Northeastern University, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

The Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI) is an interuniversity partnership housed at Northeastern University that pursues original urban research on the cutting edge of both science and public policy, with an emphasis on the opportunities created by data-intensive technologies. BARI’s is building out the Boston Data Library, which makes modern digital data available for research, policy, and practice. It is developing a project that uses sensors to track changing environmental conditions, in partnership with the City of Chicago. New research-policy projects are being launched that focus on gentrification, pedestrian flows and the use of urban public spaces, and problem properties. Finally, BARI is  documenting model practices to support cross-city transfers of knowledge and technology, through direct collaborations with other cities and through participation in the MetroLab Network, a group of more than 20 city-university research partnerships housed at Carnegie Mellon University.