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Our Mission

MPC's mission is to create knowledge and propose solutions to our 21st century metropolitan and urban challenges.
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What is the MPC?

The Metropolitan Policy Center (MPC) was created in the Fall of 2014 within the School of Public Affairs at American University (AU). MPC serves as the metropolitan and urban research hub on AU's campus. MPC's mission is to create knowledge and propose solutions to our 21st century metropolitan and urban challenges. The insights gained through the Center are disseminated to policy makers, think tanks, foundations, nonprofits, community groups and academic and mainstream media outlets.

Announcements

A huge welcome to the new members of our team! Michael Bader has moved into an Associate Director position, Theo Greene is joining us as a Visiting Scholar, and Katherine Silva and Richard Takacs are our new Graduate Assistants. A welcome back is also in order to Lawrence Anderson, a returning Graduate Assistant at MPC.
Learn more about them

Spring 2019 Events

*Annual Spring Lecture*
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Robert Sampson, Professor, Harvard University
Urban Neighborhoods and American Life
SIS Founder’s Room, 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm with a reception to follow

January 30, 2019
Theodore Greene, Bowdoin College
Making Dupont Gay Again: Place Re-Activation and the Rise of the Vicarious Citizen
Kerwin Hall, Room 301, 4:00pm – 5:00pm

February 13, 2019
Jean Beaman, Purdue University
Citizen Outsider: Children of North African Immigrants in France
Kerwin Hall, Room 301, 4:00pm – 5:00pm

February 27, 2019
Gordon Douglas, San Jose State University
Help-Yourself City: Legitimacy and Inequality in DIY Urbanism
Kerwin Hall, Room 301, 4:00pm – 5:00pm

March 1, 2019
AU Latino Public Affairs Forum
Co-sponsored with the Center for Latin American & Latino Studies
Location and Time TBD

March 7, 2019
Bottom-Up Politics Forum
Manuel Pastor, University of Southern California
Theda Skocpol, Harvard University
William Spriggs, Howard University
Margaret Weir, Brown University
Co-sponsored with George Washington University and Wilson Center’s Urban Sustainability Lab
Woodrow Wilson Center, Time TBD

March 27, 2019
Derek Hyra, American University
Gentrification and the Great Recession
Location TBD, 2:30pm – 4:00pm

MPC Spring Events

News & Media

Row Houses in Washington, DC

LeDroit Park row houses in Washington D.C. Flickr User Andrew