Race and Policing in America’s Cities: The Role of Mayors
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigators: Scholars of urban politics have long noted the limited power of mayors to address racial inequality. In recent decades, state governments and the federal government have curtailed the policymaking authority of urban administrations while also reducing funding sent to urban areas. White flight and capital mobility, meanwhile, have... More
Migration and the Geography of Racism in the U.S.
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigators: While racial violence and racist ideology are associated with the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow in the South, such violence is pervasive outside the South as well. To better understand the origins of racist institutions and ideologies across the nation, this project will investigate whether and how... More
The Slaying of Innocence
Principal Investigator: The Slaying of Innocence is a music-theatre work that portrays the true stories of two African American men who were given life sentences in prison at the ages of 15 and 16. Their fights to overthrow their convictions, and their challenges returning to society decades later are vividly told... More
“Shame Oh Shame:” Robert Morris, Public Space, and Commemorating Black Boston
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: This project makes more visible Boston’s history of activist African Americans, and engages with historic preservationists and local communities in building a new public history. Morris (1823-1882), one of the earliest Black lawyers in the United States, played a central role in struggles in Boston to... More
Living in the Future City: Migration, Class, and Placemaking in a Chinese “New Area”
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: How is urban life made meaningful in a city recently planned and built up from scratch? Xuyi's research investigates migration and homemaking in a “National New Area” in Southwest China, where millions of acres of rural land have been bulldozed to make space for brand new roads, airport, More
Folded Speech: An Ethics of Comings-and-Goings in an Accra Zongo
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: “It is not impossible for a lizard to ride on a housefly!,” artist Nicolas Wayo remarked, directing Williamson's attention to his wall painting at Kwame Nkrumah Park in Accra, Ghana. Indeed, an intricately painted lizard in a black and yellow-striped jersey mounted on a fly stared skeptically back... More
Where do urban trees get their water?
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Inevestigators: Cities face an array of environmental challenges and disparities, most of which are poised to become more problematic with climate change. In response, cities often turn to nature-based climate solutions such as tree planting due to the suite of ecosystem services that city trees offer. Despite dedicated resources... More
The Impact of Racism on Urban Belowground Biodiversity
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: Healthy soils are a key measure of urban green space quality. In particular, soil microbial diversity is a crucial ecosystem service provided by urban green spaces, providing nutrients to urban plants, sequestering carbon in soil, and suppressing pathogens. Urbanization can reduce soil microbial diversity and increase the abundance... More
Stress in the City: Examining metabolic consequences of toxicological exposures in resilient urban corals under global change stressors
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigators: Marine organisms located offshore from urban centers face potentially negative interactive effects from pollutants (heavy metals, microplastics, pharmaceuticals, increased nutrients) and global change stressors (increasing sea temperature and acidity). Corals are just one example of a marine urban organism that may be vulnerable to these stressors. One seemingly... More
Reentry, Employment and Persisting Inequality: Understanding the experiences of formerly incarcerated jobseekers with employment reentry programs
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: Today in the United States, 50% of formerly incarcerated people remain unemployed in the year following their release. Over the past decades, prisoner reentry programs have increasingly provided formerly incarcerated jobseekers with services such as job training, job-placement assistance and other job-search related resources. When examining the dynamics... More
The Urban/Suburban Educational Divide: Racial Inequities and Shifting Landscapes
Held on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. Schools in urban and suburban locations can vary immensely in quality, increasing the importance of where we send our kids to school. But why are some schools better than others? How has America’s notion of a good school deepened educational and racial inequities? The IOC... More
Meet An Vu Minh Pham, the summer 2021 City of Chelsea Open Data & Digital Communications Fellow
The Initiative on Cities (IOC) is proud to announce that An Vu Minh Pham has been selected as the summer 20201 City of Chelsea Open Data & Digital Communications Initiatives Fellow. Avi will have the opportunity to help advance the City’s open data and digital communications initiatives while gaining first-hand... More
Meet Avi Nguyen, the summer 2021 MORRE Fellow
The Initiative on Cities (IOC) and the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground are proud to announce that Avi Nguyen has been selected as the summer 2021 MORRE Fellow. Avi will spend the summer working with the City of Boston’s Chief Resilience Officer, Ms. Lori Nelson, in the Mayor’s Office of Resilience... More
Meet Kimberly Rhoten, JD, the summer 2021 MONUM Fellow
The Initiative on Cities (IOC) is proud to announce that Kimberly Rhoten (they/them) has been selected as the summer 2021 MONUM Fellow. Kimberly will spend the summer working with the City of Boston, within the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics(MONUM). MONUM is Boston’s civic innovation team, responsible for promoting participatory urbanism, along... More
Meet Deep Patel, the 2021 Mayor’s Office of Policy & Planning Fellow
The Initiative on Cities (IOC) is proud to announce that Deep Patel has been selected as the summer 2021 Mayor's Office of Policy & Planning Fellow. Deep was initially awarded a summer fellowship with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority in Manchester, England. However, the fellowship was cancelled this year due to... More
Faculty Friday: Yuhei Miyauchi
Faculty Friday is a series highlighting members of the Initiative on Cities (IOC) Faculty Advisory Board, by exploring their work on campus and in the city. This week, we are highlighting Yuhei Miyauchi, Assistant Professor of Economics at the College of Arts & Sciences. By Claudia Chiappa Yuhei Miyauchi has always been interested... More
IOC Associate Director Stacy Fox Inducted into Tri-Alpha National Honor Society for Achievements as a First Generation College Student
The Initiative on Cities (IOC) congratulates Stacy Fox, IOC's Associate Director, and all 533 BU students, faculty, and staff that were inducted as inaugural members of Boston University's chapter of the Alpha Alpha Alpha honor society for first-generation students. The induction included a virtual ceremony on April 26 hosted by... More
Urban Parks and the Public Realm: Equity and Access in Post-COVID Cities
Held on Friday, April 30, 2021. Watch a recording or read a recap below. Recap by Claudia Chiappa On Friday, April 30, 2021 the Boston University Initiative on Cities (IOC) and The Trust for Public Land hosted an event on the future of urban parks in a post-COVID world featuring IOC Co-Director... More
Telling the Untold History of Civil Rights Leaders in Boston
Held on Wednesday, April 21, 2021. Watch a recording or read a recap below. Recap by Claudia Chiappa On Wednesday, April 21, 2021, the Boston University Initiative on Cities (IOC), BU Arts Initiative, and BU Diversity & Inclusion hosted a discussion on the untold stories of civil rights leaders in Boston featuring... More
IOC Co-Director Katharine Lusk part of award winning grant from New Venture Fund on Public Interest Technology
IOC Co-Director Katharine Lusk and Azer Bestavros, Associate Provost for Computing and Data Sciences at Boston University, have been awarded a grant from the New Venture Fund to conduct a comprehensive scan of public interest technology (PIT) activities taking place at the 43 Public Interest Technology University Network member institutions. The... More