Project SUDS: Serving Up Dignity with Showers
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Kaitlyn Moran, Debbie Perez, and Rebecca Walmer under the direction of Assistant Professor Jessica Leibler seek to investigate the potential barriers to shower access among homeless individuals in Boston. This student team will evaluate the health impacts of poor or irregular personal hygiene among the Boston homeless, the... More
Breast is Best: Increasing Breastfeeding Resources at Boston Medical Center Pediatric Ambulatory Care Clinic to Improve Urban Health Equity
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Drs. Rachael Bonawitz and Stephanie Klees propose a study to assess the difference in breastfeeding rates through the Nesting Clinic at Boston Medical Center (BMC) beginning pre-2012, when certified lactation counselors were present in clinic, and from 2012 to June 2015, the three years without lactation support services. Drs. More
Integrated Process for Landfill and Leachate Management: Experimentally Informed Design of Waste-to-Energy Conversation for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Mitigation
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator With her project, Research Assistant Professor Jillian Goldfarb searches for a scheme to reduce the energy required to manage MSW and leachate landfills and develop new ways and materials to reduce waste and slow the spread of contaminants. Goldfarb will address municipal solid waste (MSW) management in urban areas... More
Establishment of New Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition Monitoring Network in the City of Boston
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Associate Professors Pamela Templer and Lucy Hutyra seek to collect data on the nitrogen deposition levels both within and surrounding city limits by creating the first National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) monitoring system in a city to establish a mechanistic understanding of sources and transformation of emissions and... More
What Lies Beneath: How the History of Boston Impacts its Water Quality Today
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Associate Professor Robinson Fulweiler and Ph.D. candidate Timothy Maguire will conduct a study on the urban groundwater and runoff in Boston to investigate the causes, effects, and extent of nutrient non-point pollution in urbanized subterranean estuaries. Publications Fulweiler, Robinson and Timothy Maguire. 2016. Urban Dissolved Silica: Quantifying the Role of... More
Characterizing Urban Areas in the 21st Century: A Data-driven Approach
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Professors Sucharita Gopal and Nathan Phillips use a data-driven approach to define sustainability, resiliency, and metabolism metrics to provide cities across the globe with better ways to use data to address real urban challenges by examining the cities of Boston, New York, and Melbourne. Their research seeks to answer... More
Engineering Main Street: The Spatial Dimension of Organizations and Revitalization in Boston
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Ph.D. candidate Taylor Cain, under the advisement of Professor Japonica Brown-Saracino, seeks to identify how place attributes (including income, racial/ethnic composition, and residential and commercial property values) influence the strategies for and consequences of revitalization in two geographically proximate Main Streets business districts in Boston. Presentations "Competitive Streets: Do Market... More
What Mayors Think: National Politics in Local Policy
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator In their new study, Assistant Professors Katherine Einstein and David Glick, lead authors of the 2014 and 2015 Menino Survey of Mayors, will combine extensive mayoral interview data with municipal capital expenditures, mayoral support for city ordinances and mayoral demographic data. They evaluate the extent to which national... More
The Choices, Experiences, and Role of Second Homeowners in Boston
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Led by Ph.D. candidate Meaghan Stiman under the advisement of Professor Japonica Brown-Saracino, this study seeks to understand a rarely studied class of urban resident: the second homeowner. Stiman will evaluate how Boston second homeowners frame their residential choices and experiences, their civic, cultural, and economic contributions, and... More
Multi-Party Computation Software to Evaluate Pay Equity in the City of Boston
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Continuing a project that began in November 2014, Professor and Hariri Institute Director Azer Bestavros sought to create a proprietary software tool to enable area corporate employers to anonymously share employee wage data by gender, race/ethnicity, and level. The goal is to track the gender wage gap across... More
IOC Names First Faculty Advisory Board
With the beginning of the 2015-2016 Academic Year, the Initiative on Cities (IOC) has named its first IOC Faculty Advisory Board, a team of 13 faculty members from across Boston University (BU). Representing the diverse range of expertise at BU, Faculty Advisory Board members bring a rich perspective to the IOC... More
Leading Cities From The Left
Along with the Center for the Study of Europe at the Pardee School of Global Studies, the Initiative on Cities is pleased to host Mayor Thomas Geisel of Düsseldorf, Germany, as part of our Speaker Series featuring urban leaders. Leading Cities From The Left will feature a conversation with Mayor Geisel on the city... More
IOC Open House – Thursday, September 24, 2015
The Initiative on Cities (IOC) welcomes Boston University students, faculty, and staff back to campus with an Open House reception on Thursday, September 24th from 5:00pm - 7:00pm. Join us at the IOC (75 Bay State Rd.) for drinks, food, and a chance to meet scholars and practitioners interested in cities... More
Our Towns Tomorrow
How can New England’s small and medium-sized cities and towns best leverage infrastructure investment to support economic growth, resilience, and strong communities? Alongside the Congress for the New Urbanism - New England Chapter and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the Initiative on Cities was proud to host "Our Towns Tomorrow:... More
Mayor Karl Dean To Serve as IOC’s First Mayor In Residence
The Initiative on Cities (IOC) is pleased to announce that Mayor Karl Dean of Nashville, Tennessee, will join the Boston University community for the Spring 2016 semester as the first IOC Mayor in Residence. Following two successful terms as Mayor of Nashville, which will conclude in September 2015, and an appointment... More
IOC Summer Fellows Gaining Hands-On Experience in Local Government
Dedicated to inspiring the next generation of urban leaders, the Initiative on Cities (IOC) connects Boston University students with opportunities in local government. From the School of Public Health, the School of Engineering, and the College of Arts and Sciences, the 2015 IOC Summer Fellows are helping develop urban policy... More
IOC Director Graham Wilson Announces 2015 Menino Survey of Mayors
On Friday, June 19th, at the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) Annual Meeting in San Francisco, Initiative on Cities (IOC) Director Graham Wilson took the stage in front of over 250 American Mayors and their staff to officially kick off the 2015 Menino Survey of Mayors. First conceived under... More
Initiative on Cities Kicks Off 2015 Menino Survey of Mayors
On Friday, June 19, the Initiative on Cities (IOC) will officially kick off the 2015 Menino Survey of Mayors at the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Sponsored by Citi and supported by USCM, the 2015 Menino Survey expands on the IOC's 2014 Mayors Leadership Survey... More
IOC Summer Fellow To Work On Sustainable Energy Systems in Melbourne, Australia
The Initiative on Cities is thrilled to announce the 2015 City of Melbourne Sustainability Branch Fellow Timothy Ogino (ENG '16) who will complete his summer fellowship in Melbourne, Australia. Ogino is currently pursuing his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the Boston University School of Engineering. In Melbourne, he... More
Partnership with National League of Cities leads to Menino Fellowship
The Initiative on Cities is proud to announce that we have partnered with the National League of Cities to offer a unique opportunity for Boston University undergraduate students: the inaugural NLC Menino Fellowship. Spanning the 2015-2016 academic year, the Menino Fellow will participate in an independent study program for the... More