Past Projects

Data-Support System in a Pandemic

When COVID-19 arrived in Boston in March 2020, it completely upended life as we know it. As we collectively grappled with this situation, BARI was faced with a major question: how does an academic center contribute in such a critical moment? In response, we leaned into our strengths in civic research with cutting-edge data to track the onset, impacts, and recovery from the pandemic, pursuing science in real time. This included collecting and analyzing an NSF-funded neighborhood survey on COVID experiences (with UMass Boston’s Center for Survey Research), cellphone-generated mobility data provided by Safegraph, and the curation of diverse administrative and internet datasets (e.g., 311 and 911 calls, Craigslist postings).

This work generated a variety of actionable research projects. We released four public reports in collaboration with the Boston Public Health Commission on various aspects of the experiences and impacts of COVID across Boston’s neighborhoods; an eighth public report with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council on evictions; an extensive public database; two journal publications on inequities in exposure to COVID when accessing groceries and green spaces; and another article on the consequences of differential uptake of vaccinations across communities.

Investigators:

Dan Dooley (Boston Public Health Commission), Lee Hargraves (UMass Boston), Dan O’Brien (Northeastern University)*, Alina Ristea (Northeastern University), Anthony Roman (UMass Boston), Russell Schutt (UMass Boston) *-Contact: d.obrien@northeastern.edu

Data Products:

A database that coordinated multiple data sources capturing events and conditions across Boston’s neighborhoods during the pandemic. The components are summarized in this release and in this journal article.

Public Reports:

  1. O’Brien, D.T., Schutt, R., Hargraves, L., Dooley, D., Fowler, F., Wang, Q., Ristea, A., Roman, A., Amiri, M., Gibbons, S., Grabowski, H., Kovacevic, N. Living in Boston during COVID-19: Inequities in Navigating a Pandemic. Released through the Boston Area Research Initiative and SSRN (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3742887).
  2. O’Brien, D.T., Schutt, R., Hargraves, L., Dooley, D., Fowler, F., Wang, Q., Ristea, A., Roman, A., Amiri, M., Gibbons, S., Grabowski, H., Kovacevic, N. Living in Boston during COVID-19: Fear and Ambivalence. Released through the Boston Area Research Initiative and SSRN (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3756516).
  3. Schutt, R., O’Brien, D.T., Hargraves, L., Dooley, D., Fowler, F., Wang, Q., Ristea, A., Roman, A., Amiri, M., Gibbons, S., Grabowski, H., Kovacevic, N. Living in Boston during COVID-19: Economic Strains. Released through the Boston Area Research Initiative and SSRN (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3742887).
  4. O’Brien, D.T., Schutt, R., Hargraves, L., Dooley, D., Fowler, F., Wang, Q., Ristea, A., Roman, A., Amiri, M., Gibbons, S., Grabowski, H., Kovacevic, N. Living in Boston during COVID-19: Lifestyle, Ideology, and Context Drive Attitudes. Released through the Boston Area Research Initiative and SSRN https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3756526).
  5. Hangen, F., O’Brien, D.T., Philbrick, S., Reardon, T. Evictions and COVID-19: The Responsibility of the Large Landlord. Released through the Boston Area Research Initiative (https://cssh.northeastern.edu/bari/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/12/Eviction-Brief-BARI-MAPC.pdf).

Journal Articles:

  1. Dass, S., Ristea, A., O’Brien, D.T. 2023. Strategies and inequities in balancing recreation and COVID exposure when visiting green spaces. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science. 50: 1161-1177. 10.1177/23998083221114645
  2. O’Brien, D.T., Ristea, A., Dass, S. 2023. Exposure to infection when accessing groceries reveals racial and socioeconomic inequities in navigating the pandemic. Nature Scientific Reports. 13: 2484. 10.1038/s41598-023-28194-y
  3. Ristea, A., Tucker, R., You, S., Amiri, M., Beauchamp, N., Castro, E., Chen, Q., Ciomek, A., Das, B. de Benedictis-Kessner, J., Gibbons, S., Hangen, F., Montgomery, B., Papadopoulos, P., Robinson, C., Sheini, S., Shields, M., Shu, X., Wood, M., Heydari, B., O’Brien, D.T.* 2022. A Multisource Database Tracking the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Communities of Boston, MA, USA. Nature Scientific Data. 9: 330.
  4. Wang, Y., Ristea, A., Amiri, M., Dooley, D., Gibbons, S., Grabowski, H., Hargraves, J. L., Kovacevic, N., Roman, A., Schutt, R. K., Gao, J., Wang, Q.*, O’Brien, D. T.* 2021. Vaccination intentions generate racial disparities in the societal persistence of COVID-19. Scientific Reports. 11: 19906.