Race, Place, and Policing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multi-City Study
Principial Investigator: Co-Principial Investigator: Low-level policing—which includes enforcement and arrests based on quality-of-life offenses such as disorderly conduct, property damage, unauthorized public gathering, or trespassing—has devastated communities of color in the United States. Simes and Jahn will examine if and how COVID-19 has changed low-level policing, particularly with regard to the racial inequities in rates […]
Understanding Open-Air Drug Markets Configuration
Principal Investigator This project will explore the development of open-air drug markets in Colombia, where actors in the drug trade exert territorial control over central areas within cities. Specifically, Andrea Beltran Lizarazo will study the case of San Bernardo, in downtown Bogota, to understand what mechanisms benefited drug trade expansion and why the community ceded […]
Urban Policing and Racial Health Inequities
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator The United States is characterized by inequities that are particularly striking with regard to race. While there are many studies documenting factors associated with racial inequities in health and that policing may be associated with worse mental health and well-being, there are few causal studies of policies that drive structural changes […]
2019 Early Stage Urban Research Award Recipients
In Spring 2019, the Initiative on Cities issued its fifth Request for Proposals to support early stage academic research endeavors focused on urban challenges and urban populations, both domestic and global. We received applications from 15 schools and departments at BU and and we are thrilled to announce we have funded 13 projects with topics […]
Constructing City Images through Local Media: An Intermedia Agenda-Setting Analysis of Big Media Data
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator: City marketing works as a foundation for local residents to understand and identify with municipal policies and is used to alter the perception of a city among outsiders to encourage external investment, residence, and tourism. Investigators will focus on how local media plays a critical role in communicating the status quo […]
The Impact of Tourism on Environmental Sound Levels in Urban and Park Environments
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Sound pollution in urban areas can cause physical and mental health problems which disproportionately affect poor and underserved communities; it can reduce the cultural vitality of outdoor areas; and it can harm wildlife. The investigators will study the impacts of tourism on a city’s environmental soundscape to better understand how the […]
Locked Out: Examining the Use of Urban Housing Admissions Policies to Systematically Exclude Poor Renters
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investiator: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) subsidizes about 4.8 million households throughout the country. Motivated by previous research and practice with individuals facing barriers to affordable housing, the team of investigators will examine how affordable housing providers’ admissions policies create barriers to housing for individuals with criminal records, […]
Congregations in Contested Space: Gentrification and Latinx Churches in East Boston
Principal Investigator: Boston, like many U.S. cities, is currently experiencing elevated levels of gentrification adversely affecting working class people of color. The manner in which churches are affected by gentrification is particularly important as churches often provide valuable resources within working class communities of color. The investigator hopes to understand how Latinx churches in the […]
Evictions and Substandard Housing in Boston: The Unfulfilled Promises of the Public Health and Legal System
Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Collaborator Boston is one of the least affordable housing markets in the country. Policymakers have focused largely on new housing supply, but existing housing – much of which is substandard and located in low-income neighborhoods and in communities of color – is often overlooked. As neighborhoods are squeezed by new, unaffordable […]
Dislocated Gods, De-territorialized Bodies: Temples, Space and Social Resilience in Urbanizing China
Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: China has been undergoing extremely rapid urbanization, and millions of people have been resettled in the process—being displaced both physically and socially. The investigators will examine the lives of the resettled people, in what used to be five rural townships at the edge of the wealthy city of Suzhou, who are […]