How is the Initiative on Cities Making a Difference in Urban Scholarship?

We catalyze early-stage research that deepens understanding of cities and urban populations. Today, with over half the world’s population living in urban areas, it is more crucial than ever for scholars and practitioners to address the complex challenges facing 21st-century cities – and to shape the policies and practices that will shape their future. If you are a member of the BU community and interested in submitting a proposal, we encourage you to review our annual requests for proposals, which typically open in December or January.  
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    The Latest City News: March 31, 2023

    March 31, 2023
    The Latest City News is a compilation of recent city news by the Initiative on Cities–click on the images to read each article! Reach out to ioc@bu.edu for any inquiries or the latest news for us to highlight.

  • The Latino City

    October 1, 2018
    On Thursday, September 27, the BU Center for Latin American Studies and the Initiative on Cities co-sponsored a discussion on the emergence and development of Latino communities in the heart of American cities. Jonathan Calvillo, Assistant Professor at Boston University, moderated the panel featuring Dr. Llana Barber, Professor at SUNY Old Westbury, and Erualdo González, […]

  • The Multilayered Geography of Scale in ‘The Pointillistic City’

    October 22, 2025
    When: November 3, 2025 | 12:00 - 1:30 PM ET Where: Initiative on Cities, 75 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215 Join the Boston University Department of Sociology and Initiative on Cities for a special session of the Urban Inequalities Workshop featuring Dr. Daniel T. O’Brien’s (Northeastern University) latest book, The Pointillistic City (MIT Press, […]

  • The Nocturnal City

    March 19, 2024
    When: April 8, 2024 | 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM ET Where: Initiative on Cities Seminar Room, 75 Bay State Road Join us for a discussion on the relationship between the city and nocturnal spaces, exploring cultural and social experiences in urban night contexts. The event will feature Derek Pardue, Associate Professor of Aarhus University, Denmark, who will share […]

  • The Politics of Rent: Power & Inequality in Low-Income Neighborhoods

    May 31, 2020
    Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: Landlords in low-income urban areas hold immense economic and political power relative to their tenant populations. Depending on their motivations, resources, and ability, landlords can be harbingers of a neighborhood’s bright or bleak future. This project uses “big data” to better understand the landlords operating in low-income neighborhoods in cities across […]

  • The Rewards and Risks of Big Data: Urban Seminar Panelists Discuss the Open City

    September 29, 2014
    The inaugural IOC Urban Seminar, The Open City, examined a key question facing urban communities: How can cities take the massive influx of raw data into knowledge and turn that knowledge into a better city? Speakers from Boston University, Northeastern University, and the City of Boston explored the ways in which big data can be […]

  • The Right to the City: Visualizing Home, Resistance, and Belonging

    May 18, 2026
    When: Friday, June 12, 2026, 12:00 - 1:30 PM Where: Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery, 855 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215 Join the Boston University Initiative on Cities for a discussion highlighting work from our upcoming exhibition, Right to the City. Henri Lefebvre coined the “Right to the City” in 1968 to assert that […]

  • The Seaport…and Beyond: A conversation about racial diversity and economic equity in the Seaport—and in future neighborhood development

    June 16, 2021
    Tuesday, June 29, 2021 12pm–1pm ET Click here to Register The IOC is proud to support the Boston Globe and the Civic Action Project for an event discussing how public policy and private action can be used to assure that neighborhood development shares the space and the benefits equitably with people of all ethnicities and […]

  • The Slaying of Innocence

    May 23, 2021
    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 […]

  • The Sounds of Boston and Beyond: The Sonic Dimension of Cities

    September 19, 2019
    By: Carly Berke On Tuesday, September 10th, the Initiative on Cities hosted "The Sounds of Boston and Beyond," a seminar exploring the development of urban soundscapes and their impact on public health and community engagement. Erica Walker, Founder of Noise and the City and the Community Noise Lab at Boston University, Daniel Steele, a Visiting […]