Boston Proposal
The comprehensive development of green spaces and wildlife corridors in Boston is expected to cost a total of $15.2 million, distributed across four project sites in the city. The first target area is Sprague Pond, where water quality monitoring and stormwater drainage education efforts will be implemented. The Terrascope Class of 2024 proposal for restoration in Sprague Pond does not include construction or physical development, and there are thus no calculated additional costs of implementation. Target area two involves reclamation of the West Roxbury Quarry and development of additional wildlife corridors, which will comprise $8.4 million based on scaling of the costs associated with previous similar projects. Park construction associated with target area three will cost a total of $5.2 million, while wildlife corridor extensions in target area four will cost a projected $1.6 million.
Future Cities Proposal
Terrascope Class of 2024 calculated the cost of urban green spaces and habitats using an estimate of the costs of the individual aspects of our future cities solution. Across fifty years, the average annual cost per area of expansion ranged from $0.273/m2 to $1.383/m2. The total annual cost of development and maintenance of urban green spaces increased every decade, beginning from $6-19 million and ending with $16-105 million in our final estimated decade, as the population of the hypothetical city expanded to 1.6 million. These budget estimates are within range of the parks and recreation budgets of similarly large American cities, as well as within the range of these cities’ spending per capita values.