Nick Schmidt

Boston Planning & Development Agency

The Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA)* is the planning and economic development agency for the City of Boston. The BPDA plays a far reaching role in shaping the City. We are a self sustaining agency and our love for Boston inspires us to make our City an even better place to live, work, and connect. We are 200 professionals who serve the City in a variety of ways. The BPDA is charged with growing the tax base, cultivating the private jobs market, training the workforce, encouraging new business to locate in Boston and existing businesses to expand, planning the future of neighborhoods with the community, identifying height and density limits, charting the course for sustainable development and resilient building construction, advocating for multi modal transportation, responding to the city's changing population, producing insightful research on our City, and ensuring Boston retains its distinctive character. Our Vision Shaping the future of Boston together. Our Mission The BPDA plans and guides inclusive growth in our city—­creating opportunities for everyone to live, work and connect. Through our future-focused, city-wide lens, we engage communities, implement new solutions, partner for greater impact and track progress. We focus on planning. We make comprehensive city planning a priority, and use our tools to shape our city. Our goal is inclusive growth. We believe in an inclusive Boston where everyone has opportunity for success. We have translated ‘inclusivity' into three relatable quality-of-life metrics—Live, Work and Connect. We see big picture. We look across Boston from an altitude that allows us to understand it as a complex system, and plan and shape it holistically. We prioritize the future success of our city. *Formerly known as the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), the BPDA implemented its new organizational identity and brand strategy in September 2016. Learn more about that process and what it means here: http://meetbpda.bostonplans.org/