Urban Science Research Seminar: Dan O’Brien
Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP) and the Department of Technology Management and Innovation (TMI) at NYU Tandon welcome you to attend a lecture by Dan O’Brien, professor of public policy and urban affairs and criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University, as part of the Spring 2025 Urban Science Research Seminar Series. This event will take place in Room 1201.
About the Lecture
The Pointillistic City extends the classic observation that “neighborhoods matter” for health and well-being, arguing that we need to pay more attention to the other geographic scales that we live at — including streets within neighborhoods and even properties within streets — and how they each affect us. This is analogous to a pointillistic painting, which is similarly organized into dots within objects and objects within a full image. This “pointillistic perspective” surfaces microspatial inequities, or disparities between people living in the same neighborhood, as a pressing and overlooked concern for our science, policy, and practice. The book illustrates this perspective through two civic research projects: one on the impact of problem properties on public safety and the other on the pertinence of “urban heat islets” and other hyperlocal hazards to environmental justice. It ends with guidance for designing policies and practices that address microspatial inequities, with an emphasis on putting cutting-edge data in the hands of communities.
About the Speaker
Dr. Dan O’Brien is Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University and Director of the Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI). His research focuses on equity in urban neighborhoods, including crime, environmental justice, and more. His three books, The Urban Commons (Harvard University Press, 2018), Urban Informatics (Chapman Hall / CRC Press, 2022), and The Pointillistic City (MIT Press, 2024), demonstrate the value of integrating data-driven science with community-oriented policy and practice.
Visitor Information
This event will take place in Room 1201 at 370 Jay St. Please visit the NYU Tandon website for directions and a campus map. Advance registration through Eventbrite is required for campus access at NYU for external guests.
About the Urban Science Research Seminar Series
The Center for Urban Science + Progress’s annual Research Seminar series features leading voices in the growing field of urban informatics examining real-world challenges facing cities and urban environments around the world. The Spring 2025 series is organized by Assistant Professors Takahiro Yabe, Qi Sun, and Graham Dove.
Location: 370 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, United States
Time: 1:00-2:00 pm EST
Free!
