Initiative on Cities

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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 positive 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

10/14/2026

The Boston University Initiative on Cities is recruiting new faculty across disciplines as part of Boston University‘s Livable and Resilient Cities convergent search—a new University-wide approach to convergent research.

New convergent positions for Livable and Resilient Cities:
➤ Assistant Professor, Anthropology (College of Arts & Sciences)
➤ Assistant Professor, Biology (College of Arts & Sciences)
➤ Open Rank, Environmental Health (School of Public Health)
➤ Assistant Professor, Journalism (College of Communication)
➤ Associate Professor, BU School of Law
➤ Assistant Professor, Learning Sciences (Wheelock College of Education & Human Development)
➤ Assistant Professor, Political Science (College of Arts & Sciences)
➤ Assistant Professor, Sociology (College of Arts & Sciences)
➤ Assistant Professor, City Planning & Urban Affairs (CPUA), Metropolitan College

Going beyond traditional interdisciplinary collaboration, convergent research intentionally brings together different disciplines, methods, and ways of thinking to tackle complex challenges and open new directions for discovery.

Faculty joining this cluster will have opportunities to build collaborations across the social, environmental, educational, biological, data, legal, and communication sciences to pursue ambitious questions about how to create healthier, more equitable, and adaptable cities.

Learn more about the position and how you can join this work at BU; link in bio!

10/07/2026

We are excited to share that Jacqueline Maldonado (CAS ‘28) is our 2026–2027 Menino Fellow in partnership with the National League of Cities (NLC)!

Jacqueline, a proud New Yorker from The Bronx, is a junior studying Political Science with minors in Sociology and Holocaust, Genocide & Human Rights Studies. She is passionate about improving the conditions of marginalized and under-resourced communities through data-backed policy. She has gained experience in education, promoting and creating diverse spaces, and policy research, which have reinforced her commitment to public service.

At BU, Jacqueline is involved in the BU Diversity in Law Association and Assisting Refugees through Initiative, Service, and Education (ARISE), where she focuses on community building, advocacy, and community service. Beyond the classroom, she enjoys practicing pilates, thrifting, movies, and visiting new places in Boston (especially on the hunt for more third spaces).

This fall semester, Jacqueline will conduct research into race, gentrification, and activism in the South Bronx with Professor Loretta Lees. Her interest in researching her hometown neighborhood stems from her observations of disparities between newer, more financially well-off residents and poorly maintained public housing. During the spring semester, Jacqueline will intern with the NLC while enrolled in BU’s Washington, D.C. Internship Program.

Learn more about Jacqueline at bu.edu/ioc/ (web link in bio)!

09/30/2026

📔 🥳 We’re proud to share our 2026 Annual Report, highlighting what we’ve been up to in our 12th year!

🏙️🌱 This past year, we expanded opportunities for students to engage in real-world urban work, advanced research on critical issues, including housing and displacement, and strengthened partnerships across Boston and beyond.

Swipe to see some highlights of our work for the past year and read the full report on our website; link in bio!

09/28/2026

This past summer, four fellows and interns worked in different departments at City of Boston on creative, impactful, and novel projects! Our interns and fellows encouraged interdepartmental collaboration, proposed policy recommendations, conducted fieldwork and community engagement, and developed new materials.

Swipe to see a takeaway from each of our City of Boston interns/fellows.

Read their full accounts on our website at bu.edu/ioc/

09/21/2026

Where: Tuesday, September 29, 2026, 4-6 PM
When: Eichenbaum Colloquium Room (Room 101), Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering, 610 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215

Join the Initiative on Cities and the Office of Research for this Research on Tap session, bringing together researchers working across terrestrial, coastal, and human systems to explore the intersection of ecological systems and social life in cities. It will examine how policy choices and development patterns shape both environmental outcomes and human well-being over time, and consider the material dimensions of urban nature alongside the social and symbolic meanings that influence how communities experience and value these spaces. This event will foster cross-disciplinary dialogue and model the kind of convergent research needed to expand the scope of urban research at BU and address complex urban challenges.

Register through the link in our bio!

09/09/2026

🏫🏙️👀 Check out our 10 MetroBridge experiential learning course projects and partners for Fall 2026! Each semester, we connect and partner Boston University classrooms with local governments and community organizations to tackle pressing, real-world, real-time urban issues through problem-solving and research.

Swipe or visit our website to learn about each project!

09/08/2026

🏙️ 📝 🗣️ Join us for the first Urban Inequalities Workshop led by the Boston University Department of Sociology for the Fall 2026 Semester. Our first guest speaker is Dr. Zawadi Rucks-Ahidiana from the University at Albany, State University of New York! She will be presenting “Moving Beyond Displacement: Scale of Gentrification and Disruption for Long-Term Residents.”

Dr. Rucks-Ahidiana will present an early draft of an article exploring the limitations of ‘displacement’ in theories of gentrification, suggesting that ‘disruption’ might serve as a broader conceptual lens for understanding the way gentrification interrupts.

🥪 A light lunch will be served!

Please RSVP to Natalie Smith at [email protected] if you plan to attend so that we can share the paper with you in advance.

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!

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

Address

75 Bay State Road
Boston, MA
02215

Telephone

+16173588080

Website

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

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