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Spatially-oriented social sciences have witnessed an “infrastructure turn” over the past couple of decades. While much research has focused on the material and political aspects and consequences of traditional “hardware” infrastructure such as transport projects and municipal facilities for waste treatment, relatively little attention has been given to the critical role of social infrastructure such as local public libraries. This is exactly what Laura Delgado, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, has undertaken as her research agenda with already published work in such top urban studies journals as Journal of Urban Affairs and a great opportunity for making further contributions to the field of urban studies.

This year’s Marcuss Fellows worked on global urban studies research projects from two different lenses. Rory Trani ’24 was inspired by having her first tastes of freedom as a teenager on the Portland, Oregon area metro system (known as the MAX) and by her experience of the efficient, modern metro system while studying away in Copenhagen. Rory used these experiences, an extensive literature review, and interviews conducted on the trains in both cities to compare the two transit systems under the guidance of Professor Garth Myers. Hannah Lorenzo ’24 was inspired by her identity as a Filipina American to investigate the role and importance of Asian-owned food businesses in the Hartford area. While Rory took a comparative global approach, Hannah investigated the importance of complexities of diasporic communities in Hartford while being advised by Professor Keavy McFadden.

Paz Daniela Ortiz Santa Maria '26 conducted research last summer supported by the Tanaka Fund at CUGS across Japan in search of an understanding of similarities between Japanese Shinto and Peruvian indigenous belief systems from the Inca period.

Embarking from the tranquil setting “neath the elms of our old Trinity," my academic journey has spanned continents over the past fourteen years. Trinity served as the foundation for my venture into neuroscience, igniting a flame that guided me across the globe, first to Imperial College London where I happened to room with two Trinity students who had attended Trinity’s urban China summer program in Shanghai, and then to Cambridge leading to Shanghai.

Maria Auxiliadora Briceño Barrios and Jose Daniel Anido R were visiting scholars at CUGS from July 2021 to January 2024. Both Dr. Briceño Barrios and Dr. Anido have a PhD in Economics with research experience studying small family owned businesses in their home city of Merida, Venezuela. During their time at CUGS, they worked on a study of Hispanic-owned family businesess in Hartford – an important sector in Hartford and especially in the neighborhoods directly around Trinity College.

It is not a coincidence that Trinity College is celebrating its 200th year at the exact same time that the Connecticut World Affairs Council is celebrating its 100th anniversary. For an entire century, Trinity and the Connecticut World Affairs Council have shared a mission of “helping the community navigate the global world we live in,” said Megan Torrey, CEO of the council.

Albert Ananyan ’24 has been selected as a Schwarzman Scholar for the program’s 2024-2025 academic year. Schwarzman Scholars complete a one-year, fully-funded master’s degree program in global affairs at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

Sanya is a district in Tokyo that had a day laborer market which peaked in the 1980s. Today there is a gap in the literature about the decline of the region since. Rio Smith ’26 spent his summer studying the evolution of Sanya since the eighties and what the district is like today using a Tanaka Fund for International Research summer grant through CUGS. Smith is an urban studies major with a minor in philosophy who grew up between Los Angeles and Tokyo.

Global Studio (URST 403/803) is a new course offered this semester taught by Garth Myers, Director of the Center for Urban and Global Studies and Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Urban International Studies. The course serves as a capstone for urban studies majors as well as a core course for students in the new master’s in urban planning. Every week in Global Studio there is a guest speaker who comes to share their experience working in the field and their unique insights about their focus area within planning.

Shenzhen is a city known for being an overnight metropolis. The city has experienced rapid urbanization since the 1990s which has affected communities in numerous ways. The effect of urbanization on fisherfolk communities in Shenzhen is what John Li ’24 spent his summer researching using a grant from the China Urban Studies Summer Fund.