MetroBridge, the experiential learning program at Boston University’s Initiative on Cities, is seeking project partners for the fall 2026 semester. These projects have included age- and dementia friendly initiatives like improving walkability and analyzing access to local tax relief programs.

June 24th is the deadline to submit a project idea to receive free research support from BU students, but potential applicants are strongly encouraged to submit as soon as possible.

The topics below represent preliminary priority areas for the Fall 2026 semester and can be viewed with an age- and dementia friendly lens.

Please note this list is preliminary and is updated throughout the year on our website as BU holds conversations with their faculty network. If you have a project idea on an urban research need that does not fall under one of the below areas, partners are still encourage you to submit a proposal.

• Education policy, or policies affecting youth in schools
• Engineering / Mechanical Engineering
• Environmental Justice
• Governance, planning, public administration, and strategy
• Including:
• Developing Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)
• Developing internal or external policy implementation plans
• Developing internal or external policy follow-up plans
• Analyzing root causes of issues faced by departments and public sector agencies
• Process improvement
• Also see organizational culture and leadership support below
• Health Policy
• includes policy analysis, policy landscape analysis.
• Certain courses we work with may focus on data analysis or evaluation.
• Housing Policy and inequality
• see urban inequality below.
• Organizational Culture and Leadership Support
• Students provide an organizational assessment grounded in proven analytical frameworks
• This includes identification of key leadership, cultural, and structural challenges, as well as root cause analysis of persistent or systemic issues.
• Students evaluate alternative courses of action and make actionable recommendations for sustainable improvement.
• Policy Analysis, Policy Case Studies
• for any urban policy
• Past projects have included:
• an audit of the nightlife economy in Nubian Square, with recommendations for policies to improve nightlife
• an analysis of MBTA bus stop quality and amenities in Boston
• an analysis of parking and curbside management programs, as well as policies to reduce car ownership
• an analysis of behavior regarding littering and using of the Mass Save program
• Program/Project/Service/Amenity Evaluation
• In 2025, students developed an objective and informed survey instrument that the Town of Easton can use to gain input from community members on existing parks and recreation assets as well as desires for the future.
• This course is an excellent fit for the development of research or evaluation tools for cities and towns.
• Public Sector Economics
• In 2025, students conducted comparative fiscal studies of transit agencies in the United States examining their financial outlook and measures taken to address fiscal constraints, in order to provide greater insight to the MBTA Advisory Board.
• Projects for this course should have easily accessible data, as students will have limited time for data collection.
• Urban Inequality, including housing inequality
• This course is a fantastic fit for projects covering a wide range of housing issues related to inequality (projects do not need to involve housing, but most do).
• In 2025, students researched barriers to accessing safe and affordable housing among for sub-populations for the City of Boston.
• In 2024, students conducted research regarding the approaches, debate, and advocacy in local implementation of required MBTA Communities zoning changes
• In 2022, students researched best practices to enhance equitable public participation in alignment with Framingham’s Racial Equity Vision
• Any other urban research need not listed above!
• If your project does not fall under one of the above areas, we still encourage you to submit! We frequently embed projects outside of our focus areas into additional courses.

Please note that the above list is not a comprehensive list of possible project topics & focus areas. This list will change as projects are matched and as we continue to hold conversations with our faculty network.