Initiative on Cities

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Initiative on Cities

Boston University’s urban research and learning hub. Advancing urban leadership and research. Founded by a proven urban leader, former Boston Mayor Thomas M.

Menino, and a highly regarded academic, Professor Graham Wilson, the Initiative on Cities serves as a bridge between world-class academic research and the real-life practice of city governance. The mission of the Initiative on Cities is to research, promote, and advance the adaptive urban leadership strategies and policies necessary to support cities as dynamic centers of economic growth and posit

ive development in the 21st century. We accomplish this mission by focusing on three approaches:
-Advancing Urban Leadership
-Promoting Urban Policies in Practice
-Inspiring Future Leaders

08/28/2026

🕓 Tuesday, September 15, 2026, 4:00 – 5:30 PM ET 📍 Boston University Initiative on Cities | 75 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215

Join the Boston University Initiative on Cities and the Metropolitan College City Planning & Urban Affairs Program for our first Transportation & the City event this fall, welcoming Rich Davey, CEO of Massport and an experienced transportation leader in Massachusetts and New York, for a conversation about the future of transportation in Greater Boston. Drawing on more than two decades of transportation leadership, Rich Davey will share his perspective on challenges and opportunities connecting the region to the world and shaping its transportation future.

Rob DiAdamo, Lecturer of Law and City Planning & Urban Affairs and a former transit official who led the MBTA Commuter Rail, will serve as moderator.

Register through the Initiative’s link in bio or at bu.edu/ioc/rich-davey-conversation

08/26/2026

🏙️ 💼 ✨ We’re hiring! The IOC is looking for TWO talented and passionate Boston University student staffers to join our team. The students will work closely with the IOC team to support various events, social media initiatives, outreach efforts, and other projects.

We are looking for students who are generally available Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons this Fall semester. Hours can be negotiated and adjusted based on the students’ schedules. We expect a commitment of 6-10 hoursper week for the Fall semester, with the option to continue into Spring 2027.

What we are looking for:
• Competent in Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, independent, and creative
• Well-versed in social media content creation, narration and hosting, and content management
• Experience in photography, filming, art, web/coding, research (quantitative or qualitative), or design is a plus
• Experience with WordPress and website builders is a plus
• Passion for urban / city topics, policies, and issues

Learn more and apply; link in bio!

08/25/2026

📚🚉 We’re excited to share a new learning community held at the Initiative on Cities for all Boston University graduate students on urban mobility and infrastructure! Mobility is not just a transportation problem—it’s also a public health one, a housing one, a climate one, an equity one. Many different groups look at it from their perspectives, but rarely cross over or in the same room tackling the challenges and solutions to something that fundamentally impacts our everyday lives. Swipe right or visit bu.edu/ioc/mobility-learning to learn more and apply!

This learning community, meeting five times from October 2026 to April 2027, will look to address real urban mobility challenges, develop actionable solutions, and face policies and realities in implementing new policies. Practitioners, policymakers, and leaders in transportation, housing, environment, and other sectors will join, connect, and help in each of the sessions.

We’re looking for 10-15 BU graduate students. Rob DiAdamo, a Lecturer in Law and City Planning and Urban Affairs and a former transportation official who led the MBTA Commuter Rail and as Chief of Staff/Deputy General Manager, will lead the sessions as the convener: reach out to Rob for any questions!

07/07/2026

When: Wednesday, July 22, 2026, 10:00 – 11:30 AM Eastern Time (Boston/New York City time)
Where: Virtual; register through the link in bio or visit bu.edu/ioc

Join the Boston University Initiative on Cities for a virtual discussion on the Global Fight to Reclaim the “Right to the City.”

The “right to the city” has become a powerful framework for urban social movements and has increasingly shaped conversations in policymaking, law, and international organizations, including UN-Habitat. Yet its meaning remains contested. For Henri Lefebvre, the “right to the city” was an ethos of engagement, the possibility of city residents defining their destinies and freeing themselves from hegemonic models that have marginalized, stigmatized, and excluded many citizens. Reclaiming the “right to the city” requires more than simply taking to the streets; it is about urban residents asserting their expertise and knowledge, though the pathways for doing so differ across place and context. This conversation explores how that vision continues to evolve – and how communities are putting it into practice in cities around the world.

The event is part of the Right to the City exhibition featuring the works of Dominic Moulden, hosted by the Initiative on Cities and generously supported by the Boston University Office of the President and Boston University Art Galleries.

Co-moderated by Dominic Moulden, featured artist of Right to the City, community activist, and ethnographic photographer, and Stefano Portelli, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Rome Tre

06/17/2026

We’re excited to share the recipients of our third community partnership pilot grant: BU City Planning Urban Affairs Director Yesim Sungu-Eryilmaz, Lowell Alliance, and the Merrimack Valley Project!

Beginning this summer, the three collaborators will work together to explore potential community impacts of the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor (LINC) project, a proposed 15-acre mixed-use development and public-private partnership between the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and the City of Lowell. Lowell Alliance and Merrimack Valley Project, as community organizations deeply embedded in Lowell, will connect with community stakeholders, the local government, and developers affiliated with LINC for this project partnership.

Leveraging Director Sungu-Eryilmaz’s expertise in community benefits and impact evaluations, the research team will produce a report that can be adapted for advocacy and action, including briefs, flyers, fact sheets, training materials, slide decks, and setup for community forums.

Swipe to hear more from some of the collaborators and learn more about the project at bu.edu/ioc

06/09/2026

🌉🌱🔎 Another year in the books for our MetroBridge experiential learning program! We’re excited to share some highlights from the over 400 BU students who worked this past year with 19 of our public sector partners and courses (e.g., local governments, nonprofits, and community organizations)! Students researching, exploring, proposing solutions, and creating novel tools to address urban challenges in real time and help further the work in their respective communities.

Swipe to see some photos of students in action. Photos taken by our staff .liu18 .inl

Learn more about the projects and the MetroBridge; link in bio!

06/04/2026

We are excited to share the launch of the Right to the City art exhibition featuring photographer and activist Dominic Moulden on global resistances against displacement. This exhibition is generously supported by the Boston University Office of the President and the Boston University Art Galleries! The exhibition will be on display at the Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery at 855 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 (at CFA) from June 9 to August 8, 2026.

Please join us for our two featured events that accompany the exhibition taking place at Stone Gallery:

➤ Right to the City Gallery Opening Reception, taking place on Thursday, June 11, 2026, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, featuring a program with featured guest Essmaa Litim, 2025 Boston Music Award Spoken Word Artist of the Year, with refreshments and a gallery viewing.

➤ The Right to the City: Visualizing Home, Resistance, & Belonging, taking place on Friday, June 12, 2026, from 12:00 to 1:30 PM for a lunchtime (lunch included!) panel discussion featuring Right to the City artist Dominic Moulden, Karilyn Crockett, Nia Evans, and Dan Lesser; moderated by Joseph Zeal-Henry.

RSVP links for the two events are in our bio! Swipe to learn more about the Right to the City exhibition!

06/02/2026

☀️🌇 We’re excited to share our 2026 cohort of summer fellows and interns! Each year, we place Boston University students in local governments and nonprofit organizations to help and learn how these organizations operate and to work directly on projects that will impact many lives. This year, 5 BU students will spend their summer working full-time in Boston’s City Hall.

Swipe right and visit our website to learn more about each of our summer fellows and interns; IOC website link in bio!

05/29/2026

Inspired by classic Works Progress Administration (WPA) poster designs, the Icons of Franklin Park Poster Competition invited artists in 2025 to submit original works highlighting the park’s physical and cultural icons, past and present. The City of Boston, the Boston Society of Landscape Architects, and the Franklin Park Coalition sponsored the competition.

Among the winners featured three BU students and alumni: Helena Wang (COM ‘26), Lindsay Crockett (CAS ‘15) and Stella Shippy.

Swipe to learn more!

05/28/2026

🫖🚊 Episode 2 - What’s the T

✨What’s your ideal city?

Address

75 Bay State Road
Boston, MA
02215

Telephone

+16173588080

Website

http://www.bu.edu/ioc/

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