A BU Class Tackles the Massachusetts Housing Crisis
Not-so-fun fact: if you plan to stay in Boston after BU, it could take you nine years to save enough to buy a starter home. That’s if you’re coupled. Stay single, and you can quadruple that wait. The depressing numbers, from a study by real estate news and research site Point2, testifies to Massachusetts’ affordable housing crisis—one of the topics of this spring’s College of Arts & Sciences political science class Urban Politics and Policy. Several students taking the course, taught by Katherine Levine Einstein, a CAS associate professor of political science, focused their final project on ground zero in the state’s housing wars, Milton.
IOC 10th Anniversary Celebration
BU’s Initiative on Cities celebrated its 10th anniversary on April 1 at the Center for Computing & Data Sciences. Featured were highlights from the past decade of supporting urban research and avenues for students to connect and excel as leaders. Speakers shared future goals and initiatives, including the Urban-H research agenda, launched in spring 2023, the cornerstone of the IoC’s work for the next five years.
US Mayors Cite Red Tape as One Factor in Slowing Clean Energy Projects, BU Researchers Find
More than half of US mayors—6 out of 10—saw little or no impact from the Inflation Reduction Act in the first year after its passage, attributing the unimpressive imprint of one of President Biden’s signature legislative achievements to the challenging grant application process and the public’s lack of familiarity with its details. That is one of the takeaways in the 2023 Menino Survey of Mayors by Boston University’s Initiative on Cities (IOC).
New BU MetroBridge Class Studies the Impact of Gentrification
When you think about gentrification, you probably think about neighborhoods like Brooklyn, N.Y., or South Boston, where new high-income residents have displaced families who’ve lived there for generations. Gentrification, however, extends beyond housing. It can also result in the displacement of small businesses, an effect known as commercial or retail gentrification.
Former Governor Charlie Baker and Coauthor Talk about Their Book Results
Charlie Baker (center), former Massachusetts governor, and Steve Kadish (left), his former chief of staff, discussed their book Results: Getting Beyond Politics to Get Important Work Done (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022) during a panel discussion moderated by Siobhan Dullea (CAS’91) (right), Innovate at BU executive director, at the BUildLab November 2. Results is a manual for government and business leaders interested in results-oriented problem-solving. With several examples—spanning from rural broadband access to reform of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families to the COVID-19 pandemic—Republican Baker and Democrat Kadish show how to move from identifying problems to achieving results in a way that bridges instead of exacerbates divides.
Can We Stop the Gentrification of Cities?
Gentrification is happening in cities all around the globe: an influx of more affluent residents and rising housing prices pushes out existing tenants, changing the character of a neighborhood or community. The process can be driven by a host of factors, from the economics of development to climate change. Thursday, October 26, through Saturday, October 28, the Initiative on Cities and BU’s Department of Sociology are hosting “Gentrification & Displacement: What Can We Do About It? An International Dialogue.”
BU College Democrats Host City Council Forum
With this year’s Boston City Council election coming up on November 7, BU College Democrats invited candidates running for at-large seats to a candidate forum on October 3 at the Center for Computing & Data Sciences. Candidates Julia Mejia (from left), Erin Murphy, Henry Santana, and Ruthzee Louijuene responded to moderator questions and questions from students. The 13-member City Council is made up of 4 at-large councilors representing the entire city and 9 district councilors representing specific areas.
BU’s 5 NSF Grant Winners Are Changing Conversations in Robotics, Computing, Mass Incarceration, Neurology, and More
Behind their research on topics ranging from mass incarceration to the brain and lungs to delivery robots, five experts and scientists at Boston University have received Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance scientific research in their fields. The researchers receiving the awards are also laying the foundation for the next generation of scientists by using the funding to support students and youth educational programs and to diversify STEM.
US Mayors Cite Housing Costs as Most Pressing Economic Concern in New Survey by BU Researchers
Four out of five US mayors identified increasing housing costs as a top economic challenge facing their cities—far ahead of other concerns including rising living costs, poverty, and wage stagnation—though they see themselves with a limited toolset to change local housing markets. Regarding public safety, three of four mayors agree that civilians should be banned from acquiring assault rifles under any circumstances—a view that includes support from 40 percent of Republican city leaders. And mayors report feeling more accountable to their constituents on a range of public safety and health issues, from gun violence to mental health concerns, than they did when researchers posed the same questions four years ago.
US Mayors Address the Climate Crisis in New Report from BU’s Initiative on Cities
Nearly all US mayors are worried about the impacts of climate change on their cities, with the effects of drought, extreme heat, flooding, and air pollution topping their list of concerns. And more than half of them believe that “real progress on climate issues” will mean their residents will have to make “real sacrifices” in their lifestyles. Additionally, while mayors are enthusiastic about investing in new green technologies like electric vehicles and the infrastructure to support them, they are less likely to support restrictions on the use of fossil fuels in new private construction.