Claudia Wack talks about what housing will look like in 25 years
Neighbors Welcome! RI President Claudia Wack predicts what the housing landscape will look like in 25 years in Rhode Island.
Predicting the future isn’t easy. Back in 2000, who would have thought that by 2025 the Pawtucket Red Sox would no longer exist, or Rhode Island’s first female governor would be telling people to “knock it off” as a pandemic shut down the state?
Now, as we embark on the second quarter of the 21st century, what could Rhode Island look like in 2050? The staff at The Providence Journal asked leaders in their field for their thoughts on what Rhode Island will look like in 2050. Here’s what they had to say.
Name: Claudia Wack
Hometown: Providence
Title: President, Neighbors Welcome! RI, a housing advocacy group
What will Rhode Island look like in 2050?
“My optimistic vision is I think Rhode Island will actually do a good job, eventually over the next 25 years, of getting back to our roots and really allowing more housing and more vibrant walkable neighborhoods in village centers and city centers,” she said.
“I think we will actually infill some of the city and village centers that maybe people don’t realize the extent to which some of these areas have actually been depopulated compared to what they used to be. You know, the city of Providence has a smaller population now than it did historically.”
“There’s neighborhoods that, when you think about zoning, you couldn’t replicate today under modern zoning,” she continued. “And so to some extent, I think the 2050 vision that is possible is actually a return to our roots in some ways of allowing that infill in central areas.”
On a slightly more “pessimistic note,” Wack said that she anticipates the state having to grapple with a “managed retreat” in coastal areas that will be affected by sea level rise, erosion and increased hurricane risks.
“I think we will see less housing being built in certain coastal areas, if only because it’s going to be harder and harder to insure housing in those areas,” she said. “I think in certain communities we will see shifts in where housing is being built and seeing housing production sort of migrate away from at-risk areas and toward areas where it’s going to be more sustainable.”
