Migration and the Geography of Racism in the U.S.
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigators: While racial violence and racist ideology are associated with the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow in the South, such violence is pervasive outside the South as well. To better understand the origins of racist institutions and ideologies across the nation, this project will investigate whether and how migration of whites […]
The Slaying of Innocence
Principal Investigator: The Slaying of Innocence is a music-theatre work that portrays the true stories of two African American men who were given life sentences in prison at the ages of 15 and 16. Their fights to overthrow their convictions, and their challenges returning to society decades later are vividly told through gripping poetry and […]
“Shame Oh Shame:” Robert Morris, Public Space, and Commemorating Black Boston
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: This project makes more visible Boston’s history of activist African Americans and engages with historic preservationists and local communities in building a new public history. Morris (1823-1882), one of the earliest Black lawyers in the United States, played a central role in struggles in Boston to abolish slavery and integrate schools […]
Living in the Future City: Migration, Class, and Placemaking in a Chinese “New Area”
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: How is urban life made meaningful in a city recently planned and built up from scratch? Xuyi’s research investigates migration and homemaking in a “National New Area” in Southwest China, where millions of acres of rural land have been bulldozed to make space for brand new roads, airport, office buildings, and […]
Folded Speech: An Ethics of Comings-and-Goings in an Accra Zongo
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: “It is not impossible for a lizard to ride on a housefly!,” artist Nicolas Wayo remarked, directing Williamson’s attention to his wall painting at Kwame Nkrumah Park in Accra, Ghana. Indeed, an intricately painted lizard in a black and yellow-striped jersey mounted on a fly stared skeptically back at her through […]
Where do urban trees get their water?
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Inevestigators: Cities face an array of environmental challenges and disparities, most of which are poised to become more problematic with climate change. In response, cities often turn to nature-based climate solutions such as tree planting due to the suite of ecosystem services that city trees offer. Despite dedicated resources to expanding urban […]
The Impact of Racism on Urban Belowground Biodiversity
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: Healthy soils are a key measure of urban green space quality. In particular, soil microbial diversity is a crucial ecosystem service provided by urban green spaces, providing nutrients to urban plants, sequestering carbon in soil, and suppressing pathogens. Urbanization can reduce soil microbial diversity and increase the abundance of human pathogens, […]
Stress in the City: Examining metabolic consequences of toxicological exposures in resilient urban corals under global change stressors
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigators: Marine organisms located offshore from urban centers face potentially negative interactive effects from pollutants (heavy metals, microplastics, pharmaceuticals, increased nutrients) and global change stressors (increasing sea temperature and acidity). Corals are just one example of a marine urban organism that may be vulnerable to these stressors. One seemingly resilient coral is […]
Reentry, Employment and Persisting Inequality: Understanding the experiences of formerly incarcerated jobseekers with employment reentry programs
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: Today in the United States, 50% of formerly incarcerated people remain unemployed in the year following their release. Over the past decades, prisoner reentry programs have increasingly provided formerly incarcerated jobseekers with services such as job training, job-placement assistance and other job-search related resources. When examining the dynamics and outcomes of […]
2020 COVID-19 Urban Research to Action Award: The “Aging Disaster” of COVID19: The Association of Social Isolation and Loneliness to Perceived Health, Psychological Wellbeing, and Material Hardship Among Boston Residents Age 60 and Older
PI: Judith G. Gonyea, PhD, MPH, Professor, BU School of Social Work (BUSSW) Co-PI: Arden O’ Donnell, PhD Student, BUSSW This project, in collaboration with the City of Boston’s Age Strong Commission, explores the experiences of Boston residents age 60 and older during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given their risk of severe […]