Fall 2025
Originally published in Johns Hopkins’ Arts & Sciences Magazine.
When Associate Professor Michael Bader took the helm of the Johns Hopkins 21st Century Cities Initiative (21CC) in 2022, he wanted a project that would still matter decades from now.
“We wanted research that would give community leaders, government, and businesses real information about Baltimore residents,” Bader says. “At the same time, it had to create opportunities for Hopkins researchers to work together.”
The result was the Baltimore Area Survey (BAS), launched in 2023. Each year it polls city and county residents about daily life—neighborhoods, health, schools, transportation, food access—and how experiences vary by race, class, and geography. Roughly 1,500 respond online, with findings released in a public annual report, “A Portrait of Baltimore.”