Peer-Reviewed Research Articles
Forthcoming: Barrett, Ishaan. “Riverside Park’s Pier 1: The One-Hundred-Year Legacy of Robert Moses’ West Side Improvement Project and Contemporary Scholarship,” Michigan Journal of History, Spring 2025 [pages pending] https://michiganjournalhistory.wordpress.com/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Histories of Privatization: Examining Culture, Legal Conflict, and Economic Transformation at Adams Morgan Plaza in Washington, DC,” The Stanford Undergraduate Research Journal. Stanford University. Vol 20. No. 2, Spring 2025 1-11 https://ojs.stanford.edu/ojs/index.php/surj/article/view/3676
Barrett, Ishaan. “Visualizing Housing Borderlands: Histories of Migration, Multiculturalism, Capital Flight, and Urban Conflict in Washington, DC,” Roots, The Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, Columbia University, Spring 2025, 12-14.
Barrett, Ishaan. “Public Art and Murals in Washington, DC’s Gayborhoods: Exploring Urban LGBTQ Placemaking in the Nation’s Capital,” SCOPE, The Urban Equity Institute, January 1, 2025. https://www.urbanequityinstitute.org/public-art-and-murals-in-washington-dcs-gayborhoods-exploring-urban-lgbtq-placemaking-in-the-nations-capital/
Barrett, Ishaan. “The Language of Temporary Architecture, Immigration, Migration, and Asylum at Candler HERRC: Arabic and Spanish Linguistic Pragmatics in Translation,” SCOPE, The Urban Equity Institute, December 22, 2024. https://www.urbanequityinstitute.org/the-language-of-temporary-architecture-immigration-migration-and-asylum-at-candler-herrc-arabic-and-spanish-linguistic-pragmatics-in-translation/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Spatializing Grief: Examining the Rhetoric, Architecture, and Personification of Loss at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum,” Barnard-Columbia Urban Review, December 6, 2024, pages 57-69. https://bcurbanreview.com
Working Papers in Political Science
Barrett, Ishaan. “Building a RAG-Intelligent Retrieval Policy Analysis Engine for Congressional Legislation,” The Policy Intelligence Lab, The Urban Equity Institute, November 24, 2025. https://www.urbanequityinstitute.org/building-a-rag-intelligent-retrieval-policy-analysis-engine-for-congressional-legislation/
Barrett, Ishaan, and Rohit Barrett. “PCA Clustering and Topic Modeling of New York City PPRs Demonstrate Typological Differences in Content and Success Rate of DOI Interventions in City Governance,” The Democracy and Public Policy Practice, The Urban Equity Institute, November 15, 2025. https://www.urbanequityinstitute.org/pca-ppr-clustering-and-topic-modeling-nyc/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Communication is Key: Instituting Reform in New York’s IDNYC-Mayoral Partnership for Immigrant New York,” SCOPE, The Urban Equity Institute, July 4, 2025. https://www.urbanequityinstitute.org/communication-is-key-instituting-idnyc-moia-reform/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Contracting Trust in NYC: MOIA, City Council, and Overseeing Pro-Immigrant Services,” SCOPE, The Urban Equity Institute, June 15, 2025. https://www.urbanequityinstitute.org/contracting-trust-in-nyc-moia-city-council/
Edited Magazine Articles
Forthcoming: Barrett, Ishaan. “The Limits of Public Duty.” Pidgin 34, Princeton University School of Architecture (Spring 2026)
Forthcoming: Barrett, Ishaan. “A University in the City: I.M. Pei’s Maximalism and Columbia’s Closed Campus.” Platform (Fall 2025).
Barrett, Ishaan. “Hyderabad and Hitech-city: Reflections on a Changing Urban Culture,” URBAN Magazine: 25, pages 40-45. Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Spring 2024. https://issuu.com/gsapp_digitalpublishing/docs/urban_magazine_for_web
Barrett, Ishaan. “The City as a State,” Barnard-Columbia Urban Review, April 2024, https://www.bcurbanreview.com/the-city-as-a-state
Barrett, Ishaan. “Eat, Pray, Love and Cinemas of Ruin: Valuing Heritage and Memory in Changing Urban Landscapes,” Barnard-Columbia Urban Review, December 2023, https://bcurbanreview.wixsite.com/bc-urbanreview/city-ruins
Barrett, Ishaan. “Deconstructing New York: On Jennifer Williams Photographing the Peripheral City,” Barnard-Columbia Urban Review, December 2023, https://www.bcurbanreview.com/deconstructing-new-york
Barrett, Ishaan. “Human Relationships, Built Environments, and the City Block in India and the US: An Interview,” Harvard Urban Review, 2023, pages 28-31. https://harvardurbanreview.org
Policy Memoranda and Analyses
Barrett, Ishaan. “DACA as a Model: Expanding Critical Region-Specific Support Programs to Lower Asylum Backlogs,” Columbia Political Journal, April 2025, pages 84-85, https://www.columbiapolicyinstitute.org/past-issues/cpj2425
Barrett, Ishaan. “Analyzing S.5 – The Laken Riley Act,” The Immigration and Human Rights Practice at the Urban Equity Institute, February 14, 2025, https://www.urbanequityinstitute.org/the-laken-riley-act-s-5-policy-analysis/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Immigration Executive Order Analysis Database,” The Immigration and Human Rights Practice at the Urban Equity Institute, February 4, 2025, https://www.urbanequityinstitute.org/immigration-executive-order-analysis-database/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Eminent Domain Reform: Addressing Systemic Failures and Historical Exclusion in Urban Land Disputes,” Columbia Political Journal, April 2024, pages 27-29, https://www.columbiapolicyinstitute.org/past-issues/the-columbia-policy-journal-20232024
Political Commentary
Forthcoming: Barrett, Ishaan. “Fast Justice and The Court Enabling Trump.” Columbia Political Review Online, January 2026.
Barrett, Ishaan. “Unscripted: Even LLMs Think Trump’s Speeches are Strange.” Columbia Political Review Online, November 24, 2025, https://www.cpreview.org/articles/2025/11/unscripted-even-llms-think-trumps-speeches-are-strange
Barrett, Ishaan. “Along the Hudson, Democracy Holds Fast.” Columbia Political Review Online, November 18, 2025, https://www.cpreview.org/articles/2025/11/along-the-hudson-democracy-holds-fast
Barrett, Ishaan. “From Wharton to War: American Higher-Ed in the Trump Administration.” Columbia Political Review Online, May 9, 2025, https://www.cpreview.org/articles/2025/5/xyzi2e9hnmvdvy8j3kwkn920djikhq
Barrett, Ishaan. “Trump, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” In Columbia Political Review Magazine, 23, 1 (2025): pages 19-21 ed. Samano, Arturo, Cecily Bush, and Henry Michaelson. Originally published in Columbia Political Review Online, January 30, 2025.
Barrett, Ishaan. “Adams, Trump, and the Fall of Gotham.” Columbia Political Review Online, February 24, 2025, https://www.cpreview.org/articles/2025/2/adams-trump-and-the-fall-of-gotham
Barrett, Ishaan. “How to Tank Your International Image in Four Weeks.” Columbia Political Review Online, February 12, 2025, https://www.cpreview.org/articles/2025/2/how-to-tank-your-national-image-in-four-weeks
Barrett, Ishaan. “Trump, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” Columbia Political Review Online, January 30, 2025, http://www.cpreview.org/articles/2025/1/trump-the-very-hungry-caterpillar
Columns and Editorials
Barrett, Ishaan. “Proactive Capital Planning and Support for Libraries is Overdue.” Columbia Daily Spectator, December 8, 2025. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025/12/08/proactive-capital-planning-and-support-for-libraries-is-overdue/
Barrett, Ishaan. “What’s Going on With College Walk?” Columbia Daily Spectator, November 7, 2025. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025/11/07/whats-going-on-with-college-walk/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Yes, There is Space for Shared Governance at Columbia.” Columbia Daily Spectator, October 7, 2025. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025/10/07/yes-there-is-space-for-shared-governance-at-columbia/
Barrett, Ishaan. “A place among its peers: Learning from the ‘Columbia lesson’ at Harvard.” Columbia Daily Spectator, May 5, 2025. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025/05/05/a-place-among-its-peers-learning-from-the-columbia-lesson-at-harvard/
Barrett, Ishaan. “A New Era of Gate Closures” Columbia Daily Spectator, April 8, 2025. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025/04/08/a-new-era-of-gate-closures/
Barrett, Ishaan. “What are Columbia’s gate closures costing?” Columbia Daily Spectator, March 5, 2025. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025/03/05/what-are-columbias-gate-closures-costing/
Barrett, Ishaan. “The tents at Morningside campus entrances exemplify absurd campus safety measures at their most extreme,” Columbia Daily Spectator, February 23, 2025. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025/02/23/the-tents-at-morningside-campus-entrances-exemplify-absurd-campus-safety-measures-at-their-most-extreme/
Barrett, Ishaan. “It’s Time To Act, Columbia,” Columbia Daily Spectator, December 8, 2024. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2024/12/08/its-time-to-act-columbia/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Columbia Prepares for Tree Lighting, but for Whom?” Columbia Daily Spectator, December 3, 2024. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2024/12/03/columbia-prepares-for-tree-lighting-but-for-whom/
Barrett, Ishaan. “It’s Time To Speak, Columbia,” Columbia Daily Spectator, November 13, 2024. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2024/11/13/its-time-to-speak-columbia/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Campus building restrictions undermine necessary post-election civic discourse,” Columbia Daily Spectator, November 12, 2024. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/main/2024/11/12/campus-building-restrictions-undermine-necessary-post-election-civic-discourse/
Barrett, Ishaan. “New designs for on-campus closures reinforce polarization and undermine efforts to rebuild dialogue,” Columbia Daily Spectator, October 30, 2024. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2024/10/30/new-designs-for-on-campus-closures-reinforce-polarization-and-undermine-efforts-to-rebuild-dialogue/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Moving Past Restrictions: Charting a Course for Columbia’s Gate Closures,” Columbia Daily Spectator, October 9, 2024. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/main/2024/10/09/moving-past-restrictions-charting-a-course-for-columbias-gate-closures/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Campus Status Color-Coding Puts Future Closures on a Hair Trigger,” Columbia Daily Spectator, August 7, 2024. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2024/08/07/campus-status-color-coding-puts-future-closures-on-a-hair-trigger/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Architecting Change and the Politics of Space: We’ve never been here before,” Columbia Daily Spectator, April 24, 2024. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2024/04/24/architecting-change-and-the-politics-of-space-weve-never-been-here-before/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Pandemic to public safety: The shifting purpose of campus swipe access,” Columbia Daily Spectator, April 12, 2024. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2024/04/12/pandemic-to-public-safety-the-shifting-purpose-of-campus-swipe-access/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Missing poles flag the University’s mission,” Columbia Daily Spectator, March 29, 2024. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2024/03/29/missing-poles-flag-the-universitys-mission/
Barrett, Ishaan. “At Columbia, sitting outside with your friends is a radical act of campus community,” Columbia Daily Spectator, March 7, 2024. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/main/2024/03/07/at-columbia-sitting-outside-with-your-friends-is-a-radical-act-of-campus-community/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Swipe access to Journalism Library prioritizes division over the democratization of public-facing campus space,” Columbia Daily Spectator, February 25, 2024. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2024/02/25/swipe-access-to-journalism-library-prioritizes-division-over-the-democratization-of-public-facing-campus-space/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Metal Barriers Cloister Campus Heritage Sites at the Cost of Campus Inclusivity and Community,” Columbia Daily Spectator, February 10, 2024. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2024/02/10/metal-barriers-cloister-campus-heritage-sites-at-the-cost-of-campus-inclusivity-and-community/
Barrett, Ishaan. “Manhattanville and Columbia’s new renovations leave little breathing room for the arts and humanities,” Columbia Daily Spectator, November 29, 2023. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2023/11/29/manhattanville-and-columbias-new-renovations-leave-little-breathing-room-for-the-arts-and-humanities/
Barrett, Ishaan.“Hostile Architecture and the Fourth Purpose: How Columbia’s Gate Closures Work against the University and Public Good,” Columbia Daily Spectator, November 1, 2023. https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2023/11/01/hostile-architecture-and-the-fourth-purpose-how-columbias-gate-closures-work-against-the-university-and-public-good/
Ishaan Barrett 