Guest Lecture: Richard Florida and The New Urban Crisis
Join the Boston University Initiative on Cities on Thursday, November 9, 2017, at 4:30pm at 213 Bay State Road to welcome Richard Florida to campus. Florida will present a lecture on his new book, The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle... More
IOC Menino Fellow to Work in National League of Cities in Washington, D.C.
The Initiative on Cities (IOC) is pleased to announce Augustine Jimenez (Boston University Class of 2020) as our 2017-2018 National League of Cities (NLC) Menino Fellow. Augustine is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations. Through this Fellowship, Augustine will spend the fall semester paired with a faculty... More
Event Recap: Cities in the Federal System
Jerry Abramson, Michael Nutter, and Katie King (CAS’06, SPH’13) visited the IOC on Thursday, October 5th, 2017, to explore intergovernmental relations in a partisan era. The panel discussed how cities, states, and the federal government collaborate across issues and party lines. Katie King, the Interim Director of Intergovernmental Relations for the City of... More
IOC Executive Director Helps Shape the Women Mayors’ Network
Katharine Lusk, Executive Director of the Initiative on Cities, traveled to New York last week to help shape the upcoming Women Mayors’ Network, founded by the National Democratic Institute (NDI). The Women Mayors’ Network, or WoMN, focuses on highlighting women’s’ perspective in mayoral positions in cities around the globe. The network... More
Event Recap: Transportation Vision to Transformative Reality
On September 27, the Initiative on Cities hosted two speakers to discuss how urban transportation can shift towards an equitable, sustainable future. Terrance Regan Terrence Regan, from the Boston University Metropolitan College and the U.S. DOT Volpe Center, covered how regional governments are cooperating with private businesses to make large-scale projects more feasible... More
Tune in Today: Cities in the Federal System
Jerry Abramson, Michael Nutter, and Katie King (CAS’06, SPH’13) discuss how mayors and officials at the state and federal levels can work together to identify and achieve common goals.
Event Recap: Sustainable Development in Ghana
On September 29, His Excellency Dr. Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah, Ambassador of the Republic of Ghana to the United States, came to the Initiative on Cities to speak about sustainable development in two of Ghana's largest cities, Accra and Kumasi. Adjei-Barwuah noted the difficulty of developing an urban area without suburban expansion, saying... More
Using Data to Streamline City Services: My Summer in Providence
This summer I worked as the Boston University Initiative on Cities Fellow for the City of Providence’s Department of Innovation. The Department of Innovation works with internal and external stakeholders to streamline the delivery of city services, promote public entrepreneurship, and enhance citizen engagement, to ensure Providence is a “City... More
Working Towards a More Resilient Boston: My Summer as an IOC MORRE Fellow
As the Boston University Initiative on Cities and Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground Summer 2017 Fellow in the Boston Mayor’s Office of Resilience and Racial Equity (MORRE), I worked with a team that pioneers Boston’s efforts to respond to and deal with catastrophes that may affect the City of... More
The Difference a Mayor Makes: My Summer in Manchester, England
From the inception of its textiles industry, Manchester has been an engine of industry-led innovation, defining the city as a center of economic and institutional development. Manchester’s origin as a pioneer of development influenced its decision to devolve from national government. With its first mayor and newly-formed Greater Manchester Combined Authority... More
Taylor Cain: Equitable Decision Making for Boston’s Streets and My Summer as a MONUM Fellow
When I applied for the summer fellowship with the Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, I knew that I would be asked to do more than think. While daunting, this shift in orientation was also exciting, and I braced myself for a summer where I might bridge my world of scholarly contemplation... More
CO2 Fertilization in an Urban Green Roof
Principal Investigator Earth & Environment Ph.D. candidate Sarabeth Buckley will conduct a study on the impact of increased levels of CO2 on green roofs in urban areas. Specifically, Sarabeth will purposefully expose the plants on edible green roofs to increased CO2 by directing waste carbon dioxide (produced by human respiration) from... More
Celebration of Diversity Amidst Privilege: A Study of the Suburbs
Principal Investigator Sociology & Social Work Ph.D. candidate Whitney Gecker will conduct an ethnographic study of young people, beginning with members of the Newton youth council. Gecker seeks to understand how young people in an affluent suburb experience and respond to racial and economic insularity, and make sense of diversity and... More
2017 Urban Research Awards: Crime and Public Housing
Crime and Public Housing: A General Equilibrium Analysis Economics Ph.D. candidate Jesse Bruhn seeks to quantify the impact of ambitious public housing redevelopment projects—specifically the Plan for Transformation project in Chicago—on the distribution of criminal activity within city limits. The Plan for Transformation project was a part of the federal government’s... More
Agglomeration Economies in the Information Age
Principal Investigator Economics Ph.D. candidate Andrew Busey aims to test the popular theory in urban economics that variations in population density, both temporally and geographically, occur because of agglomeration economies. As part of his larger dissertation, Busey uses an innovative econometric strategy to provide causal estimates of the impact of population... More
Protecting our Urban Water Sources: Developing a Solar Energy-Activated Reduction Catalyst
Principal Investigator Chemistry Associate Professor Linda Doerrer with Ph.D. candidate Jessica Elinburg seeks to adapt her invention, an NO3– reduction system, for implementation in urban water sources to prevent harmful algal blooms and to make available clean water sources for urban residents in an affordable, environmentally-friendly way. Doerrer and Elinburg will conduct... More
3D Models and Virtual Reality Techniques for Mapping & Analyzing Above and Underground Urban Infrastructures (UIMAGE)
Principal Investigators Co-Principal Investigators Earth & Environment Ph.D. candidate Yaxiong Ma, in collaboration with Earth & Environment Professors Sucharita Gopal and Nathan Phillips, will design and build a prototype model using 3D Models and Virtual Reality Techniques for Mapping & Analyzing Above and Underground Urban Infrastructures. The model, called UIMAGE (Underground Infrastructures... More
Mapping Amman, Jordan: A 21st Century City
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Professor Betty Anderson, in cooperation with Georgetown Associate Professor Fida Adely, seek to conduct a mapping study in order to understand the modern population of Amman. A growing private sector and Jordan’s status as one of the safest countries in the Middle East has made Amman a safe... More
Impact of Air Pollution and Climate on Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes
Principal Investigator School of Public Health Ph.D. candidate Lindsey Butler will investigate the the impacts of maternal exposure to traffic related air pollution (TRAP) and extreme ambient temperatures on the risk of structural birth defects and stillbirth, particularly those resulting from placental dysfunction. Lindsey will serve as the project’s PI in collaboration... More
Hidden Problems in Secret Corals: Exploring Microplastic Abundance in Local, Temperate Corals Along an Urban Gradient
Principal Investigators Research Assistant Professor Randi Rotjan, in collaboration with Associate Professor Juanita Urban-Rich from the University of Massachusetts-Boston, Assistant Professor Koty Sharp from Rogers Williams University and Associate Professor Sean Grace from Southern Connecticut State University, will study New England coral to determine the extent and impact of microplastics and... More