{"id":25664,"date":"2026-08-25T14:09:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T18:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/?p=25664"},"modified":"2026-09-10T13:11:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T17:11:40","slug":"urban-mobility-infrastructure-learning-community-call-for-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/2026\/08\/25\/urban-mobility-infrastructure-learning-community-call-for-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban Mobility &#038; Infrastructure Learning Community Applications Open"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mobility is not a transportation problem. It is a public health problem, a housing problem, a climate problem, and an equity problem. Yet the people working on each of those pieces rarely sit in the same room: This learning community changes that. A small, cross-disciplinary cohort of BU graduate students, convened by Lecturer of Law and City Planning &amp; Urban Affairs and former senior transportation official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/profile\/rob-diadamo\/\">Rob DiAdamo<\/a>, will come together to dig into the real challenges facing urban mobility \u2014 not from one silo or discipline, but from all of them at once. Hear, connect, and learn from practitioners actively shaping policy and delivery in Massachusetts and beyond \u2014 including leaders from MassDOT, MBTA, MIT, Harvard Kennedy School, and advocates across transportation, housing, and environmental sectors.<\/p>\n<p>Applications are due by <strong>September 20, 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<a href='https:\/\/forms.gle\/V9oTywRCaEB4aiyk6' class='button button-primary'>Apply<\/a>\n<h2>What is the Urban Mobility &amp; Infrastructure Learning Community?<\/h2>\n<p>A 6-month intensive learning community for 10\u201315 BU graduate students across disciplines to study real urban mobility challenges, develop actionable solutions, and confront the messy realities of implementation. <em><strong>This is not a seminar<\/strong><\/em>. It is a problem-solving collective grounded in live challenges, practitioner expertise, and cross-sector collaboration. We are looking for graduate students who bring different lenses to the table in disciplines such as, but not only:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Urban Planning<\/li>\n<li>Law<\/li>\n<li>Public Health<\/li>\n<li>Engineering<\/li>\n<li>Political Science<\/li>\n<li>Real Estate<\/li>\n<li>Business<\/li>\n<li>Environmental Studies<\/li>\n<li>Other studies not listed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The value of this community comes directly from the diversity of perspectives in the room. If you have ever thought \u201cthis problem is bigger than my field\u201d \u2014 this is for you.<\/p>\n<h2>What to expect from the learning community<\/h2>\n<p>There will be five sessions from October 2026 through April 2027, each 60\u201375 minutes, with time to connect afterward. The sessions will be hosted in person at the Initiative on Cities (75 Bay State Road):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>15 min<\/em> Faculty framing of the topic<\/li>\n<li><em>20 min<\/em> Practitioner conversation<\/li>\n<li><em>30 min<\/em> Student discussion and Q&amp;A<\/li>\n<li>Open Informal networking<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sessions are grounded in 1\u20132 short readings or case studies distributed in advance. Come prepared to discuss, debate, and push ideas forward \u2014 not just listen. Each session connects mobility to a broader policy challenge \u2014 because that is where the real leverage is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Public Health: Transit access, active mobility, environmental health disparities<\/li>\n<li>Housing &amp; Affordability: Commute burden, transit-oriented development, inclusionary policy<\/li>\n<li>Climate &amp; Environment: Decarbonization, land use, resilience<\/li>\n<li>Economic Opportunity: Job access, workforce equity, development patterns<\/li>\n<li>Procurement &amp; Funding: Project delivery, federal\/state\/local coordination, budget constraints<\/li>\n<li>Political Reality: Stakeholder conflicts, political feasibility, institutional barriers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What you will get out of this learning community<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Access to senior practitioners from MassDOT, MBTA, the business community, other state\/local agencies, and leading advocacy organizations<\/li>\n<li>Engagement with live, real-world challenges in procurement, funding, equity, and project delivery<\/li>\n<li>A cross-sector network connecting peers and leaders across public, private, and nonprofit sectors<\/li>\n<li>Career exposure \u2014 understanding what work at the intersection of mobility and policy actually looks like, including the hard realities of implementation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Application &amp; Questions<\/h2>\n<p>Interested students can apply <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.gle\/V9oTywRCaEB4aiyk6\">by filling out a short form<\/a> below. Applications are due by <strong>September 20, 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<a href='https:\/\/forms.gle\/V9oTywRCaEB4aiyk6' class='button button-primary'>Apply<\/a>\n<p>Please reach out to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/profile\/rob-diadamo\/\">Rob DiAdamo<\/a> to learn more or ask questions: <a href=\"mailto:rdiadamo@bu.edu\">rdiadamo@bu.edu<\/a> \u00b7 978-407-6276<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mobility is not a transportation problem. It is a public health problem, a housing problem, a climate problem, and an equity problem. Yet the people working on each of those pieces rarely sit in the same room: This learning community changes that. A small, cross-disciplinary cohort of BU graduate students, convened by Lecturer of Law [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19783,"featured_media":25665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[589,107],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19783"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25664"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25717,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25664\/revisions\/25717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ioc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}