MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning

A newly published research report from MIT’s Center for Advanced Urbanism (CAU) highlights the complexity of the issue. Produced in collaboration with the American Institute of Architects, the document examines an array of public health matters in eight major metropolitan areas in the United States, and suggests a wide array of possible remedies, from better mass transit to extensive tree-planting.

Cassandria Campbell and Jackson Renshaw are opening a new food truck for Boston, but they won’t be parking it downtown. Fresh Food Generation will park in neighborhoods that haven’t yet enjoyed the rotating cuisine food trucks provide. Campbell, who is from Boston and graduated from the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, has lived in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan.

An international design team consisting of the MIT Center for Advanced Urbanism (US) and Dutch Delta Collective (NL) was charged by Shaun Donovan, United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, with a study and design for the reconstruction and redevelopment of the northeast coastline of the United States, after the passage of hurricane Sandy in 2012. The team combines the cutting edge research and local knowledge of MIT and the best in water design and management from the Netherlands, such as De Urbanisten, Deltares, Volker Infra Design, ZUS and 75B.

The MIT School of Architecture + Planning has named Jennifer Pahlka, founder of Code for America, winner of the 2013-2014 Kevin Lynch Award. The award is presented biannually for outstanding scholarship and practice in urban design, planning and landscape design.

Xavier de Souza Briggs, associate professor of sociology and urban planning and associate department head of DUSP, has been appointed vice president of the Economic Opportunity and Assets program of the Ford Foundation. He will go on public service leave from MIT and start at Ford effective Jan. 1.

According to the New York Times, "Superpedestrian, a start-up in Boston, announced on Monday that it has received $2.1 million in financing to help build a wheel that transforms some standard bicycles into hybrid e-bikes."  The innovation behind the company's plans is the "Copenhagen Wheel," designed by DUSP's SENSEable City Lab.

President L. Rafael Reif has announced his intention to create an MIT Innovation Initiative, and has selected two faculty members to lead the effort.

In an email to the MIT community, Reif named Fiona Murray, the Alvin J. Siteman (1948) Professor of Entrepreneurship, and Vladimir Bulović, the Fariborz Maseeh Professor in Emerging Technology, to lead the MIT Innovation Initiative. He also named a 19-member Advisory Committee to assist Murray and Bulović in developing recommendations on next steps, including DUSP's own Assistant Professor Sarah Williams.