Randall Crane

Randall Crane studies the housing, transportation, and economic development challenges of cities, such as rushed urbanization, urban design/behavior linkages, urban environmental problems, public finances, housing and transportation demographics, and the measure, meaning and governance of sprawl. This work is international, with field experience in China, Colombia, Guyana, Indonesia, Kenya, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Yemen, and a Fulbright professorship at the Colegio de México in Mexico City.

His areas of interest are Asia, climate change, community development, economic development, environment, gender issues, housing, international and comparative planning, labor and employment, Latin America, poverty, race and ethnicity, transportation, and urban redevelopment. His current research projects are: (1) the design of municipal taxes, fees, and prices; (2) person-versus place-based economic and community development; (3) Chinese urbanization; (4) the demographics of travel, 1985-2013; and (5) understanding smart growth.

Current Research Projects

The design of municipal taxes, fees and prices. Picking up where I left off in a series of papers in the 1990s on the determinants of the efficient and equitable mix of impact fees, property taxes, and other revenue instruments in theory and practice.

Person-versus place-based economic and community development (with Michael Manville). When are urban development strategies best addressed at geography, and when best aimed at individuals regardless of where they live and work?

Chinese urbanization. A substantial share of the world’s urbanization over the next few decades will be concentrated in China. I am particularly interested in the evolution of public/private governance of land development and the joint issues of suburbanization and CBD development/redevelopment, which come together in increasingly common greenfield CBD construction at the city edge.

The demographics of travel, 1985-present. How do race, age, sex and other social and economic circumstances (such as household formation) influence both the demand for and supply of travel by place, means and purpose? That is, what are the substantive linkages between labor and housing markets over space?

The demographics of US housing, 1985-2013. How have the specific patterns of housing use and conditions changed in US cities over the past two decades, across a broad spectrum of individual and community characteristics? Why?

Understanding smart growth (with Daniel Chatman). What is different, better and worse about so-called smart growth urban development strategies as efforts to address the problems of modern urbanization?  This includes a current project for the state agency responsible for implementing California’s primary climate change legislation, focused on the lessons of various land use strategies (“Analyzing the economic benefits and costs of smart growth,” CARB, 2011-2014).

 

Chaired PhD Committees

Charisma Shonté Acey, PhD (2009) “Exit, voice, loyalty and structural silence: Citizen-consumer access and behavior in Nigeria’s urban water markets,” Professor UC Berkeley

Daniel Chatman, PhD (2005) “How the built environment influences non-work travel: Theoretical and empirical essays,” Professor UC Berkeley

Richard Crepeau, PhD (1995) “Mobility and the metropolis:  Issues of travel and land use in urban America,” Professor Appalachian State University

Lynne Cripe, PhD (1997) “Predictors of community participation in sanitation facility improvement:  Attitudes among female peri-urban residents of Quezon City,” Director The Konterra Group

Thomas H. Culhane, PhD (2010) “Getting into hot water:  Problematizing hot water service demand, The case of old Cairo,” Professor University of South Florida

Priyam Das, PhD (2009) “Promise or compromise?  Community managed water supply for the urban poor in Madhya Pradesh, India,” Professor University of Hawai’i at Mānoa

D. Gregg Doyle, PhD (2003) “‘Only a nobody walks’: The decline of pedestrian trips in the United States,” Consultant

Charles J. Gabbe, PhD (2016) “Do land use regulations matter? Why and how?” Professor Santa Clara University

Michael Heimert, PhD (1988) “Contractual alternatives for durable goods requiring maintenance,” Managing Director and Global Leader, Duff & Phelps, LLC

David Mason, PhD (2011) “Cooperation as collateral? : social capital and joint liability : microfinance group lending in Nicaragua,” The World Bank

Jan Mazurek, PhD (2008) “The politics of counting carbon:  Lessons from the California Climate Action Registry,” Director, ClimateWorks Foundation

Gregory Pierce, PhD (2015) “Basic services, low-income settlements and the local state: How collectively-organized initiatives redress inequalities,” Senior Researcher & Adjunct Professor UCLA

Oscar Alberto Pombo López, PhD (1997) Water, sanitation, and poverty in the Mexican borderlands:  Considerations of water sanitation strategies used by the poor in Tijuana,” Professor El Colegió de la Frontera Norte, Mexico

Lisa Schweitzer, PhD (2004) “Environmental sacrifice zones: Risk and transport in Southern California,” Professor University of Southern California

Hyun-Gun Sung, PhD (2005) “Transit friendly Areas: The role of residential relocation and housing development in rail ridership over time,” Professor Chungbuk National University, Korea

Beth Tamayose, PhD (2011) “Rise of western land and water regulation on the Hawaiian Islands:  An historical analysis of land, property, and water governance, 1840s-1910s,” Consultant

 

Recent and Upcoming Presentations

“Equity and Inclusiveness as Building Blocks for Local Government Planning,” invited, Asian Development Bank Conference, Seoul, Korea, December 2017

”On Planning Smart: Practice, Research and Education,” invited, 10th Year Celebration of the DUPM, Renmin University, Beijing, PRC, September 2017

”UN Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities & Communities,” invited, Sustainability Goals Series, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, May 2017

“Lectures on Urbanization and Development,” invited, University of Sichuan, Chengdu, PRC, July 2015

“Private solutions to basic urban service gaps in Africa,” invited, World Resources Institute, Washington DC, May 2015″

Comparing urban problems and policies in the US and the PRC,” invited, University of Sichuan, Chengdu, PRC, July 2014

Efficient Public Finance in Diverse Cities: Modelling the Choices Amongst Taxes in an Open Economy,” Applied Urban Modelling Conference: Planning Urban Infrastructure, Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies, Cambridge University, April 2014

New Developments in the Economic Modelling of Urban Design,” Applied Urban Modelling Conference: Productive, liveable and sustainable city regions, Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, Cambridge University, June 2013

“Debating the Merits of Planning Research: The Importance of My Asking Questions You Think We Already Have Good Enough Answers To,” annual conference, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Cincinnati, November 2012.

The New Smart Growth: Practice, Education & Research,” Keynote speech, China Urban Planning Education Network Congress, Wuhan University, Wuhan, PRC, September 2012

“Public Private Partnerships in Urban Development: The Case of New Downtowns in China,” Keynote speech, Peking University/Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Beijing, PRC July 2012

“Competitive Cities & Municipalities,” Mayors’ Forum, Philippine Local Government Academy, Manila, Philippines, January 2012

“The Effect of the New Normal on Local Government Finance,” Growth and Infrastructure Consortium Conference, San Diego, October 2011.

“Private/Public Strategies for the New Chinese Downtowns,” 3rd International Conference on Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, October 2011.

“Water in Megacities: Solutions,” 2011 Global Economic Symposium, Kiel, Germany, October 2011.

“Commuting in Beijing,” International Association for China Planning Conference, Beijing, June 2011.

“Race, Gender and Sprawl: New Results,” Graduate School of Design, Harvard, April 2011.

The Right to the Suburb?” Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, April 2011.

“Global Challenges and Emerging Opportunities Facing Today’s Cities,” Philippine Urban Consortium, Manila, March 2011.

The Evolution of Public/Private Development: What Works, What Fails, and Why?,” University of Alberta, Edmonton, January 2011.

“Housing and the Built Environment: Shooting at Moving Targets,” Housing and Urbanization: What Housing Scholars Think about the Present and Future of the Field, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, December 2010

“Trends in US Housing Consumption: 1985-2007,” annual conference, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Minneapolis, October 2010.

“Downtown Inc. in the New China,” Megacities: Problematizing the Urban, conference of the New Encyclopedia Project, UC Irvine, June 2010.

“Cities and Global Sustainability,” Stumbling Toward Sustainability Lecture Series, Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, May 2010

“Travel Behavior and the Scope for Smart Mobility Policies” Symposium on Smart Mobility, Florida State University, April 2010

“Pricing and Social Equity Challenges in Water,” Pricing and Social Equity: An Unplugged Conversation with the Experts, Keston Institute for Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy, USC, April 2010.

“Advanced Transportation Planning” workshop, 102nd National Planning Conference, APA, New Orleans, April 2010

“Getting, Doing and Debating Freakonomics,” Junior State of America, Pacifica High School, April 2010.

“Global Issues in Transportation Policy,” at The Rosenfield Forum, “Changing Lanes: Bold Ideas to Solve L.A.’s Traffic Problems,” Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, March 2010.

“Sources of the Narrowing and Widening of Travel Differences by Gender” TRB 4th International Conference on Women’s Issues in Transportation, Beckman Center, Irvine, October 2009

“Sex Changes Everything: The Recent Narrowing and Widening of Travel Differences by Gender” 50th Anniversary ACSP Conference, Washington, DC, October 2009

“New Downtowns in New China: Renewal, Replacement, or Relocation?” Urban Regeneration Roundtable, China Planning Network Conference, Renmin University, Beijing, June 2009

“Public Policy in Urban Planning,” Urban Planning and Public Policy Roundtable, China Planning Network Conference, Renmin University, Beijing, June 2009

“Does Gender Matter? Changes, Choices and Consequences for Transportation Policy,” Netconference 2009, National Center for Transit Research’s National TDM and Telework Clearinghouse at the University of South Florida, May 2009

“Sex Changes Everything: Trends in the Demographics of the U.S. Commute,” Visiting Scholars Seminar, University Transportation Research Center, The City College of New York, May 2009

“Place-Based versus People-Based Community Economic Development,” Lincoln Lecture Series, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 2009

“Land Planning for Local Public Finance in China,” Center for Urban Development and Land Policy, Peking University/Lincoln Institute, Beijing, April 2009

“Sex Changes Everything: Trends in the Demographics of the U.S. Commute,” National Center for Smart Growth, University of Maryland College Park, April 2009

“Gender Differences: Travel Trends and Research Issues,” Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, January 2009

“Reforming the Public Finance of Land in China,” for the symposium “China’s Three Decades of Urban Planning through an International Perspective,” Urban Planning Society of China, Xiamen, November 2008

Blog Reporter for Re-Imagining Cities: Urban Design After the Age of Oil, University of Pennsylvania, November 2008

“Does Gender Matter? Changes, Choices, and Consequences for Transportation Policy,” TRB Impact of Changing Demographics on the Transportation System Conference, Washington, DC, October 2008

“Urban Regeneration in the New China,” Financial Times Urban Regeneration Summit 2008, Shanghai, PRC, September 2008

“Economic Development and Transportation Access in China,” Chengdu Post-Earthquake Reconstruction Symposium, Chengdu, PRC, July 2008

“The New Fiscalization of Land Use in Chinese Cities,” CPN China Urban Housing Congress, Beijing, July 2008

“Urban Design and Transportation Policy,” Peking University—Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy, Beijing, July 2008

Roundtables on “Place/People Development Planning” and “The Oxford Handbook of Urban Planning,” and paper on “U.S. Housing Trends, 1985-2005,” ACSP/AESOP Fourth Joint Conference, Chicago, July 2008

“Urban Growth with Chinese Characteristics,” Sino-US Workshop on the Environment and Sustainable Development in China, Natural Resources Defense Council and Global Environmental Institute, Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Beijing, PRC, May 2008

“Smart Growth with Chinese Characteristics,” Workshop on Sustainable Urban Planning for Medium and Small Chinese Cities, Center for Agenda 21 (Ministry of Science and Technology) and Natural Resources Defense Council, Tongling City, PRC, May 2008

“Comments on Revenues in Chinese Urban Public Finance,” Local Public Finance and Property Taxation in China, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 2008

Mobility and Congestion,” 100th National Planning Conference, APA, Las Vegas, April 2008

Sex and Travel in the USA, 1985-2005,” Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Boston, April 2008

Smart Growth with Chinese Characteristics: Transportation/Land Use Integration in Urban China,” Harvard China Project, Harvard University, March 2008

Sex, Race and Traffic: What is Changing and Why,” Distinguished Speaker Series, MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, March 2008

“How Urban Form Affects Travel, Public Health, and Climate Change,” MIT Urban Studies & Planning, March 2008

“Public/Private People/Place Development Strategies,” Harvard Graduate School of Design, March 2008

“Challenges for Smart Growth in China (and the U.S.),” presentation to visiting delegation from the Chinese Academy of Urban Planning & Design, PRC, January 2008

“Sex and Traffic, Etc.,” Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, NYU, December 2007

Downtown Development in Los Angeles: Planning Obstacles & Opportunities,” Annual UCLA Real Estate Conference, Ziman Center for Real Estate, Skirball Center, Los Angeles, November 2007

“Sex and Commuting, 1985-2005,” Department of Policy, Planning & Design, UC Irvine, October 2007

People-Based Versus Place-Based Economic Development Strategies: A Reconciliation,” ACSP Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 2007. (with M. Manville)

“Challenges to Land Use/Transportation Integration in Modern Urban China,” Institute of Transportation Studies/Enjoyor, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, PRC, October 2007

“Smart Growth with Chinese Characteristics,” Third International Symposium on Urban Development and Land Policy in China, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Hangzhou, PRC, October 2007

Top 5 Challenges to Integrating Transportation with Land Use in Urban China,” 1st Urban Transportation Conference, China Planning Network, Beijing, August 2007.

Urban Sprawl and the Built Environment,” Invited lecture, Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design, Beijing, August 2007.

Suburbanization, Sprawl, and the New Mobility,” Seventh International Symposium on Asia Pacific Architecture, School of Architecture, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, June 2007.

Planeación Urbana y Políticas de Suelo: Puntos de Debate,” Seminario Internacional 10 Años de la Ley 388 de 1997: Sus Aportes al Ordinamiento Urbano y a la Consolidatión de Políticas de Suelo, National Capitol Building, Bogotá, Colombia, May 2007.

Housing and Poverty in the U.S.: New Evidence on What, Who and Why,” Institute of Urban and Regional Development, UC Berkeley, April 2007.

U.S. Housing Affordability and Crowding Trends, 1985-2005,” Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, San Francisco, April 2007.

Is the Gender Gap History?,” University of California Thirteenth Annual Transportation Research Conference, UCLA, February 2007.

Sex, Lies, and Commuting in the US: 1985-2005,” University of Toronto, February 2007.

“New Research on the Journey to Work,” Department of Urban & Regional Planning, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, January 2007.

“Sex, Lies, and the Built Environment,” Department of City & Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, January 2007.

“Growth, Growth Impacts, and Planning for Growth,” Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, December 2006.

“Integrating Land Use and Transportation Planning,” presentation to the Director of the Beijing Municipal Planning Bureau, November 2006.

“Public Economics for Planners,” ACSP Conference, Ft. Worth, Texas, November 2006.

Local Public Finance Reform in China,” Second Annual International Symposium on Urban Planning and Land Policy, Lincoln Institute, Shenzhen, China, October 2006.

Public Finance Concepts for Planners,” Fiscal Dimensions of Planning Seminar, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 24, 2006.

Housing and Poverty in the USA, 1985-2005,” World Planning Schools Congress, Mexico City, July 14, 2006.

The Rapid Development of China’s Urban Transportation Systems: Opportunities, Challenges and Policies,” China Planning Network 3rd Annual Conference, Beijing, June 14, 2006.

Smart Growth in the U.S. and the Pearl River Delta Region,” World Planning Scholars Lecture 1, China Planning Network, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, China, June 12, 2006.

Lectures on Land Use,” Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and PRC Ministry of Land Resources, Qingdao, China, June 10-11, 2006.

“Public Finance and Urban Development Strategies in China,” invited, Symposium on Important Issues in the Era of Rapid Urbanization in China, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 22, 2006.

Formal/Informal: A Perspective on China,” invited, Center for Architecture and People’s Architecture, New York City, May 16, 2006.

“Growth and Growth Impacts in the South San Francisco Bay Area,” invited, Social Science Dimensions Workshop: Identifying Political, Economic, and Social Obstacles and Opportunities, South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, Mountain View, California, April 18, 2006.

“Sex, Race and Roads: New Research on Shelter and Travel,” invited, Department of City Regional Planning, Cornell University, April 12, 2006.

“Suburbanization and Its Discontents: What We Do and Don’t Know About How to Plan the Built Environment,” invited, Department of Urban Planning, Columbia University, April 10, 2006.

“The American University of Cairo/UCLA Environmental Studies Initiative,” American University of Cairo, Egypt, April 3, 2006.

Smart Growth with Chinese Characteristics,” invited, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Xiantang, and Chinese Academy of Urban Planning and Design, Beijing, China, December 2005.

“Four Lectures on Sprawl, Suburbanization, and Alternatives,” Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Workshop, Changsha, Hunan Province, China, December 2005.

For a Few Dollars Less: Estimating and Regulating the Costs & Benefits of Wal-Mart,” invited, Economic Impact Research Conference: An In-Depth Look at Wal-Mart and Society, Washington DC, November 2005. (with D. Chatman)

“3 Questions for the American Housing Survey, 1985-2003,” invited, Ziman Center for Real Estate, UCLA, November 2005.

“Is the Gender Gap History? Commuting in America,” ACSP, Kansas City, October 2005.

Emerging Planning Trends in Retail: The Case of Wal-Mart,” invited, Urban Growth Seminar, USC, September 2005. (with M. Manville)

“Housing Affordability, Regulatory Obstacles, and Smart Growth,” invited, Annual Real Estate Conference, Ziman Center for Real Estate, UCLA, September 2005.

“Traffic and Mobility: FAQ,” 2005 Corporate Partners Summit, Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UC Santa Barbara, May 2005.

Urban Development & Foreign Models in the New China,” ChinaPlan Conference, MIT, May 2005.

 

Selected Publications

People or Place?
Author: Crane, Randall and Michael Manville
Subtitle: Revisiting the Who Versus the Where of Urban Development
Description: One of the longest standing debates in community economic development is between “place-based” and “people-based” approaches to combating poverty, housing affordability, chronic unemployment, and community decline. Should help go to distressed places or distressed people?
Publication Link: PDF

Planning for accessibility
Description: “Planning for accessibility,” in G. Hack, E. Birch, P. Sedway and M. Silver, eds., Local Planning: Contemporary Principles and Practice, ICMA, 2009. (with L. Takahashi)
Publication Link: ICMA

Counterpoint: Accessibility and sprawl
Description: “Counterpoint: Accessibility and sprawl,” Journal of Transport and Land Use 1:1, Summer 2008.
Publication Link: Journal of Transport and Land Use

 

Other Publications

Public Finance Concepts for Urban Planners,” in S. White and N. Kotval, eds. Financing Economic Development in the 21st Century, M.E. Sharpe, 2013.

The Oxford Handbook of Urban Planning, Oxford University Press, 2012 (Co-edited with Rachel Weber)

Planning as Scholarship: Origins and Prospects,” in R. Weber and R. Crane, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Urban Planning, Oxford Univ. Press, 2012 (with R. Weber)

Toward a Second Generation of Land-Use/Travel Studies: Theoretical and Empirical Frontiers,” in N. Brooks, K. Donaghy and G. Knaap, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Urban Economics and Planning, Oxford Univ. Press, 2012 (with Z. Guo)

Planning for Climate Change: Assessing Progress and Challenges,” Journal of the American Planning Association 76, 2010, pp. 389-401(with J. Landis)

Sex Changes Everything: The Recent Narrowing and Widening of Travel Differences by Gender,” Public Works Management & Policy 13, 2009, 328-337. (with L. Takahashi)

 

“Is there a quiet revolution in women’s travel? Revisiting the gender gap in commuting,” Journal of the American Planning Association 73, Summer, pp. 298-316, 2007.

Public finance challenges for Chinese urban development,” in Y. Song and C. Ding, eds. Urbanization in China: Critical Issues in an Era of Rapid Growth. Cambridge: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2007

Emerging planning challenges in retail: The case of Wal-Mart,” Journal of the American Planning Association 71, Autumn 2005. (with M. Boarnet, D. Chatman and M. Manville).

Central-local transfers in Kenya – Options for incremental reform,” International Development Planning Review 26 (1), February 2004.

Supercenters and the Transformation of the Bay Area Grocery Industry: Issues, Trends, and Impacts. San Francisco: Bay Area Economic Forum. (with M. Boarnet, D. Chatman and M. Manville), 2004.

“Transport in the urban core,” in D. Hensher, et al., eds. Handbook of Transport Geography and Spatial Systems. Elsevier, 2004. (with E. Blumenberg)

“Job sprawl and the journey to work in the USA,” in Chang-Hee Christine Bae and Harry W. Richardson, eds. Urban Sprawl in Western Europe and the United States. London: Ashgate, 2004. (with D. Chatman)

“Decentralizing Indonesia in 2004: Implications and recommendations for basic education,” RTI/USAID Report, November 2004.

As jobs sprawl, whither the commute?Access 23, 2003 (with D. Chatman)

Traffic and sprawl: Evidence for U.S. commuting, 1985 to 1997,” Planning & Markets 6 (1), September 2003. (with D. Chatman)

Transport and sustainability: The role of the built environment,” Built Environment 29 (3), 2003. (with L. Schweitzer)

Travel by Design: The Influence of Urban Form on Travel, Oxford University Press, 2001. (with M. Boarnet)

The influence of land use on travel behavior: Estimation and specification issues,” Transportation Research A 35, 2001. (with M. Boarnet)

The impacts of urban form on travel: An interpretive review,” Journal of Planning Literature 15, pp. 3-23, August 2000.

“A study to prepare urban development and management strategies for the City of Taiz, Yemen,” Ministry of Housing, Construction and Urban Planning, Government of Yemen and the World Bank, August 2000.

“A study to prepare urban development and management strategies for the City of Sana’a, Yemen,” Ministry of Housing, Construction and Urban Planning, Government of Yemen and the World Bank, August 2000.

Public finance and transit-oriented planning: Evidence from Southern California,Journal of Planning Education and Research 17, 1998. (with M. Boarnet)

Who are the suburban homeless and what do they want? An empirical study of the demand for public services,” Journal of Planning Education and Research 18, 1998. (with L. Takahashi)

Travel by Design?Access 12, 1998.

L.A. Story: A reality check for transit-based housing,” Journal of the American Planning Association 63, Spring 1997. (with M. Boarnet)

The contributions of environmental amenities to low income housing: A comparative study of Bangkok and Jakarta,” Urban Studies 34, pp. 1495-1512, 1997. (with A. Daniere and S. Harwood)

Does neighborhood design influence travel? A behavioral analysis of travel diary and GIS data,”Transportation Research D: Transport and Environment 3, pp. 225-238, 1998. (with R. Crepeau)

Measuring access to basic services in global cities: Descriptive and behavioral approaches,” Journal of the American Planning Association 62, Spring 1996. (with A. Daniere)

The influence of uncertain job location on urban form and the journey to work,” Journal of Urban Economics 39, 1996.

Cars and drivers in the new suburbs: Linking access to travel in neotraditional planning,” Journal of the American Planning Association 62, Winter 1996.

Efficient local charity with self selection,” Public Choice 86, 1996.

On form versus function: Will the New Urbanism reduce traffic, or increase it?,” Journal of Planning Education and Research 15, 1996.

The market value of environmental improvements in alternative fiscal regimes,” Journal of Regional Science 35, 1995.

Mexico City’s Water Supply: Improving the Outlook for Sustainability, A National Research Council Report of the Joint Academies Committee on the Mexico City Water Supply. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1995.

Water markets, market reform, and the urban poor: Results from Jakarta, Indonesia,” World Development 22, 1994.

Allen J. Scott

For the last several years, Professor Scott’s research has been focused on issues of industrialization, urbanization, and regional development. This research has involved extensive theoretical and empirical work. On the theoretical front, Dr. Scott has written numerous pieces on the interrelations between industrial organization, technology, local labor markets, and location, with particular reference to the phenomenon of agglomeration economies. He also has carried out a large number of studies of individual industrial sectors in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Most recently, he has been researching the origins and development of high-technology industry in Southern California, and the policy predicaments thrown into relief by the recent crisis of the region’s aerospace-defense industry in the post-Cold War era. Professor Scott has served as a member of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Commission’s Aerospace Task Force. He also has been engaged in the formulation of a variety of economic development strategies for Southern California, including the setting up of an electric vehicle industry and an advanced ground transportation industry.

A Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and a Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellow, Dr. Scott has been a visiting scholar at Zhongshan University in the People’s Republic of China, the University of Paris, the University of Hong Kong and the University of Sao Paulo. From 1990 to 1995 he was director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies at UCLA. He formerly served as Associate Dean of the School of Public Policy and Social Research.

Carol Goldstein

Carol Goldstein is involved with planning and program development for cultural and human services as they intersect with land use, neighborhood economic development and community identity.

A former principal planner for the Community Redevelopment Agency in Los Angeles, she is a consultant to the public sector, non-profits and advocacy groups in communities throughout the U.S.

Professor Goldstein also is a faculty advisor for Cultivate LA, a research project that assesses the state of urban agriculture in Los Angeles. The project has won the APA California Chapter Award, as well as the APA Los Angeles Award.

At UCLA, Ms. Goldstein teaches physical planning courses and student client project courses for non-profit and public sector clients. Examples include:

“Cultivate L.A.: An Assessment of Urban Agriculture in Los Angeles County” for the University of California Cooperative Extension- LA (American Planning Association L A Chapter Student Project Award, 2014)

“Affirming Neighborhoods: Responsive Neighborhood Cultural Planning” for the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department (American Planning Association National Student Project Award, 1992)

“Elysian Park: New Strategies for Preservation of Historic Open Space Resources” for the Citizens’ Committee To Save Elysian Park (Los Angeles Conservancy Award, 1991 and California Preservation Foundation Award, 1991)

“Realizing a Community Dream: The Diverse Cultural Resources of the Anaheim Corridor” for the Public Corporation for the Arts/Long Beach Regional Arts Council (1995).

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris is Interim Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, a former Associate Dean, a Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning, and a core faculty member of the UCLA Urban Humanities Initiative.

Professor Loukaitou-Sideris’ research focuses on the public environment of the city, its physical representation, aesthetics, social meaning and impact on the urban resident. Her work seeks to integrate social and physical issues in urban planning and architecture. An underlying theme of her work is its “user focus”; that is, she seeks to analyze and understand the built environment from the perspective of those who live and work there. Dr. Loukaitou-Sideris’ research includes documentation and analysis of the social and physical changes that have occurred in the public realm; cultural determinants of design and planning and their implications for public policy; quality-of-life issues for inner city residents; transit security, urban design, land use, and transportation issues.

Recent and ongoing projects, funded in part by the U.S. and California Departments of Transportation, The California Department of Recreation and Parks, the Mellon Foundation, the Haynes Foundation, the Gilbert Foundation, and the Mineta Transportation Institute, include: documentation of varying patterns of use of neighborhood parks among different ethnic groups; proposals for the physical and economic retrofit of inner city commercial corridors, examination of gentrification and displacement in transit station neighborhoods, sexual harassment in transit environments, studies of transit security, and planning for parklets.

She has served as a consultant to the Transportation Research Board, Federal Highway Administration, Los Angeles Metro, Southern California Association of Governments, South Bay Cities Council of Government, Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, Project for Public Spaces, the Greek Government, and many municipal governments on issues of urban design, open space development, land use and transportation, and she has been commissioned to author research papers by the National Academies and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Dr. Loukaitou-Sideris is the author of numerous articles, the co-author of the books Urban Design Downtown: Poetics and Politics of Form (University of California Press, 1998), Sidewalks: Conflict and Negotiation over Public Space (MIT Press, 2009), Transit-Oriented Displacement or Community Divided? (MIT Press, 2019), and Urban Humanities: New Practices for Reimagining the City (MIT Press 2020); and the co-editor of the books Jobs and Economic Development in Minority Communities (Temple University Press, 2006), Companion to Urban Design (Routledge, 2011), The Informal American City: Beyond Taco Trucks and Day Labor (MIT Press, 2014),  New Companion to Urban Design (Routledge, 2019), and Transit Crime and Sexual Violence in Cities: International Evidence and Prevention .

BOOKS

Urban Humanities: New Practices for Reimagining the City.
Cuff, D., Loukaitou-Sideris, A., Presner, T., Zubiaurre, M., and Crisman, J., MIT Press (2020).

Transit Crime and Sexual Violence in Cities: International Evidence and Prevention
Ceccato, V., Loukaitou-Sideris, A., Routledge (2020).

Transit Oriented Displacement or Community Dividends?
Chapple, K., Loukaitou-Sideris, A., MIT Press (2019).

The New Companion to Urban Design
Banerjee, T., Loukaitou-Sideris, A., Routledge (2019).

“The Informal American City: Beyond Taco Trucks and Day Labor”
Edited by Vinit Mukhija and Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris. (MIT Press 2014)

Companion to Urban Design
Banerjee, T. and Loukaitou-Sideris, A. (Eds.)
New York and London: Routledge (2011).

Sidewalks: Conflict and Negotiation over Public Space
Loukaitou-Sideris, A. and Ehrenfeucht, R., MIT Press (2009).

Jobs and Economic Development in Minority Communities
Ong, P. and Loukaitou-Sideris, A. (Eds.) Temple University Press (2006).

Urban Design Downtown: Poetics and Politics of Form
Loukaitou-Sideris, A. and Banerjee, T., University of California Press (1998).

Vinit Mukhija

Vinit Mukhija is a Professor of Urban Planning, the former Chair of the Department of Urban Planning, and has a courtesy appointment in Asian American Studies at UCLA. He is leading the Department of Urban Planning’s efforts to develop a new, one-year self-supporting graduate professional degree program in real estate development, which will situate real estate development pedagogy within a broader framework of politics, policy analysis, sustainability, and equity at the urban level.

Professor Mukhija’s research focuses on housing and the built environment. He is known for his scholarship on cities and the informal economy, affordable housing and urban design, and the redevelopment and upgrading of informal housing. It spans informal housing and slums in developing countries and “Third World-like” housing conditions (including colonias, unpermitted trailer parks, and illegal garage apartments) in the United States. He is particularly interested in understanding the nature and necessity of informal housing and strategies for upgrading and improving living conditions in unregulated housing. His work also examines how planners and urban designers in both the Global South and the Global North can learn from the everyday and informal city.

Professor Mukhija is interested in both spatial and institutional transformations. Initially, he focused on the Global South, particularly Mumbai, India, and demonstrated the value of slum-dwellers’ participation and input in housing interventions, including their contrarian support for the redevelopment of their slums. He published these findings in his first book, Squatters as Developers? (Ashgate 2003), which was reissued in paperback (Routledge 2017).

More recently, he has focused on informal housing and urbanism issues in the Global North, including unpermitted trailer parks, bootleg apartments, and garage conversions without permits. Most of this research is based on fieldwork in Los Angeles and surrounding areas. To draw attention to the growing prevalence and challenges of urban informality in the U.S., he co-edited a book, The Informal American City, with his colleague Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris (MIT Press 2014). The book questions the conventional association of informal economic activities with developing countries and immigrant groups in developed countries. It also makes a case for a spatial understanding of urban informality. It includes Professor Mukhija’s chapter on the widespread prevalence of unpermitted second units on single-family-zoned lots in Los Angeles.

Along with colleagues Kian Goh and Loukaitou-Sideris, his recent edited book, Just Urban Design: The Struggle for a Public City (MIT Press, November 2022), presents the idea of inclusive urban life as a condition of justice and emphasizes the potential contributions of urban design to spatial justice through the “publicness” of cities. In a chapter on unpermitted secondary suites in Vancouver, which are surprisingly present in one-third of the city’s single-family houses because the built form of semi-basements makes adding informal units very easy, he examines how the units have been legalized with residents’ support, particularly Chinese Canadian and Indo-Canadian immigrants.

Professor Mukhija expanded his work in the two edited volumes on unpermitted second units into a new book, Remaking the American Dream: The Informal and Formal Transformation of Single-Family Housing Cities (MIT Press, 2022). He examines how the detached single-family home, which has long been the basic building block of most U.S. cities—not just suburbs—is changing in both the American psyche and the urban landscape. In defiance of long-held norms and standards, single-family housing is slowly but significantly transforming through incremental additions, unpermitted units, and gradual institutional reforms of once-rigid, local land use regulations. He argues that informal housing is vital in helping disadvantaged households access affordable housing and is not limited to immigrant communities from the Global South. Nonetheless, urban informality affects wealthy and less affluent families differently. Low-income and working-class residents, including immigrants, disproportionately bear the burdens of risky housing. The safe housing available on the formal market is unaffordable for the less fortunate, while affordable informal housing can often be dangerous.

Professor Mukhija trained as an urban planner (Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology), urban designer (MUD, University of Hong Kong), and architect (M.Arch., University of Texas, Austin, and B.Arch., the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi). He also has professional experience as an urban designer and physical planner in India, Hong Kong, and Kuwait, with new town design proposals and projects in India, China, and the Middle East. Before coming to UCLA, he worked as a post-doctoral researcher for the Fannie Mae Foundation in Washington, D.C., and developed neighborhood upgrading and renewal strategies for American cities. Some of his past projects have been funded by the Haynes Foundation, the California Policy Research Center, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the World Bank.

Professor Mukhija has won multiple teaching awards at UCLA (2007, 2009, and 2013). His current teaching portfolio includes planning studios; “Introduction to Physical Planning,” a core course for students in the MURP program’s Design and Development area of concentration; “Informal City: Research and Regulation,” a seminar course that combines readings from the Global South and fieldwork-based case studies by students of informal economic activities in the Global North; and the “Comprehensive Project,” a group capstone option for MURP students. He recently taught the Comprehensive Project twice in partnership with Pacoima Beautiful (https://www.pacoimabeautiful.org/). The full and summary reports can be accessed here: https://knowledge.luskin.ucla.edu/2019/02/21/cnk-collaborates-on-transformative-climate-communities-effort/

Professor Mukhija has advised the Indian Institute of Human Settlements, Bangalore, on course and curriculum development. His other community and public service contributions include past membership on the Board of Directors of LA-Más, a Los Angeles-based urban design nonprofit organization; the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, a community organizing, research, legal representation, and policy advocacy nonprofit organization focused on California’s low income, rural regions; and the Los Angeles Area Neighborhood Initiative (LANI), a nonprofit organization focused on community-based urban revitalization strategies; serving as the Chair of the Global Planning Educators Interest Group (GPEIG) within the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP); and as current/past editorial advisory board member of the Journal of Planning Education and Research, the Global Built Environment Review, Architecture and Culture, and the Journal of the American Planning Association.

Books

Mukhija, V., 2022, Remaking the American Dream: The Informal and Formal Transformation of Single-Family Housing Cities, MIT Press, Cambridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goh, K., A. Loukaitou-Sideris, and V. Mukhija, 2022, Just Urban Design: The Struggle for a Public City, MIT Press, Cambridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mukhija, V. and A. Loukaitou-Sideris, 2014, The Informal American City: Beyond Taco Trucks and Day Labor, MIT Press, Cambridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mukhija, V., 2017, Squatters as Developers? Slum Redevelopment in Mumbai, Routledge, London. [Original edition: 2003, Ashgate, Aldershot, England (Studies in Development Geography Series of King’s College and School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London).]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dana Cuff

Dana Cuff is a professor, author, and scholar in architecture and urbanism at the University of California, Los Angeles where she is also the founding director of cityLAB, a think tank that explores design innovations in the emerging metropolis (www.cityLAB.aud.ucla.edu).

Since receiving her Ph.D. in Architecture from UC Berkeley, Cuff has published and lectured widely about postwar Los Angeles, modern American urbanism, the architectural profession, affordable housing, and spatially embedded computing. Two books have been particularly important: Architecture: the Story of Practice which remains an influential text about the culture of the design profession, and The Provisional City, a study of residential architecture’s role in transforming Los Angeles over the past century.

Her urban and architectural research now span across continents to Sweden, China, Japan, and Mexico. In 2013 and 2016, Cuff received major, multi-year awards from the Mellon Foundation for the Urban Humanities Initiative, bringing design and the humanities together at UCLA.

Link to Professor Cuff’s Citylab website:  http://www.citylab.aud.ucla.edu/cuff.html