Urban Studies and Planning

In Beijing and other Chinese cities, restaurant activity can be used to understand broader socioeconomic trends, according to a study by MIT researchers.

Why urban planners should pay attention to restaurant-review sites

Study finds online restaurant information can closely predict key neighborhood indicators, in lieu of other data.

July 15, 2019

Commuters wait for a Red Line subway train, part of Boston’s public transit system. A new study by MIT researchers shows that low-income people use mass transit significantly more often when they have access to fare reductions.

3 Questions: An experiment illuminates the value of public transportation

Urban studies research from MIT sheds light on the ways low-income riders use mass transit.

June 19, 2019

PhD candidates Sahil Shah (left) and Peter Godart, both of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, have each received fellowships from MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab for 2019-20. Their research explores possible solutions to global and local water supply challenges through new approaches to desalination.

PhD students awarded J-WAFS fellowships for water solutions

J-WAFS announces graduate fellowships for Sahil Shah and Peter Godart, both of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

June 17, 2019

Just 10 taxis typically cover one-third of Manhattan’s streets in a day.

Taking a city’s pulse with moveable sensors

Study quantifies how much of Manhattan 10 taxis cover in a day — to better measure air pollution, traffic, and more.

June 11, 2019

2018-19 J-WAFS Fellow Andrea Beck sits by the Charles River.

Untangling the social dynamics of water

J-WAFS Fellow and DUSP PhD student Andrea Beck examines the success factors behind water utility partnerships in Africa.

June 10, 2019

MIT researchers have given their fleet of autonomous “roboats” the ability to automatically target and clasp onto each other — and keep trying if they fail. The roboats are being designed to transport people, collect trash, and self-assemble into floating structures in the canals of Amsterdam.

Autonomous boats can target and latch onto each other

Fleet of “roboats” could collect garbage or self-assemble into floating structures in Amsterdam’s many canals.

June 5, 2019

3 Questions: Faculty appointments and the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing

Working group studies options for creating a new set of faculty hires for MIT’s new college.

May 24, 2019

MIT team that designed BEAVER (Biosphere Engineered Architecture for Viable Extraterrestrial Residence), a proposed Martian greenhouse that could provide 100 percent of the food required by four astronauts for up to two years

MIT team places second in 2019 NASA BIG Idea Challenge

Multilevel Mars greenhouse could provide food to sustain astronauts for several years.

May 20, 2019

Clockwise from top left: Katie Fisher, Abby Bertics, Catherine Wu, Jonars Spielberg, Samira Okudo, Hope Chen, Alexis D'Alessandro, Anna Bair, Miranda McClellan, Sarah DiIorio, James Pelletier. Not shown: Dariel Cobb

Twelve MIT students accept 2019 Fulbright Fellowships

Grantees will spend the 2019-2020 academic year pursuing research and teaching opportunities abroad.

May 16, 2019

Left to right: Richard Lester, MIT associate provost, who oversees MIT’s international activities; Sigbritt Karlsson, president of KTH; Anna König Jerlmyr, mayor of Stockholm; and Carlo Ratti, director of MIT Senseable City Lab.

MIT and KTH will collaborate on urban planning and development in Stockholm

Project will use new ways of collecting and analyzing data to make Stockholm more livable and sustainable.

May 16, 2019

Of students like MIT-Israel intern Seji Engelkemier, shown in Ein Avdat, Faculty Director Eran Ben-Joseph says: "MIT-Israel students come back with both a deep understanding of the region while taking their course of study to the next level. Both aspects of their Israel experience are invaluable, and they take them with them far beyond their time at MIT."

Cornerstone donation sparks bright future for MISTI MIT-Israel program

Arthur Samberg '62 donates $1 million to sustain the program for years to come.

May 9, 2019

CincyStitch team members (l-r) Matthew Macchietto of Harvard and Zhicheng Xu, Shiqi Peng, Alan Sage, and Joshua Brooks of MIT share a moment with Alex Rose, the Hines Student Competition jury chair and senior vice president of Continental Development Corporation, at the competition finals in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Grad students win Urban Land Institute challenge

Their winning 2019 Hines Student Competition entry readies an urban space for the future while preserving the past.

April 19, 2019

Graduate students Stephanie Lee (left) and Ellen Shakespear presenting at MITdesignX’s 2018 Spring Pitch event.

MET Fund launched to support MITdesignX

Seed fund will support venture-design education and entrepreneurship in the School of Architecture and Planning.

April 9, 2019

3 Questions: Why are student-athletes amateurs?

MIT Professor Jennifer Light digs into the history of the idea that students aren’t part of the labor force.

March 24, 2019

“At its core, the most important city planning questions are: Are we taking the time to observe and listen to the challenges communities are facing? Are we willing to be a bridge and make connections in spaces where we have power to? And how do we create platforms for people’s voices to be heard without being translators?” says Dasjon Jordan, a second-year master’s student in the Departmen...

Locally grown

Graduate student Dasjon Jordan brings neighborhood roots to urban planning.

March 21, 2019

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Browse By

Topics

Departments

Centers, Labs, & Programs

Schools

Department