Faculty Friday – Einstein

Each week, Faculty Friday will highlight a member of our IOC Faculty Advisory Board by exploring their work at BU and their thoughts on cities.

We’re excited to kick things off with Katherine Levine Einstein, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science. Katherine serves as one of the lead authors on our annual Menino Survey of Mayors research project and has spoken at IOC events, including our Fiscal Leadership Summit.

IOC: What research or project are you currently working on?

Katherine Levine Einstein (KLE): I’m working on a few different projects related to urban politics, racial and ethnic politics, and American public policy. My first set of projects uses data from a novel survey of mayors to answer a variety of important questions concerning urban policymaking and leadership; I explore, among other things, when and why mayors look to other cities as sources of policy information, when and why mayors choose to run for higher office, and mayors’ views towards their state and federal governments. I’m also currently using new data on the Black Lives Matter movement to investigate which cities have seen protests, and, in particular, whether cities with more repressive police forces have experienced greater protest activity.

What’s your favorite thing about Boston University?

KLE: The university does such a great job of supporting research and educational opportunities on the urban environment (including the city in which it’s located!).

What is your favorite city, and why?

KLE: Boston! It is such a dense, compact, and walkable city, but accessible to a great deal of natural beauty. I’ve lived in the metro area for almost 10 years now and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing cities today? 

KLE: Because of a combination of federal gridlock and – at least in many places – state intransigence, local governments are being tasked with a set of challenges, particularly related to infrastructure and poverty, that they lack the fiscal resources and legal powers to adequately address. Many of these are issues that are much better tackled at higher levels of government, but, due to a variety of political and institutional factors, they are instead falling to cities.

What do you think our cities of the future will look like?

KLE: I worry about increasing inequality between and within cities. We are seeing a pretty sharp divide now between cities whose industry composition and workforces position them well in the new, knowledge-based economy and those who possess less favorable attributes. In addition, within cities – particularly those that are actually advantaged in the current economy – we are seeing a rising gap between people at the top and bottom of the income distribution.

If you were Mayor of Boston for a day and had unlimited resources, what program or project would you pursue and why? 

KLE: Fully recognizing that the Mayor of Boston does not have authority over the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), I’m going to take full license and say that my “unlimited resources” offer includes power over the regional transit system! In that case, I would dramatically expand the reach and reliability of our mass transit system, both implementing needed repairs of existing infrastructure and expanding transit lines. Our current housing affordability crisis is largely driven by the limited availability of housing stock (and land on which to build new housing stock) within a reasonable commuting radius of Boston. By expanding and improving upon our transit infrastructure, we could: (1) Improve commutes for current metro residents generally, especially those residing in outlying, more affordable communities; and (2) Allow increased housing construction in locales (now transit accessible) that have the land area to accommodate new housing units.

Are there any urban-related issues that you want to see students and young people get more involved in?

KLE: They should attend local community meetings and turn out to vote in local elections (ideally in the cities in which they reside)! Local elections are low turnout affairs, and the interests of students and young people are often ignored because they tend to be a transient population with low turnout. Political involvement is so important for addressing challenges in our local community.

You can catch Katherine on Monday, November 14th, in Washington, D.C. at After the Votes are Counted, What’s Next for Cities? She is also developing the 2016 Menino Survey of Mayors Final Report alongside lead co-author David Glick. The Report is scheduled to be released in January 2017.