American History: Boston, Massachusetts
Boston has been an influential city in the development of the United States for more than four hundred years. By the early 21st century, Boston, led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty and graduates, became a global center for technological innovation and the leading center for life sciences. In the meantime, Boston has become one of the most economically unequal cities in the country, with large numbers of well-compensated professionals and technologists and a larger number of lower-income service workers.
Director Loretta Lees Wins International Planning History Society (IPHS) Book Prize
Initiative on Cities Director Loretta Lees and co-author Elanor Warwick received the biennial International Planning History Society’s (IPHS) First Book Prize for their book Defensible Space on the Move: Mobilisation in English Housing Policy and Practice. The First Book Prize recognizes innovative planning history books based on original research. Defensible Space weaves oral history, in-depth […]
Call for Papers for the 2025 International Conference on Urban Affairs – Triangulating the Urban-H (Housing, Heat, Health) in Cities Session
When: April 15-19, 2025 Where: Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Organizers: Loretta Lees, Professor of Sociology, and Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, Research Associate Professor of Health Law, Policy and Management, Initiative on Cities, Boston University If interested in being a part of this session, please email your name, institution, paper title, and […]
Book Review: Des Fitzgerald, The City of Today is a Dying Thing: In Search of the Cities of Tomorrow
I read Des Fitzgerald’s The City of Today is a Dying Thing one bitterly cold Sunday in one sitting, looking out of the expansive windows of my new-build apartment in Boston with views of the cityscape revealing old and new green planning and development ideas. I liked that I could read the book quickly because the book is a catholic but speedy foray through city and urban planning ideas that have tackled anxieties about the city, especially around mental health, ideas that have bled through into contemporary notions of greening cities.
Planetary Gentrification and Urban Authoritarianism
The task of theorization is to generalize, but we need to continue to question the ways in which we generalize and from where we generalize. We need to be reflexive about what we might mean by ‘authoritarian’ and not assume that supposedly democratic Euro-America does not enact authoritarian practices or that supposedly authoritarian states always do.
Association between Combined Sewer Overflow Events and Gastrointestinal Illness in Massachusetts Municipalities with and without River-Sourced Drinking Water, 2014–2019
A new study has found an increased risk of acute gastrointestinal illness during the four-day period following large-volume combined sewer overflows (CSO) among downstream communities bordering the Merrimack River.
Meet Amie Thomas, 2024 Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics Fellow
The Boston University Initiative on Cities (IOC) is happy to announce Amie Thomas (GRS Statistical Practice) has been selected as this year’s City of Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) Fellow. This fellow will have the opportunity to explore an interest in public service and civic innovation while positively impacting the surrounding community. The MONUM […]
Meet Roshan Sivaraman, 2024 Climate Ready Boston Intern
The Boston University Initiative on Cities is happy to announce that Roshan Sivaraman (CFA, Pardee ’26) has been selected for the summer internship working with the Climate Ready Boston team on bus shelter pilot projects to advance heat and stormwater resilience. The projects aim to provide cooling or green infrastructure enhancements to bus stops to keep residents cool […]
Meet Alexandria McKenzie, 2024 City of Boston’s Equity & Inclusion Cabinet Summer Intern
The Boston University Initiative on Cities and the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground are happy to announce that Alexandria McKenzie (CAS ’26) has been selected as this year’s summer intern with the City of Boston’s Equity & Inclusion Cabinet. Alexandria will work directly with the Senior Advisor on Racial Justice, Ms. Lori Nelson, and the team […]
Global projections of heat exposure of older adults
The global population is aging at the same time as heat exposures are increasing due to climate change. Age structure, and its biological and socio-economic drivers, determine populations’ vulnerability to high temperatures. Effects are most severe in Asia and Africa, which also have the lowest adaptive capacity. Our results facilitate regional heat risk assessments and inform public health decision-making.