# News & Events ![graph](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2025-11/888A7432%20%281%29.jpg?itok=L8Sb_CAI) ## Latest News [### Through the Urban Politics Field Lab, Kennedy School students help shape a new vision for Belmont ](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/taubman/state-and-local-perspectives/through-urban-politics-field-lab-kennedy-school) February 12, 2026 Late last year, a small group of people gathered in front of the Belmont, Massachusetts Select Board to present possibilities for the future of an underdeveloped area of the town. The presenters were deeply invested in sharing the community-driven vision... ![Belmont Field Lab](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/Belmont%20Field%20Lab.png?itok=S0i2ifMc) [### Harvard Presents Brighton Street Overlay Findings ](https://belmontvoice.org/harvard-presents-brighton-street-overlay-findings/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) December 12, 2025 Thursday afternoon, students from the Harvard Kennedy School Urban Politics Field Lab presented to town officials and members of the community the development priorities identified by key stakeholders in the Brighton Street corridor. The Harvard students... ![Students in the Field](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-12/Belmont%20Pic.jpg?itok=9mbIKf8O) [### “You Can Have Real Impact While You Are Still a Student” A Q&A with Mary Treacy, MPP ’24 ](/news/2025/12/you-can-have-real-impact-while-you-are-still-student-qa-mary-treacy-mpp-24) December 04, 2025 When Mary Treacy arrived at the Harvard Kennedy School, she thought her future might lie in academic economics. Instead, two Greater Boston Field Labs—one studying Boston’s Open Newbury Street program, another modeling redevelopment options in Long Beach... ![Alumni](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-12/2Y7A6909.jpg?itok=eDDBv3KW) [### “The impact is real”: Two decades of local collaborations through the Greater Boston Applied Field Lab ](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/cities-communities/impact-real-two-decades-local-collaborations) July 15, 2025 Over the past twenty years the Greater Boston Applied Field Lab at Harvard Kennedy School has engaged more than six hundred students from nearly fifty communities in the greater Boston region in immersive projects addressing budgets, operations... ![Students](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-11/888A5332%20%281%29.jpg?itok=Z7OI8wyX) [### Harvard Kennedy School’s Greater Boston Applied Field Lab demonstrates remarkable impact on Massachusetts communities as the program celebrates its 20th anniversary ](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/announcements/harvard-kennedy-schools-greater-boston-applied-field-lab-demonstrates-remarkable) June 23, 2025 Congressman Seth Moulton (MA-6th) and Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll joined nearly 200 Harvard alumni on June 18 for a convening marking the impact of 20 years of the Greater Boston Applied Field Lab, a landmark experiential learning... ![Alumni](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-12/888A5363.jpg?itok=C2zDOQ1l) [### An HKS field lab helps policymakers transform a big idea into impact ](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/cities-communities/hks-field-lab-works-commonwealth-massachusetts) April 25, 2025 For the last 20 years, students in Professor Linda Bilmes’ “Greater Boston Applied Field Lab” course have been all over Massachusetts, applying their classroom skills to real problems. Some have called these field labs “academic residencies” for public... ![Students](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-11/HKS_HealeyJayesGreen_2560x1440.jpg?itok=-p7y0ATw) [### You’ve been admitted. Now what?: Explore experiential learning opportunities at HKS ](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/admissions-blog/youve-been-admitted-now-what-explore-experiential-learning-opportunities-hks) April 10, 2025 As an HKS student, you might assist a newly elected mayor transition into office; spend the summer interning in a governor’s office; or work with public officials to tackle issues related to transportation, real estate development, or homelessness. ![Students in the Field](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-12/24_HKS-Field_Lab_JDBK-Inline_2_2560x1440.jpg?itok=JwmS85j7) [### An HKS field lab evaluates a car-free street policy for Boston ](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/cities-communities/hks-field-lab-evaluates-car-free-street-policy) February 05, 2024 “Experiential learning provides practice, but it also provides a deeper understanding of each concept’s importance and how the concepts interact. Classroom lessons tend to make topics seem more black-and-white than they truly are. Once you start applying... ![Students in the Field](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-12/2Y7A7181.jpg?itok=bb2h44_j) [### When proposing redevelopment ideas for an abandoned 95-acre city parcel, seeing is believing ](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/cities-communities/when-proposing-redevelopment-ideas-abandoned-95) July 10, 2023 “I’ve been doing urban planning studies for more than 15 years at HKS, over 100 projects,” said Linda Bilmes, speaking of the field labs that give her students the opportunity to analyze real-world issues and offer solutions. “Using virtual reality... ![Alumni](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-12/Lt_Gov_Driscoll.jpeg?itok=dQRvw6-S) [### HKS’s Greater Boston Applied Field Lab investigates inclusionary zoning as a tool to increase affordable housing ](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/cities-communities/hkss-greater-boston-applied-field-lab) March 03, 2023 As housing costs soar in major cities across the United States, inclusionary zoning is an attractive option debated among planners and policymakers. Inclusionary zoning (IZ), a city-enacted ordinance that requires builders to set aside a percentage of... ![Alumni](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-12/Article_Bilmes_IZ_Inline_2560x1440.jpeg?itok=ZQfdqS_3) [### Smarter Cities ](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/cities-communities/smarter-cities) January 31, 2022 In his final year at Harvard Kennedy School, Andrew Levine MPP 2017 joined a group of graduate students conducting research and analysis to help then-Mayor Martin J. Walsh figure out whether the city of Boston should pursue a tax hike to fund major... ![Alumni](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-12/1_HKSMag_wi22_Smarter-Cities_Portland-Justin_1280x720.jpg?itok=BA_fCHmO) [### HKS Magazine — Winter 2022 Feature: Very Local Roots ](/news/2022/01/hks-magazine-winter-2022-feature-very-local-roots) January 28, 2022 The urban field lab work stretches back to 2005, when Kennedy School students began heading out to cities and towns for on-the-ground learning and fieldwork. Those students didn’t have to travel far. Just a few miles up Massachusetts Avenue, in not-yet... ![Field Lab Presentation](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/Field%20Lab%20Presentation.png?itok=RYeqLUD2) [### Driving is more expensive than you think ](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/01/massachusetts-car-economy-costs-64-billion-study-finds/) January 23, 2020 Kennedy School study puts annual Mass. costs at $64 billion, hopes figure will be used as a comparison in mass-transit spending decisions ![Alumni](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-12/LInda%20Stevie.png?itok=pU8w9NE_) [### Bacow stresses educational, civic partnerships, discusses urban issues with Phoenix mayor, others ](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/05/bacow-stresses-educational-civic-partnerships-during-southwest-trip/) May 13, 2019 As part of the collaboration between the Bloomberg Harvard program and Phoenix, last spring HKS Professor **Linda Bilmes**, the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and an expert on public finance, led a city field project. ![Students in the Field](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-12/Bacow.png?itok=NELDsLg_) [### Where urban needs, Harvard solutions meet ](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/10/rappaport-institute-helps-build-bridge-between-area-and-the-academy/) October 20, 2017 The Rappaport Institute was an early supporter of Bilmes’ experiential learning lab program, which sent her public finance students to work in Greater Boston, the MBTA, and dozens of local jurisdictions. The class developed a new model in which city... ![Alumni](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-12/Linda%20Joe.png?itok=XoDsrQ3a) [### The Boston Herald: Harvard school looks at books and says … hey Tommy, you can fix this mess ](/news/2009/05/boston-herald-harvard-school-looks-books-and-says-hey-tommy-you-can-fix-mess) May 10, 2009 The 23 students, who are enrolled in an advanced budgeting course taught by former U.S. Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary Linda Bilmes, examined operations related to emergency communications, snow plowing, street lights, parking meters and... ![Linda-Bilmes-profile.](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/Linda-Bilmes-profile.jpg?itok=lEsEMZDG) [### HKS students will help out city of Boston ](/news/2008/12/hks-students-will-help-out-city-boston) December 11, 2008 Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino met with students in Linda Bilmes’ advanced budgeting and financial management course at HKS to encourage them to use their skills to help the Hub weather its current financial storm. This spring her students will undertake... ![2009 Menino](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/2009%20Menino.jpg?itok=1ytDLO5N) [### The Citizen Conversation with … Linda Bilmes ](/news/2007/10/citizen-conversation-linda-bilmes) October 21, 2007 On October 24, Prof. Linda Bilmes was one of three witnesses called before the U.S. House Committee on the Budget for its first-ever hearing on the growing costs of the Iraq War. Bilmes, who teaches several budgeting courses, has become an oft-cited and... ![152042_1207676.](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/152042_1207676.jpg?itok=XQPcMR54) [### The Boston Globe Magazine: The Model City ](/news/2006/05/boston-globe-magazine-model-city) May 14, 2006 The best-run city in Massachusetts is not its biggest. Tiny Somerville, wedged into a corner between Cambridge and Medford, is shockablock with cutting-edge ideas, from a city hot line to computerized tracking of city services to performance-based... ![Somerville 003](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/Somerville%20003.jpg?itok=XeQBPNAk) [### KSG students help town manage future floods ](/news/2006/04/ksg-students-help-town-manage-future-floods) April 06, 2006 The students are embarked on a semester-long project to help Hull navigate the tricky waters of the federal bureaucracy, lending their manpower to a town whose budget constraints make manpower scarce, the students engaged in a rigorous program to... ![Field Lab Hull](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/Field%20Lab%20Hull.png?itok=yYbe_g1S) [### Somerville counts on wonks-in-training for budget overhaul ](/news/2005/02/somerville-counts-wonks-training-budget-overhaul) February 11, 2005 It was an unlikely scene last fall, as 60 students from a graduate course on budgeting at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government descended on Somerville City Hall and its departmental outposts. Divided into teams of four or five, students sat with... ![Mayor of Somerville](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/Mayor%20of%20Somerville.png?itok=yyPd_pem) ## Featured Event **Greater Boston Field Lab 20th Anniversary Symposium** **Held June 2025 | Harvard Kennedy School** The Field Lab recently celebrated two decades of civic partnership and experiential learning with the 20th Anniversary Symposium at Harvard Kennedy School. The event convened alumni, city leaders, faculty, and students to reflect on twenty years of innovation in public finance, infrastructure, and local governance—and to explore the future of applied field learning. Highlights from the symposium will be featured in the **2025 Annual Report**. [### 20th Anniversary Symposium ](/event/20th-anniversary-symposium?occ_id=0)June 18, 2025 | All day In Person On June 18, 2025, with the generous support of the Rappaport Foundation, the Taubman Center, Harvard Kennedy School, and the Bloomberg Cities Initiative, we convened an immersive, participatory symposium to celebrate and reflect on the Applied Field Lab’s... ![picture](/sites/g/files/omnuum12421/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-11/888A5544.jpg?itok=KSXggyU6)