Alejandra Rios Gutiérrez MURP ’24 was recently honored with the Academic Award by the Los Angeles section of the American Planning Association (APA) for her capstone project, “Lost Hours, Lost Opportunities: The Toll of Extreme Travel on Lower-Income Communities in the San Fernando Valley.” The award, which recognizes innovation and community impact in the field of planning, was presented at the APA awards ceremony held June 26 in Downtown Los Angeles.

Gutiérrez’s research, conducted in partnership with Pacoima Beautiful, a leading environmental justice organization serving Northeast San Fernando Valley’s Latinx communities, explores the profound and often invisible burdens of “extreme travel”—defined in her project as commutes exceeding 180 minutes per day for all essential trips, not just work. Her project, which included in-depth interviews and surveys, illuminated how transportation challenges intersect with systemic issues like housing unaffordability, job sprawl, and limited transit access—leaving low-income residents with fewer choices and heavier costs.

“My capstone was inspired by past coworkers and friends whose extreme commutes had serious impacts on their lives,” Gutiérrez shared. “I saw how long commutes take a toll on overall well-being, especially for low-income workers who have fewer choices about where they live or work.”

Her project does more than document these struggles, it reframes the entire planning conversation. “It was important to me that the project not only document the problem but also challenge how we define ‘access’ and who we design for. I want to center people’s time, labor, and well-being as core planning issues.”

Gutiérrez’s work arrives at a critical moment as the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project prepares to break ground. Her findings offer key policy insights that could help ensure the project serves the communities most impacted by extreme travel. “Receiving this award from APA Los Angeles is a meaningful honor, especially because the project was rooted in the experiences of people whose needs are often overlooked in planning processes,” she said. “It affirms the importance of making visible the realities faced by extreme commuters and reinforces my belief that equity-centered research and advocacy are essential to the future of planning.”

She credits her training and education at UCLA Luskin for shaping her values as a planner. “My time at UCLA Luskin shaped my approach by encouraging both a critical lens and a strong commitment to justice. The program gave me the tools to analyze complex systems, as well as the space to ask deeper questions about who planning serves, what values guide our decisions, and how we build accountability into our work.”

Read her project “Lost Hours, Lost Opportunities: The Toll of Extreme Travel on Lower-Income Communities in the San Fernando Valley” here.