Meet Henry Tonks, the 2022 MONUM Summer Fellow

By Amelia Murray-Cooper The Initiative on Cities (IOC) is proud to announce that Henry Tonks has been selected as the 2022 MONUM Summer Fellow. Henry will spend the summer working with the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM). MONUM is Boston’s civic innovation team, responsible for promoting participatory urbanism, along with […]

Meet Gary DeYoung, the 2022 City of Boston Neighborhood Development and Housing Innovation Lab Summer Fellow

By Amelia Murray-Cooper The Initiative on Cities (IOC) is proud to announce that Gary DeYoung has been selected as the 2022 City of Boston Neighborhood Development and Housing Innovation Lab Summer Fellow. The Housing Innovation Lab, part of the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, works to increase housing affordability by testing innovative housing models […]

Meet Maggie Kormann, the 2022 MORRE Summer Fellow

By Amelia Murray-Cooper The Initiative on Cities (IOC) and the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground are proud to announce that Maggie Korman has been selected as the 2022 MORRE Summer Fellow. Maggie will spend the summer working with the City of Boston’s Chief Resilience Officer, Ms. Lori Nelson, in the Mayor’s Office of Resilience and […]

2022 Early Stage Urban Research Awards

The Boston University Initiative on Cities (IOC) is pleased to announce the 2022 recipients of our eighth annual request for proposals for early stage urban research. These seed grants support early stage academic research endeavors focused on urban challenges and urban populations, both domestic and global. We received 30 applications from 16 schools and departments […]

Supporting Asian Parents and Children Talking about Race and Racism (ACTRR): A Pilot Ethnic Racial Socialization Intervention Study for Chinese and Vietnamese Families

Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigators: Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian Americans have experienced a significant increase in racism across the U.S., including in Boston. They may experience racism directly and/or are indirectly affected by highly publicized anti-Asian incidents across the U.S. Direct and indirect exposure to racism may increase the risk of mental […]

Basti Clearances: Examining the Characteristics of Informal Settlements Experiencing Evictions in India

Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: Evictions in bastis (informal settlements) in India leave thousands of people from low-income communities homeless and violate several international human rights. Under India’s national informal settlement policy framework, some states have begun offering tenure rights that protect people from forced evictions. However, it remains unclear how these rights are conferred, given the […]

Small Particles Big Impacts: Using Novel Low-Cost Monitors to Characterize Air Pollution Exposure in Urban Communities

Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigators Aerosol particles are ubiquitous in ambient air and are of great importance to human and environmental health. However, not all particulate matter is the same; the type and severity of health effects depend on particle characteristics, including the particle size, shape, concentration, and composition.  While the United States has adopted distinct […]