Who Benefits? The Spatial Context of Negotiated Community Benefits from Development Projects in Boston
Principal Investigator Without sustainable financing mechanisms, cities in many countries have increasingly relied on tools to have the private sector provide or pay for infrastructure, community benefits, or other amenities. Known as value-capture instruments, these tools are used to capture land value increases that arise from changes to zoning or investment in public infrastructure. With […]
Recommendations for Health Services Delivery Options for ECHO Village
Principal Inestigator Co-Principal Investigator Mental health problems and substance use disorders (SUDs) have been a major driver of housing insecurity and homelessness in nearly every major U.S. city. As fentanyl spread rapidly in illegal markets during the COVID-19 pandemic, many more people turned to opioids when treatment facilities and other essential social services shut down. […]
Examining experiences of gentrification, local policy awareness and the effects on social networks in Detroit, MI
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: Gentrification is a widely discussed and examined phenomenon. The effects of gentrification on residents who stay in gentrifying and “revitalizing” areas, rather than moving and/or being pushed out, is an underdeveloped area of study. The qualitative experiences of Black residents are also less represented within gentrification-based scholarship. The present study seeks […]
URBAN Trainee Ian Smith Studies Urban Tree Water Sources
Watch Video: URBAN Trainee Ian Smith Studies Urban Tree Water Sources Ian Smith is a PhD student in the Department of Earth and Environment in the BU Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the BU URBAN Program. He received a 2021 Early Stage Urban Research Award from the Initiative on Cities (IOC) for his […]
URBAN Trainee Caroline Fleming Studies Urban Corals Under Stressors
Watch Video: URBAN Trainee Caroline Fleming Studies Urban Corals Under Stressors Caroline Fleming is a PhD Student in the Department of Biology in the BU Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the BU URBAN Program. She received a 2021 Early Stage Urban Research Award from the Initiative on Cities (IOC) for her project, “Stress […]
URBAN Trainee Kathryn Atherton Researches Urban Soil Microbiomes
Watch Video: URBAN Trainee Kathryn Atherton Researches Urban Soil Microbiomes Kathryn Atherton is a PhD Student studying Bioinformatics in the BU URBAN Program. She received a 2021 Early Stage Urban Research Award from the Initiative on Cities (IOC) for her project, “The Impact of Racism on Urban Belowground Biodiversity.” Read the Q&A with Atherton and […]
Spring 2022 Request for Proposals now Open: Early Stage Urban Research Awards
Awarded annually to BU faculty and graduate students under faculty supervision, these seed grants of up to $10,000 support research addressing urban challenges and urban populations in the U.S. and abroad.
2021 Early Stage Urban Research Awards
In Spring 2021, the Initiative on Cities issued its seventh request for proposals to support early stage academic research endeavors focused on urban challenges and urban populations, both domestic and global. We received 37 applications from 20 schools and departments at BU, and we are thrilled to announce we have funded 14 projects, including 8 […]
Youth Emergency Mental Health Response in Boston
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigators: Many urban school districts are under-resourced to meet the mental health needs of their students and therefore rely on emergency service providers for crisis response. These emergency response services, however, can increase the likelihood that youth will be served in emergency departments and, in the case of police response, increase the […]
Seeking Educational Spaces: Syrian Refugees and the Landscape of Amman, Jordan
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: This dissertation research project centers how Syrian refugee youth and families, as well as their Jordanian peers, conceptualize the educational spaces they are able to access in light of the serious barriers they face in accessing such spaces in a foreign urban context. Amman presents a unique setting in which to […]