partnerships, especially those between industry, government, and academia, and I would like to feature here some that are making a difference, or at least are about to make a difference.

I want to put the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) at the base of these posts for proper context.  So, it makes sense to have a quick refresher on the here.

The best source for the UN SDGs, is (no big surprise here) the UN.  Their site (https://sdgs.un.org/goals) has expansive details on the 17 SDGs, but let’s at least list them here and provide the backdrop.

The SDGs were part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, agreed to by all nations in 2015.  The entire Agenda can be found here: https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda.

The main “areas” of focus include the word Partnership, so it fits nicely into this blog series.

People

We are determined to end poverty and hunger, in all their forms and dimensions, and to ensure that all human beings can fulfil their potential in dignity and equality and in a healthy environment.

Planet

We are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations.

Prosperity

We are determined to ensure that all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives and that economic, social and technological progress occurs in harmony with nature.

Peace

We are determined to foster peaceful, just and inclusive societies which are free from fear and violence. There can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development.

Partnership

We are determined to mobilize the means required to implement this Agenda through a revitalised Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, based on a spirit of strengthened global solidarity, focussed in particular on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable and with the participation of all countries, all stakeholders and all people.

The interlinkages and integrated nature of the Sustainable Development Goals are of crucial importance in ensuring that the purpose of the new Agenda is realised. If we realize our ambitions across the full extent of the Agenda, the lives of all will be profoundly improved and our world will be transformed for the better.

Here are the 17 SDGs:

• Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
• Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
• Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
• Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
• Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
• Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
• Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
• Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
• Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
• Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*
• Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
• Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
• Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
• Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

They are often shown graphically as follows:

In this series, I will be covering at least these examples:

Coolschools, an effort of Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

EcoCar™ , a partnership to develop hybrid and electric cars

The Clean Up Mekong project

If you have other suggestions, please let me know.  Some of them may make it into our WorldSavers™ video blog.