In studying business gentrification, of course size matters
Our recent study measured business closings and openings in Central Square between 2013 and 2023 as a way to understand commercial gentrification – the replacement of lower-value businesses with higher-value ones. In the study, we categorized businesses by their size: independent businesses or local, regional, national and international chains.
Heat waves can be deadly for older adults: An aging global population and rising temperatures mean millions are at risk
Regardless of where or when a heat wave strikes, one pattern has been a constant: Older adults are the most likely to die from extreme heat, and the crisis is worsening. Our research documents two global trends that together portend a dire future.
Who Represents the Renters?
Katherine Levine Einstein finds that renters are starkly underrepresented by a margin of over 30 percentage points — a gap that persists across a variety of institutional and demographic contexts.
Diagnosing the youth mental health crisis? Don’t forget housing and extreme heat
The City of Boston recently announced a new $21 million initiative to address the urgent need for more mental health services and programs for youth and families. This announcement follows a report from the Boston Public Health Commission detailing how widespread persistent sadness and anxiety has become amongst youth and adults. And the problem is growing. Between 2015 and 2021, youth in Boston experiencing persistent sadness steadily increased from 26.7 percent to 43.9 percent.
Gentrification study of Central Square finds independent spirit that’s being sorely tested
Moving from London to Cambridge, two cities that are struggling with rapid gentrification, I’ve long been concerned about how the pace of change disrupts communities’ abilities to survive and thrive. Just last year, Cambridge Local First’s inaugural State of Small Business report confirmed that the national picture for small businesses was reflected in Cambridge – and in short, it is not a good time. Though Cambridge’s independent spirit remains strong, particularly in Central Square, and I am inspired by the power of community to defy, resist or adapt to the seemingly inevitable churn and change of urban life, the headlines make for concerning reading. Multiple independents, restaurants and arts institutions, many long-standing fixtures in the community, have closed their doors to an increasingly frustrated community.
The complexities of gentrification and its planetary dynamics
An international conference about gentrification gathered scholars, activists, and practitioners to discuss worldwide urban changes displacing poorer residents to develop upscale areas.
Tensions in the ever-changing nature of cities
Over millennia, cities have evolved into new versions of themselves. This issue of Nature Cities explores pressing urban alterations in this moment of history, including conflicts wrought by gentrification and the unfolding iterations of climate change.
Episode 33: Neighbourhood Defenders
Today, we welcome Dr. Katherine Einstein, Dr. David Glick, and Dr. Maxwell Palmer from Boston University. We discuss their book: Neighbourhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America’s Housing Crisis; published in 2019. The book is premised on how local political inequalities can end up limiting the housing supply and contribute to the current housing crisis. Participatory institutions like local neighborhood committees often notify neighbours themselves and solicit comments on proposed housing developments, taking an active role for better or worse.
Geography Colloquium: Loretta Lees, Boston University
In this talk, Professor Lees will discuss Defensible Space on the Move: Mobilisation in English Housing Policy and Practice co-authored with Elanor Warwick (RGS-IBG Book Series, Wiley, 2022). She will evaluate the geographical/spatial concept of Defensible Space, which has been influential in designing out crime and has been applied to housing estates in the UK, North America, Europe, and beyond.
417. Women Reclaiming the City book
The originality of Women Reclaiming the City lies not only in the variety of themes being presented, but also in the variety of all these different highly respected women researchers. This book is the first in which current societal themes revolving around urbanism, architecture, and city planning are put forth solely through female perspectives. It reveals the importance of having female lenses on certain societal debates.