How Can California Maximize Investment Benefits for Heat-Resilient Communities?
Presented by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation

California is making significant investments and targeted interventions to build resilience to extreme heat, particularly for its most vulnerable communities. In support, the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation conducts research to inform state policies and investments that address extreme heat. LCI researchers and other expert panelists will shed light on why state legislators should care about extreme heat mitigation and management, what the state is doing, and how upcoming investments and additional policies could benefit Californians in direst need of intervention in settings such as schools, homes and public spaces.

Panelists

Moderator: Alissa Ko, Health Net
Faculty Presenter: V. Kelly Turner, UCLA Luskin
Legislator: State Sen. Caroline Menjivar
Agency Representative: Braden Kay, Governor’s Office of Planning and Research
Community Representative: Christian Rodriguez Ceja, Kounkuey Design Initiative

Can California Reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled? Should It?
Presented by the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies

California has declared that it wants to reduce the total number of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) across the state. In this session, presenters will discuss strategies and best practices for achieving this complex goal. VMT is accompanied by undeniable costs but also by real benefits — and the benefits may be largest, paradoxically, in places where driving is most common. Thus, the broader goal of making VMT less necessary involves both reducing the amount of space given over to automobiles while also recognizing that, for the immediate future, some increases in driving will be socially desirable.

Panelists

Moderator: Catharine Baker, UC Student and Policy Center
Faculty Presenters: Adam Millard-Ball and Michael Manville, UCLA Luskin
Legislator: State Sen. Catherine Blakespear
Agency Representative: Chanell Fletcher, California Air Resources Board

Greg Pierce
Adjunct Associate Professor of Urban Planning; Co-Executive Director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation

Changing How — and Where — Californians Get Their Water: UCLA Luskin researchers have examined which strategies work best for cities coping with dwindling water resources amid climate change. Research efforts that analyze water policy in six major metropolitan areas can guide legislators toward the best decisions on major statewide investments as the state of California transitions from reliance on imported water to increased usage of nontraditional sources such as recycled water, stormwater collection and desalination.

Michael Lens
Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy; Associate Faculty Director, Lewis Center

Responding to Homelessness Through Land Use and Zoning Policy: A Fair Housing Land Use Score developed at UCLA measures the extent to which local regulations promote inclusion across neighborhoods. The Southern California scorecard shows most city zoning and housing plans do not advance fair housing goals, in some cases exacerbating rather than reversing segregation. Excluding new housing from desirable neighborhoods likely contributes to housing scarcity and unaffordability, while increasing the risk of systemic homelessness.