Archive for category: Urban Planning

On Migrant Crackdowns and Empty Humanitarian Rhetoric

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UCLA Luskin’s Ananya Roy spoke to KPFA’s Against the Grain program about the recently published book “Beyond Sanctuary: The Humanism of a World in Motion.”

Co-edited by Roy and Veronika Zablotsky, the book’s essays examine how poor and vulnerable migrants are viewed and treated, and the empty humanitarian rhetoric of liberal democracies of the West.

Being forced out of a country that one considers to be home is a form of racial segregation and oppression, Roy said on KPFA.

“We wanted to take seriously the fact that hundreds of thousands of migrants are crossing deadly borders, risking death, risking separation from loved ones, risking never to be able to return home. And to understand what happens to migrants after they cross these borders, which is often the illegalization of their presence, of their migration, the denial of asylum status,” said Roy, a professor of urban planning, social welfare and geography and founding faculty director of the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy.

Book by Kian Goh Honored by Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning

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UCLA Luskin’s Kian Goh has been awarded the 2025 Paul Davidoff Book Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP).

Goh’s book “Form and Flow: The Spatial Politics of Urban Resilience and Climate Justice,” published in 2021 by MIT Press, explores the politics of urban climate change responses in different cities — New York City; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Rotterdam, Netherlands — as well as the emergence of grassroots activism in resistance.

“The study brings both ethnographic depth and impressive critical theory to one of the most important issues of our moment,” the ACSP Award Committee said, praising Goh for skillfully drawing a throughline across disparate geographies in a way that does not feel contrived.

Goh is an associate professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin and associate faculty director of the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy. Her research focuses on urban ecological design, spatial politics, and social mobilization in the context of climate change and global urbanization.

The Paul Davidoff Book Award recognizes an outstanding book publication regarding participatory planning and positive social change, including opposing poverty and racism and addressing social and place-based inequalities. The award honors the memory of Paul Davidoff, who established the field of advocacy planning and worked toward social equity in the profession.

 

UCLA, Community Partners Help Fire Recovery Through Free Soil Testing

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In an effort to support the region’s recovery in the aftermath of the 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires, a team of UCLA researchers is joining with community partners to test soil samples from neighborhoods hit hard by the blazes.

The fires in the Pacific Palisades-Malibu area and the Altadena-Pasadena communities claimed at least 31 lives and damaged or destroyed more than 18,000 structures, according to county officials.

It also left many residents wondering what was in their soil.

“Soil screening is a necessary first step, but it’s not a solution,” said Kirsten Schwarz, an associate professor of environmental health sciences and urban planning with joint appointments at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

“Fire-impacted communities are eager for actionable solutions and soil amendments, like compost and mulch — low-cost, accessible options that help us manage risk,” she said.

Schwarz and Jennifer Jay, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, co-lead the LA Urban Soil Social Impact Collaborative, which is hosting pop-up soil testing events, workshops and remediation projects across the region.

At an Oct. 4 event at the Washington Park Community Center in Pasadena, the collaborative welcomed more than 80 residents and screened more than 200 soil samples using portable X-ray fluorescence analyzers to detect heavy metals, including lead, a known cause of significant illness. Participants were able to have up to three soil samples screened and received personalized consultations on how to improve soil health and safety in their yards and gardens.

The collaborative, which includes UCLA researchers and community-based, tribal, private, and academic partners from across Los Angeles, is funded by UCLA’s Center for Community Engagement. The group aims to leverage university research and resources and apply local and Indigenous knowledge to advance equitable access to healthy soils.

Read the full story

 

Sending a Pointed Message Through Real Estate

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“Spite houses” — structures built or modified specifically to annoy someone — are flourishing in the United States, where private-property culture, individualism and the country’s fragmented zoning laws create ideal conditions for satisfying personal grudges through real estate.

A CNN article about the phenomenon cited Boston’s four-story Skinny House, built by a returning Civil War soldier to block his brother’s view, and more recently, the Equality House, one of two properties bought across the street from Topeka, Kansas’ Westboro Baptist Church, known for its anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and for picketing at soldiers’ funerals. The owner painted the homes in rainbow colors of the Pride Movement.

“Hostile architecture is very American,” said Paavo Monkkonen, UCLA Luskin professor of urban planning and public policy. “Your house represents more here than it does in other countries. It’s a more personal symbol because it’s a homeownership society. There’s more neighbor-to-neighbor conflict.”

Spite houses are a local, highly personal kind of hostile architecture, which more broadly includes things like uncomfortable park benches meant to keep homeless people from sleeping on them.

“The U.S. approach to urban design is often not people-centric, in the sense that in certain parts of the city you want to build things that no one will go to, plazas that will be empty, because you want to protect your own peace and quiet,” Monkkonen said.

Loukaitou-Sideris on How to Keep Public Transit Safe and Welcoming

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Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, interim dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, appeared on the podcast Transportopia to discuss critical issues of safety and security in public transportation.

Loukaitou-Sideris drew on her extensive body of research on the transit experience, including how to protect riders and operators while creating spaces that are open and welcoming.

Transit hubs are not innately dangerous, she said. “It is simply the fact that transit attracts hundreds of thousands of people every day in small spaces, and that increases the opportunities for crime.”

To increase safety and visibility, transit agencies can employ a number of tools, said Loukaitou-Sideris, a distinguished professor of urban planning. These include thoughtful design and new technologies, such as upgrading lighting, installing security cameras, and providing apps that give arrival and departure information in real time.

In some locations, safety audits of transit lines have become a community-wide effort, with participants from schools and other local groups. Some transit agencies also enter partnerships with social service providers to offer appropriate resources for those in need of mental health help.

Loukaitou-Sideris offered practical advice for transit agencies seeking to increase safety and decrease fear: “Don’t only rely on one strategy,” she said. “Do research, find data and match it with your resources.”

Repercussions From the U.S.’ Plummeting Birth Rate

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UCLA Luskin’s Michael Lens spoke to KCBS News’ “Ask the Expert” program about repercussions from the plummeting birth rate in the United States.

The trend is caused by several factors. Many women are more financially independent than in past generations and may choose to delay childbearing. Others, however, are deterred from starting a family due to the high cost of living.

“It’s a much more financially daunting landscape for today’s 18- to 30-year-olds starting out in the world than it was 30 years ago,” said Lens, a professor of urban planning and public policy. “It’s a really damaging thing if young people who want to have children feel financially unable to make that work.”

Advanced economies in the modern era often see declining birth rates, and the consequences include fewer people of working age who are able to hold up the social safety net for those who are retired, Lens said.

LPPI Faculty Director Amada Armenta’s Personal History Influences Her Policy Efforts Her research pushes back on the narrative that Latino communities don’t matter

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By Sophia Pu
Amada Armenta, a UCLA alumna and associate professor of urban planning, is never far from her roots. While Oct. 15 marks the end of Hispanic Heritage Month, Armenta’s pride in her heritage inspires her to empower Latino communities every day through her work.

Armenta, faculty director of the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI) since May 2024, is the first Latina to hold the position. But her journey began 200 miles away, in El Centro, California, at the heart of the Imperial Valley.

Imperial County, which borders Mexico and Arizona, is 85% Hispanic and is California’s top producer of alfalfa and carrots. Yet the unemployment rate in the county continues to rank among the highest in the state. Growing up there taught Armenta the strength of community in the face of economic and social inequalities.

Like many other families in the area, Armenta’s great-grandmother and grandmother crossed the border from Jalisco, Mexico, without authorization to work in the fields. Immigration enforcement checkpoints, vehicles, and increasing surveillance shaped her everyday life.

“Attacks on undocumented immigrants have always felt personal to me,” Armenta said. “For many years, my family was undocumented, so these attacks make me feel like there are people in this country who wish we weren’t here. As a kid, I found that deeply painful.”

Despite Imperial County’s limited resources, Armenta’s family always reminded her to be proud of where she came from.

She recalls: “My dad used to tell me, ‘Brown, it’s beautiful!’ As a kid, I thought he was kind of insane. But now, I’m grateful he said it so often, because it stuck.”

Armenta’s family history and life experiences led her to UCLA’s sociology program for graduate school, where she found “the only institution that has truly felt like home.” Her personal research examines how and why immigration enforcement operates — and its consequences for families and communities.

Armenta’s leadership at LPPI embodies the phrase “knowledge is power.” The research and data-based recommendations provided by the institute to policymakers and advocates, she says, push back on the narrative that Latino communities don’t matter.

LPPI’s policy fellows program also advances one of the key recommendations to becoming a Hispanic-Serving Institution by improving access to graduate and professional programs, extending opportunities for engagement in research, and ensuring mentorship support.

Students have the opportunity to work hands-on alongside professional staff and researchers to gain paid experience shaping academia, policy, and media. This experience provides pathways to careers in legislative offices, government agencies, and research institutions.

“Their opportunities — and mine — exist because of the trailblazers whose work and sacrifice opened doors for us,” Armenta said. “We’re building on their legacies every day.”

UCLA’s Master of Real Estate Development Program to Receive $2.5 Million Gift The pledge from Standard Communities’ Jeffrey Jaeger and Scott Alter will support innovative approaches to affordable housing

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By Kate Shirley

The new Master of Real Estate Development Program (MRED) at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs has received a $2.5 million commitment to support its affordable housing program. The pledge comes from Jeffrey Jaeger and Scott Alter, co-founders and principals of Standard Communities, a Los Angeles–based real estate company dedicated to building and preserving affordable and workforce housing nationwide. In recognition of the gift, the program will be known as the UCLA Jaeger Alter Standard Communities (JASC) Affordable Housing Program. Participating students would earn a Certificate in Affordable Housing.

Launched in fall 2025, the UCLA MRED is a one-year graduate program designed in collaboration with industry leaders. Students gain hands-on experience through case studies, site visits and competitions, preparing them to address pressing housing, environmental and equity challenges. The JASC Affordable Housing Program will ensure UCLA MRED graduates enter the real estate field with the skills, networks and vision to create lasting social impact.

headshots of two men in dark suits

Scott Alter, left, and Jeffrey Jaeger

“This enduring gift enables us to develop new coursework focused on innovative approaches to building affordable housing — drawing on emerging capital market solutions that can scale production far beyond what traditional public subsidies can support,” said Greg Morrow, executive director of the UCLA MRED program. “Through this effort, UCLA MRED is helping to pioneer new ways of addressing the affordable housing crisis.”

Standard Communities has built a reputation as a national leader, delivering innovative, high-impact housing solutions that expand access to safe, dignified and affordable homes. By leveraging creative financial structuring and public-private partnerships, Standard Communities preserves and develops communities that uplift residents, strengthen neighborhoods and help address the country’s urgent affordability crisis.

As part of the UCLA MRED focus on industry partnerships and collaboration, Jaeger and Alter plan to provide guest lectures, mentorships and internships with the goal of strengthening the pipeline of talent committed to addressing housing affordability.

“We’ve seen firsthand how access to safe, stable, dignified, affordable housing can transform lives,” said Alter. “This gift is an investment in the leaders who will emerge from the UCLA MRED program and will carry that mission forward — building stronger, more resilient communities for generations to come.”

Standard Communities was founded during the 2008 housing crisis, and this gift aligns with the company’s mission, which reflects a belief that affordable housing is not only central to thriving communities but also a meaningful and rewarding career path for young professionals.

“What makes the affordable housing industry so powerful is that it allows us to have a profound impact in our communities and in the world at large, while offering meaningful and financially rewarding careers,” said Jaeger. “By supporting the program, we hope to expand the pipeline of talented professionals who will bring fresh ideas, energy and commitment to this space, ultimately helping to deliver housing solutions that are sustainable, equitable and capable of transforming lives.”

The JASC program underscores UCLA MRED’s dedication to offering specialized skills through several certificate programs, including sustainable development, property technology and asset management, as well as affordable housing.

“Affordable housing is among the most urgent needs in our region and beyond,” said Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, interim dean of UCLA Luskin. “This gift enables us to train a new generation of real estate leaders who can design, develop and manage housing that is both affordable and sustainable. We are deeply grateful to Jeffrey Jaeger and Scott Alter for their foresight and generosity.”

Helping America’s Schools Adapt to the Climate Era

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As the number of extreme heat days stretches later into the fall, many of the nation’s schools are seeking ways to adapt, but they’re often hindered by aging infrastructure and cuts to federal funding for climate upgrades.

Installing air conditioning or adding shade canopies to vast expanses of asphalt are effective but may come with red tape and a high price tag, said V. Kelly Turner, associate director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation.

“A lot of our schools are older and probably in need of modernization,” Turner told Time magazine. “And climate change is casting some light on the fact that they really are underfunded to do that.”

Treating schools as community centers is one strategy that could be beneficial around the country, said Turner, an associate professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin.

“If it’s really hot, some schools just send kids home, but what if a child is going home to a home that has no air conditioning? Now we’ve sent them to a place that’s maybe just as unsafe,” she said. “But if schools are seen as more like community centers and resource hubs, then we can provide all-day-long air conditioning to 25% of the population in one site in the community.”

Manville on the End of an Era for Carpool-Lane Access

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Michael Manville, chair and professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, spoke to the Los Angeles Times about new rules that are kicking solo drivers of clean-air vehicles out of California’s carpool lanes, raising questions about how commute times and traffic will be affected.

The carpool lane perk was used to promote the adoption of clean and zero-emission vehicles. As of Aug. 14, more than half a million motorists statewide had an active decal on their vehicle to access the lanes.

That privilege ended Oct. 1, and experts say it will take time to see how clean-air vehicle drivers might adapt.

“Will they just throw up their hands and get in traffic with the rest of us in the three [other] lanes, or will they actually do something else, because they really do value not being in traffic?” Manville asked.

He added that, on an already gridlocked freeway during peak drive times, commuters might not even notice one more car that merges in.