Join the Boston University Initiative on Cities and the City Planning & Urban Affairs (CPUA) at BU Metropolitan College for a discussion with BU Urbanist and Lecturer at the Boston University City Planning & Urban Affairs Program, Jim O’Connell, on his new book, Boston and the Making of a Global City.
Drawing on scholarship, media accounts, interviews, and planning documents, O’Connell traces how Boston has been shaped by globalisation – and how the city has helped shape it in return. From its roots as a colonial port and nineteenth-century maritime hub to its emergence as a global center of knowledge industries, the book explores how Boston leveraged its strengths in higher education and innovation sectors such as life sciences, healthcare, technology, and finance. O’Connell will reflect on the global flows of trade, investment, migration, and ideas that have defined the city’s development, as well as the economic, social, and environmental challenges Boston faces today.
O’Connell will be joined by Michael Hoyler, Professor of Human Geography and Head of Geography and Environment at Loughborough University, whose research focuses on globalisation, global urban networks, and the changing role of cities in the world economy.
Register for the discussion: https://www.bu.edu/ioc/2026/03/10/boston-and-the-making-of-a-global-city/
