Meet Our New Visiting Scholar: Pinar Çobanyilmaz
We’re excited to announce Pinar Çobanyilmaz as the Initiative on Cities Visiting Postdoctoral Scholar. She is a Turkish urban scholar who is currently researching urban and rural climate resiliency measures and management after forest fires. Her academic research areas include climate change and urban resilience, the right to the city, urban conflicts, the politics of […]
IOC Director Loretta Lees to Receive 2025 Urban Affairs Association “Contribution to the Field of Urban Affairs Award”
The Boston University Initiative on Cities is excited to announce that Director Loretta Lees will receive the 2025 Contribution to the Field of Urban Affairs Award from the Urban Affairs Association (UAA). Director Lees will formally accept this award at the upcoming International Conference on Urban Affairs in Vancouver, BC, Canada. In addition to her […]
We’re Hiring: Postdoctoral Research Associate
The Boston University Initiative on Cities (IOC) invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) position starting September 1, 2025. This is a two-year appointment. The IOC PDRA will have expertise in urban studies and undertake a research project designed by themselves in relation to an urban issue or challenge in the U.S. and/or abroad. […]
2025 Initiative on Cities City of Boston Summer Internship Applications Now Open
The IOC is excited to offer three paid undergraduate internship opportunities this summer. Interns will work 35 hours weekly in Boston’s City Hall in one of the three roles listed below. Equity & Inclusion Cabinet [Free housing in partnership with the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground]: The intern will advance Boston’s racial equity policy priorities, foster community engagement […]
#BUandBoston: Unpacking our “Atmosphere of Soup” — Arden Radford
This post is part of our #BUandBoston series, highlighting the work and research of BU students, faculty, and staff throughout the City of Boston and the Greater Boston region. Interested in having your Boston-related work featured? Tag us on Instagram or Twitter (@BUonCities) using the #BUandBoston or send us an email at ioc@bu.edu. By Jaclyn […]
New Publication: “From heat racism and heat gentrification to urban heat justice in the USA and Europe”
A new article published in Nature Cities examines urban heat issues through new lenses of inequality, calling for researchers to bridge the gap between heat management and institutional discrimination. Focusing on the Global North, the authors, including IOC Director Loretta Lees and External Advisory Board Member Isabelle Anguelovski, argue that researchers and planners must consider […]
Louisville KY Metro Council have voted unanimously for a new Anti-Displacement Tool
By Loretta Lees (Boston University), Kenton Card (University of Minnesota), and Andre Comandon (University of Southern California) Led by the Initiative on Cities at Boston University, Loretta Lees (Boston University), Kenton Card (Boston University, now the University of Minnesota), and Andre Comandon (University of Southern California) developed a new Anti-Displacement Assessment Tool (ADA Tool) to be implemented by the Louisville Metro Government. […]
2024 Greater Boston Housing Report Card
The Initiative on Cities Co-Authors the 2024 Greater Boston Housing Report Card Special Analysis on Using Public Land to Develop Affordable Housing Greater Boston’s well-publicized housing challenges continue, even as communities work to change zoning rules to comply with the state’s new MBTA Communities requirements. A lack of new construction, high interest rates, and changing […]
“New Rules for Life” – A New Way to Understand Boston’s Trees
This post is part of our #BUandBoston series, highlighting the work and research of BU students, faculty, and staff throughout the City of Boston and the Greater Boston region. Interested in having your Boston-related work featured? Tag us on Instagram or Twitter (@BUonCities) using the #BUandBoston or send us an email at ioc@bu.edu. By Jaclyn […]
IOC Co-Authors New Commentary on Highway Reclamation Impacts on Population Health
Boston University Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and IOC BU Urbanist Mary Willis (SPH), alongside co-authors Fintan Mooney (SPH), Professor of Epidemiology Jennifer Weuve (SPH), IOC Director Loretta Lees (CAS), and IOC Executive Director Stacy Fox, contributed to a new commentary in the Journal of Urban Health that proposes a framework for evaluating the multidimensional impacts of […]