Urban-H Research Agenda

In the Spring of 2023, the Initiative on Cities launched a new 5 year strategic research project, Urban-H’, focused on addressing three key challenges that pose a growing threat to urban livability and resilience: Housing, Heat, and Health. We examine these issues separately and as a tripartite, focusing on equity and justice. In doing so, we engage with and work alongside practitioners, policymakers, governments, and local communities to develop and implement evidence-based, practical, grassroots, and top-down solutions.

This ‘Urban-H’ agenda not only seeks creative solutions to these challenges, but also invests in research areas where BU is well-positioned to have a lasting impact.

Our goals for Urban-H are three-fold:
(1) Elevate the trans-disciplinary urban expertise of Boston University in housing, heat, and health, separately and as a tripartite. (2) Generate high-quality and impactful research on housing, heat, and health, locally, nationally, and internationally; and translate academic work into policy. (3) Foster a collaborative, trans-disciplinary community of practice in relation to housing, heat, and health.

To push forward this agenda, our Urban-H Associate Directors act as conveners and collaborators for urban research across various fields: Katherine Levine Einstein, Dan Li, and Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba. All three faculty leads are trailblazing and widely respected professionals at various levels of academia in their fields, leading on core issues impacting the lives of people worldwide today and in the future.