Art on the Underground: A Public Contradiction

Rudy Loewe’s commission at Brixton Underground Station is a case in point. Launching in November 2025, this work will form part of the now well established Brixton Mural Programme by seeking to build upon the area’s diverse narratives by highlighting the ways people gather together in this urban environment. The ‘bold, flat colours’ that characterise Loewe’s aesthetic will undoubtedly chime with Brixton’s own multicultural offering – providing Brixton’s community an opportunity to recognise, and even reclaim, their lived experiences in dialogue with the art. Certainly this is what Claudette Johnson’s current (2024) Brixton commission, Three Women, has sought to achieve.

Unity Group Backs Anti-Displacement Procedure For New Projects; Asks City Council Return To 6 PM Meetings

In addition to Louisville’s legislative approach, Boston University’s Initiative on Cities (IOC) has developed an anti-displacement tool that offers another way to protect vulnerable communities. The tool is designed to assess the potential risks of displacement caused by new development. It works by gathering key details of a proposed project – such as the number of housing units, projected rent prices, and the characteristics of the surrounding area – and running them through a model that evaluates the likelihood of displacement. Based on the displacement risk, the tool helps determine whether a development project meets specific requirements, like including affordable housing units, to mitigate that risk.

BU’s Initiative on Cities Builds a Tool for Fighting Displacement

Activist Jessica Bellamy owns the house where she grew up, in the historically Black neighborhood of Smoketown near downtown Louisville, Ky. Around 2020, she says, she began planning a modest renovation, but none of the local contractors wanted the job because they were all booking more profitable projects in the neighborhood. Smoketown was under strong gentrification pressure that would soon spread to other historically Black neighborhoods nearby.

COM Set to Open New Center for Media Innovation & Social Impact

The science is undeniable: Earth’s climate is changing and communities around the world are already suffering the impacts. But, rather than catalyzing action, environmental storytelling often struggles to overcome an erosion of trust in the media and a landscape rife with misinformation and disinformation. That complicated media environment hinders progress on crises ranging from gun violence to pandemic responses.

Transit providers help improve voter turnout with free rides to the polls for 2024 Election Day

The U.S. joint general, special, charter and bond elections are upon us and voters throughout the country will be planning their trips over to their local poll station to cast their vote. Transportation challenges should not prevent a U.S. citizen from casting his or her ballot this Election Day. Many voters are experiencing connectivity issues on Election Day due to a lack of a personal vehicle or efficient mode of transportation.

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.

Healey-Driscoll Administration Launches Climate Science Advisory Panel

The Healey-Driscoll Administration today launched a Climate Science Advisory Panel through the new Massachusetts Office of Climate Science (OCS) to provide expertise on statewide climate science and future projections used to inform state and local climate adaptation planning and projects. The Panel is comprised of experts within Massachusetts and across the region who will advise OCS on the latest advances and applications in climate science related to hazards such as extreme heat, flooding, sea level rise, and health impacts to inform the state’s climate adaptation and resilience strategy.

The Battle for I-95

Two weeks ago, looking at the burned-out section of I-95 in Philadelphia from above, the safe bet was that this stretch of the East Coast’s most essential arterial would be a traffic nightmare for months to come. The elevated section of the highway had collapsed on June 11 after a tractor trailer flipped over and caught fire.

Racial gaps in gun violence against kids increased during COVID

White children did not experience an increase in firearm assault injuries at all.

Gun violence—and racial disparities in gun violence—have increased substantially during the pandemic, particularly among children. The new study shows just how stark these differences in risk of firearm injury are between white and non-white children.