Daniel T. O’Brien

Daniel T. O’Brien is an Associate Professor at Northeastern University, affiliated with the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. He serves as Director of the Boston Area Research Initiative, focusing on research-policy collaborations in urban informatics.

His research specializes in leveraging modern digital datasets to analyze urban processes, particularly neighborhood social dynamics and custodianship of public spaces and infrastructure. His work emphasizes cross-sector partnerships to improve urban governance and service delivery.

As Director of the Boston Area Research Initiative, he has pioneered models for integrating academic research with municipal policy frameworks. His book The Urban Commons (2018, Harvard University Press) exemplifies this approach by examining Boston’s 311 system as a case study for collaborative urban analysis.