Shawn Landres Named Civil Society Fellow The cofounder of Jumpstart Labs will work with students and researchers to better understand giving and civic well-being.

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Social and civic entrepreneur Shawn Landres is serving as Civil Society Fellow in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs for the spring and fall quarters, 2015. He is advising The Center for Civil Society on research, meeting with students and guest lecturing in classes, participating in outreach, and working with the Luskin Center for Innovation to develop a civic innovation summit during the 2015-16 academic year.

Dr. Landres cofounded Jumpstart Labs, a Los Angeles-based think tank and infrastructure support organization known for its applied research on faith-based social innovation, and chairs the board of Hub Los Angeles, a social enterprise development center in Los Angeles’s Arts District. A member of the Los Angeles County Quality and Productivity Commission, he chairs its Strategic Foresight Working Group.  Dr. Landres also co-chairs the Santa Monica Public Library’s Innovation Technology Task Force.

“Shawn Landres is a dynamic player in the Los Angeles nonprofit and philanthropic community and beyond,” said Bill Parent, acting director of the Luskin Center for Civil Society. “He is accomplished in solution-oriented leadership, innovation, and research. It is great to have him with us at UCLA.”

Dr. Landres co-conceived and led Jumpstart’s six-part Connected to Give series, a nationally representative study of religion and American household charitable giving. He will be working with the CCS and the California Community Foundation on a study and forecast of giving and civic well-being across Los Angeles to be conducted during the summer of 2015.

“Across the private, public, and charitable sectors, successful innovation is rooted in listening, whether to the data that informs the challenges at hand or to the people closest to them, who are best positioned to lead sustainable change,” said Dr. Landres. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to work with the insightful research team at UCLA Luskin to help advance effective evidence-based policymaking.”

Dr. Landres holds degrees in religious studies and social anthropology from Columbia University, the University of Oxford, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he earned his doctorate. He is a member of the board of directors of the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry. Dr. Landres has co-edited four books and published award-winning articles and essays that advance intergroup understanding. He has more than two decades of experience in academic, nonprofit, and philanthropic leadership, social entrepreneurship, network building, and organizational development.  In 2009, The Forward named Dr. Landres one of America’s 50 most influential Jewish leaders. In 2012, the White House featured him as a “spotlight innovator” at its Faith-Based Social Innovation Conference and in 2013, the Liberty Hill Foundation honored him with its NextGen Leadership Award.

Fellowship Donor’s Life is a Window on History With her support of an endowed fellowship for urban planning students focusing on transportation, Pat Shoup hopes to demonstrate the power of education

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By Alejandra Reyes-Velarde
UCLA Luskin Student Writer

“I have very happy memories of my childhood in Northern Ireland,” Pat Shoup says. “The way I think of my life is before the U.S. and after I came to the U.S., in two distinct parts.”

Though she remembers her childhood fondly, playing field hockey, becoming head girl of her high school, and obtaining the highest honor as a Queen’s Guide in the equivalent of Girl Scouts, her environment had always been sensitive to the history of the “troubles” that partitioned Ireland in 1921. Although she loved Northern Ireland, which was peaceful when she grew up there, she chose to go to the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and remembers feeling lucky to study in such a beautiful medieval town.

A year after graduating, Pat met a young American named Donald Shoup when her brother invited him to their parents’ house in Northern Ireland. The whole family fell in love with Donald, including Pat. After he returned to the U.S., she and Donald wrote to each other for two years. In 1964 they arranged to meet again in Heidelberg, Germany, where she was teaching English at a Berlitz School. That summer they became engaged, and in 1965 she emigrated to the United States, a journey that would mark a turning point in her life and career.

When she landed in New York, Pat Shoup was 25 years old and excited to embark on a new journey, a journey that began with a Humber bicycle constructed for her by Donald from a kit.

Having left everything behind, Shoup said she was in need of a job and attempted to continue her teaching career by taking a summer MAT course at Yale. After struggling through a temporary job trying to teach American history, she realized teaching was not for her.

In 1968, Shoup and her husband moved to California when when he won a postdoctoral appointment at UCLA, and she began her career as an editor for academic journals by working freelance for Sage Publications. When the University of Michigan appointed her husband an assistant professor, she worked for the university press in Ann Arbor and was the editor for the 1970 Survey of Consumer Finances. When the couple moved back to Los Angeles, Pat worked on campus for various journals, including Law & Society Review at the UCLA Law School and The Journal of Symbolic Logic, as well as doing freelance jobs for the university press.

Though she has edited numerous academic journals, Shoup’s passion for writing lies in fiction and poetry. Some of her poetry has been published, and one of her poems was published in a collection of works selected by Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney.

“Writing is the thread that seems to run through my life,” Shoup says. “I wrote letters every week to my parents (when I came to the U.S.). You couldn’t just phone somebody. My life has been strung along the line of writing letters to people who mattered most to me or my own ambition to be a writer.”

Despite veering away from her own ambition of becoming an author, Shoup remains interested in writing fiction and a memoir. She took a UCLA extension course on memoir writing and says she has written fragments of a memoir that she wants to complete one day. “I want to remember what it was like in Northern Ireland when I was young because it was such a happy place then, not as the media later represented it. I was terribly upset by what happened,” she says. “I would like to let people know that it wasn’t always like that.”

Some of her work, including a published short story “Times of Trouble,” has been inspired by her feelings of displacement after the Northern Ireland “troubles” reignited in 1969. Shoup remembers being shocked to learn that one place she remembered fondly from her childhood was later the scene of Lord Louis Mountbatten’s assassination. “During the Second World War, my parents would take us for summer holidays to the west of Ireland to Mullaghmore, where I learned to swim in the harbor,” Shoup says. “Years later, that was the place where Mountbatten (Prince Philip’s uncle), who owned a castle there, was blown up by an IRA bomb planted in his boat. I heard the news in 1979 on the radio here in Los Angeles. I felt as if someone had hit me with lightning.”

Shoup said she and her husband share a passion for writing and editing to produce the best possible work. “You need a lot of things to keep you together and interested in each other,” she said. “I’m very proud of him and we have worked together on his writing because it’s so important to both of us.”

Pat and Donald Shoup edited The High Cost of Free Parking together and she has played a key role in its success. She has also played a role in funding the Donald and Pat Shoup Endowed Fellowship in Urban Planning.

“I care about how students can be helped because we both believe that education is the most important thing that young people can get,” she said. “We decided a long time ago we’d like to leave some money to help future students, and Donald’s retirement seems like a good time to do that. What amazes me is how many other people have contributed so generously to the fellowship, and we are both extremely grateful to them all.”

Students Reflect on Experiences From Japan Yearly visits to Japan provide insight on reconstruction, education, and transportation

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By Angel Ibañez
UCLA Luskin Student Writer

For the fourth consecutive year UCLA Luskin students visited Japan to learn about its unique culture and public policy perspective. The trip was organized by UCLA Luskin students and consisted of three groups that visited cities within three policy areas in Japan: reconstruction, education, and transportation & economy.

The 2015 Luskin Japan Trip Report collects the stories and experiences from thirty-nine students across the Public Policy, Social Welfare and Urban Planning departments that traveled to the region earlier this year. In the trip over Spring Break, groups of students toured the National Diet of Japan—the home of the Japanese legislature—ministries, and local schools. The trip spanned five days and covered six different cities and areas including Fukushima, Kyoto and Yamanashi.

 

Uber’s Whetstone to Speak at Commencement Rachel Whetstone, senior vice president of policy and communications for ride-sharing service Uber, will give the 2015 Commencement address

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By Alejandra Reyes-Velarde
UCLA Luskin Student Writer

As the digital age continues to advance with implications across all areas of public life, UCLA Luskin searches for ways to increasingly integrate technology in its students’ understanding of policy, planning and social work.

Rachel Whetstone, senior vice president of policy and communications at Uber, will give her insight as a woman with experience in technology, communications and public policy during the 2015 Commencement Ceremony at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Prior to her appointment at Uber this year, Rachel Whetstone served as senior vice president of communications and policy at Google since 2005. Formerly, Whetstone held posts in government in the United Kingdom, including service as Michael Howard’s chief of staff following his election to leadership of the conservative party.

In 2013, Whetstone was named one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by “Woman’s Hour” on BBC radio.

When she joined Google in 2005, she became an advisor to CEO Larry Page and handled many of the company’s biggest policy issues including the recent anti-trust charges in Europe, according to Business Insider.

At Uber she will face similar challenges related to policy and public relations, including challenges to Uber’s business model from taxi companies and aggressive expansion plans, according to Re/Code.

The UCLA Luskin commencement ceremony will be held in Royce Hall on Friday, June 12, at 9 am.

 

Dean Gilliam Named Chancellor of UNC-Greensboro After seven years at UCLA Luskin's helm, Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr., will step down to lead the East Coast university in the fall

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The following message was sent to the UCLA community today from Chancellor Gene D. Block:

To the UCLA Community:

I am sad to announce the departure of Frank Gilliam, dean of the Luskin School of Public Affairs and a longtime faculty member, but I am very proud to share the news that he has been named chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His appointment is effective Sept. 8.

A visionary leader, skilled administrator and renowned scholar of public policy and politics, Frank has been instrumental in advancing UCLA’s civic engagement through community partnerships and research addressing some of society’s most pressing problems.

After being named dean in 2008, Frank shepherded a transformative $50 million gift that named the school in honor of our generous donors Meyer and Renee Luskin. With Frank’s guidance, the Luskin School of Public Affairs has ascended on a new trajectory of influence in research and innovation in education. Under Frank, the Luskin School has focused on identifying some of our world’s most vexing issues – such as immigration, drug policy, transportation, national security, health care financing and the environment – and establishing itself as a leader in addressing them. Through the Leadership Initiative, Frank expanded opportunities for students to interact directly with policy leaders, helping to prepare them for real-world challenges in public service. In the new Global Public Affairs program, students and faculty study problems that cross international borders and explore solutions that require a global perspective.

Even before being appointed dean, Frank championed UCLA’s civic engagement. He created the UCLA Center for Community Partnerships and served as associate vice chancellor of community partnerships from 2002 to 2008, forging academic and community collaborations to improve the quality of life throughout Los Angeles. In large part because of Frank, UCLA earned its first Carnegie Foundation Community Engagement classification. Frank’s impassioned commitment to the cause helped make him an ideal choice to lead the Luskin School, which is dedicated to public service through scholarship that informs public policy and teaching that prepares future civic leaders.

I share Frank’s dedication to public engagement. His success in that arena was one reason I chose him, in 2013, as a special adviser to develop a framework for UCLA’s civic involvement in our region – a framework that is now being strategically implemented.

Frank joined UCLA’s faculty in 1986, and he now holds appointments in political science and public policy. His scholarship focuses on elections and political campaigns, with an emphasis on racial and ethnic politics, and how strategic communications shape public policy. Frank is frequently interviewed about these and other subjects by top news outlets. His work is published in many leading academic journals, and he is the author of Farther to Go: Readings and Cases in African-American Politics. Frank also was founding director of the UCLA Center for Communications and Community and he held leadership positions at the UCLA Center for American Politics and Public Policy.

Befitting his scholarship and his commitment to civics, Frank helped establish the FrameWorks Institute, which publishes research to further public understanding of social issues and aid nonprofits. He is a senior fellow at the institute, which this year earned a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. Frank also serves as chair of the Blue Shield of California board of trustees and is on the boards of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles and Southern California Grantmakers.

Frank has made an indelible mark on UCLA through our strengthened relationships with partners in the communities we serve. His deanship has elevated the Luskin School to a new level of excellence and helped to prepare thousands of students to become leaders working to enhance the lives of others. By any measure, Frank has had a profound impact on our campus as well as communities throughout the Los Angeles and across the nation.

I am proud to have him as a colleague and am confident he will enjoy continued success leading the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Please join me in congratulating Frank and wishing him well in this new chapter of his career.

We are fortunate to have many strong leaders at the Luskin School, and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Scott Waugh and I intend to appoint an interim dean very soon and then conduct a search for a successor. We are grateful for the clear path Frank has set at the Luskin School, and we are well-positioned to continue UCLA’s broader efforts to serve as a valuable resource for the community – work that is essential to our mission as a public university.

Sincerely,

Gene D. Block

Chancellor

 

Transportation and Connectivity at Luskin Lecture Series U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx discussed the ways transportation builds community at a Luskin Lecture Series event

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Planners of Color for Social Equity host 3rd annual Youth Conference ELARA students showed growth in their return to Luskin for the Urban Planning Youth Empowerment Conference.

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By Alejandra Reyes-Velarde

Luskin Student Writer

A helicopter hovered over Jesus Palalia’s neighborhood, shining the light over him as he walked home from working with his mom. He recalls the frightening experience as normal when he was younger, growing up in a ‘ghetto’ neighborhood.

Now, an 11th grade student at the East Los Angeles Renaissance Academy (ELARA), Palalia is thinking about a career in youth criminology, inspired by what he has learned through the Urban Planning Youth Empowerment Conference held by the Planners of Color for Social Equity, or PCSE, at UCLA Luskin. This is his third time attending the conference.

Palalia said that though he doesn’t think he wants to pursue urban planning as a career, he enjoys learning about it because it has exposed him to new ideas about his community. Palalia said he thinks the conference has shown him how communities and bad neighborhoods can affect youth.

“I like that I get to be creative and work with other people,” Palalia said.

ELARA is one of three high schools in the nation with a focus on urban planning and design that participate in the conference each year.

The conference aims to spark high school students’ interest in urban planning, urging them to question their surroundings and giving them the knowledge to better understand the subject. Since its first year in 2013, the conference has grown and made a stronger impact for students who now make their second and third visits to UCLA for the conference.

In a series of workshops, students now quickly write lists of residential, industrial, commercial and institutional areas on a white paper, not forgetting to include areas that serve underrepresented communities. Students write down the words ‘temporary shelters,’ and ‘community centers,’ planning where to place them on a map outlined by tape on the floor. In workshops, students independently think about the placement of each building, making sure to separate residential areas from industrial and thinking about what would serve the community the best.

Annette Moreno, a 9th grade English teacher, said she noticed students were more engaged at this year’s event.

“(In the past) students wouldn’t know what to say,” Moreno said. “Now they are really engaged and they have more experience.”

Diana Diaz, a counselor at the event, said she was surprised to learn new things about her community from the conference and the students, who discussed things such as food deserts and the pollution in their communities after the conference was over.

Edber Macedo, a first-year urban planning student and co-chair of the PCSE, and a three-year volunteer on the conference project, said he became interested in the organization because of his interactions with the students.

Though the organization aims to empower youth, Macedo said the students have been able to teach volunteers and urban planning students more about the lived experiences of the problems they try to solve.

“You forget you’re talking to high school students. They are really bright,” Macedo said, recalling his surprise as he would have conversations with the students.

When asking students what types of things they would like to see in their neighborhoods, Macedo said students responded by saying they want more green space, 24-hour fitness centers and Starbucks, giving him a different perspective about the way urban planning approaches communities.

“It’s amazing to have students from underrepresented communities to come and learn about urban planning through a critical lens,” he said.

Macedo said he also wants PSCE to aim to improve access to graduate school for underrepresented students. When he talks to the students about graduate school, Macedo said he sees they’re already concerned about not being able to afford it and not feeling like they would fit in.

“We want to demystify the college experience,” he said. “That’s why we have this conference at UCLA. To show students that in a couple of years, they can physically be here.”

Jiovani Huerta, an 11th grade student who participated, said he enjoys seeing the campus and learning about each building in terms of urban planning.

“UCLA is a great university,” Huerta said “Once you come here, you can be someone great.”

Though students have enjoyed the youth conference and have shown improvement in just three years, teachers said they want to see the program grow from being an isolated event to extending throughout the school year.

“In most cases, this doesn’t come back into the classroom,” Diaz said. “It would be good to have after-school programs or training for teachers to bring urban planning into the classroom.”

 

 

Study: Asian American Electorate Expected to Double by 2040 New data collected by the Center for the Study of Inequality predicts an increase in Asian American political power in the next 25 years

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By 2040, there will be over 6 million more registered Asian American voters in the U.S. than there are today, an increase of more than 100 percent and proof that Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing electorates.

That finding is just one of the results of a new report coauthored by Paul Ong, a professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy at UCLA Luskin with a joint appointment in Asian American Studies. The study explores the implications this growing segment of the population has for the U.S. electorate and upcoming political races through detailed demographic estimations.

According to the report, which augmented information from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Asian American electorate will double to 12.2 million in 2040, a 107 percent increase. Due to their growing numbers, the Asian American population will have the potential to play a key role in tight presidential elections and close political decisions. The report is the first in a series of publications throughout the year that are expected to cover a broad range of topics including culture and multigenerationalism.

The report was prepared in partnership with the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS), a national organization committed to promoting Asian Pacific American participation and representation at all levels of the political process, from community service to elected office. The report was coauthored by Elena Ong, a consultant to APAICS.

“These results provide a context for understanding the relative size and potential impact of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), as well as the current and future roles of (the population’s) leaders in serving two of the fastest growing racial populations in America,” Paul Ong said.

“This study shows that Asian Americans will have a growing presence and stronger voice in our national debates for years to come,” said Senator Mazie Hirono (HI), the first Asian American woman elected to the U.S. Senate. “I look forward to continuing to work to grow the pipeline of Asian American leaders who will amplify the voice of our community and continue the fight to overcome the challenges we face.”

Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27.), the Chairwoman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, commented, “As AAPIs become more engaged in the political process, it is important now, more than ever, that our government both represents and responds to the needs of our diverse communities.”

In the report, the term Asian American is defined in diverse terms ranging from solely Asian to multiracial Asian Americans with mixed backgrounds in terms of culture, ethnicity, nativity and other factors. According to the report, multiracial Asians will have a larger growth rate of 130 percent versus Asians alone, who are expected to grow by 75 percent.

“Electoral candidates will need to understand that the Asian American vote is not a monolith,” the report says. “They will need to understand the political concerns and priorities of Asian Americans are both unique and complex, shaped in part by age, nativity, multiracial and other evolving demographic composition.”

Changes within the Asian American population could also have an impact on the electorate beyond the 2016 presidential election cycle. For instance, while the younger, U.S.-born Asian American population aged 18 to 34 currently constitutes the majority of Asian American voters, the report estimates that by 2040, 57 percent of registered Asian American voters will be over the age of 34.

“(Knowing this information) would help elected officials reach out to Asian American voters in a language, and in a communication preference, that is in tune with the Asian American voter’s immigration status and age-cohort,” Ong said.

According to the report, the difference in race and age may suggest that the growing population will have different needs, including more emphasis on foreign policy, international relations, trade and immigration to accommodate for the concerns of foreign-born Asian American adults.

In 2015, 44 percent of naturalized Asian American registered voters are over the age of 55, but by 2040, 53 percent will be, according to the study. As a result, the youth and middle-aged share of the political landscape will decline. Older, naturalized Asian American voters are likely to demand different needs, such as native-language registration forms, town halls, e-booklets and ballots in order to vote.

Conversely, authors suggest that populations under 34 are likely to share U.S. values and advocate for issues such as equality, health care affordability and college affordability, among others.

“Given the enormous diversity by age and nativity, along with ethnicity and nationality and socioeconomic class, there is a daunting challenge of creating a common political agenda that unites Asian Americans into an effective and cohesive voting bloc,” the report said.

Though the report focuses on political implications, the impacts of the demographic shifts can be extrapolated into other areas of governance. Among other things, these projections are important for understanding the social, cultural and economic dimensions affecting the development of public policies such as new educational programs, English as a Second Language programs, and occupational and social programs for Asian American citizens of all ages.

The report, titled “The Future of Asian America in 2040,” is available via the Center for the Study of Inequality, a research center headed up by Paul Ong and housed at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and APAICS. Commentaries are also hosted there from elected officials and scholars exploring the dynamics of race and politics in America today.

Urban Planning Alumna Revitalizes Communities Viviana Franco leads a non-profit that revitalizes communities through green space renewal.

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By Angel Ibanez
UCLA Luskin Student Writer 

For Viviana Franco, the lack of green space in communities was something she noticed early in her life.

Growing up, Franco lived near vacant lots that were left as a result of the construction of Interstate 105 in Hawthorne, California. 

By her teens, Franco was being sent to attend high school in Torrance where she began to notice differences between the areas around her school and her home.

“It’s the first time in my life I had questioned, why is it that when I go home there’s a ton of liquor stores but when I’m at school I can walk to a park?” she says.

The reflection of her surroundings ultimately revolved around the lack of green space, leading her to pursue potential solutions. She asked herself, “What can I do to change this landscape?” and knew she needed more resources to answer it.

When she first came to UCLA as an undergraduate student, a graduate student introduced Franco to geographic information systems (GIS), and saw it as a tool to illustrate aspects of inequity. This new way at looking at communities and her experience growing up in a community with a lack of green space led her to pursue a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from the Luskin School of Public Affairs. 

At Luskin, she started to learn the tools she needed to improve access to green spaces for low-income communities. When she took a class on public space, she began to look at the underlying aspects of the green spaces she was pursuing.

“I couldn’t believe you could study parks,” Franco says of the course taught by Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, professor of Urban Planning and associate dean at Luskin.

Through the course, Franco began to look at the impact parks could have on communities. They “were social and cultural spaces that were incredibly important to create healthy communities.”

The classes and the influential professors she studied under led her to center her graduating capstone project on a vacant lot beautification study focusing on the effects vacant lots have on an individual’s livelihood.

By the time she crossed the stage at Luskin in 2005, Franco was firmly committed to the issue. In 2008, she was profiled by the Los Angeles Times documenting her fight as an “activist” to turn an empty parcel of land near her childhood home into a park. Using the research she had done for her capstone project, Franco had founded From Lot to Spot, a non-profit dedicated to green space renewal. Since her battle over the Hawthorne space, (which she eventually lost), Franco and her non-profit has been able to transform a number of communities.

One of these communities is Lennox, California, an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County and one of the poorest and densest areas in the state. It was here that From Lot to Spot helped create a community garden where families can grow their own food. Franco says one mother in the community took her kids to the garden to show them their food comes from, ultimately changing the way they looked at food in their home. 

“Seeing where their food comes from caused them to change their eating habits and be more conscious of how they buy food for their family,” she recalls. 

118th and Doty

118th and Doty

In 2012, From Lot to Spot was finally able to help bring a pocket park to the City of Hawthorne – at the same address where she was previously denied a park, 118th and Doty, but on the other side of the 105 Freeway. It was in this park where a family from the community began to exercise together for the first time, because they felt safe enough to walk on the small walking trail created.

“Seeing small transformations like that show that these spaces do matter,” Franco says.

Franco credits Urban Planning professor Leobardo Estrada for being an influential and encouraging figure while she was at Luskin and in developing From Lot to Spot.

“What began as a one-woman crusade has become a formidable organization forged on her passion for making working neighborhoods better,” said Estrada.

Franco hopes to continue to work together with communities to make sure they are empowered by their spaces and hopes From Lot to Spot will continue to revitalize communities.

 

Urban Planning Alumnus Leads Reform of Houston Metro System Kurt Luhrsen ('96) VP of Planning at the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County leads public transportation renovation

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By Adeney Zo
UCLA Luskin Student Writer 

After 30 years of operation, the Houston Metro was due for a major reevaluation of the system. Urban Planning alumnus Kurt Luhrsen (‘96), now vice president of Planning at the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, took the lead in reimagining public transportation for a rapidly growing and changing city.

“We realized the population had shifted and how we weren’t serving them well,” explained Luhrsen. “Our first goal was to reverse a long-term trend of decreasing ridership. Despite huge population and employment growths, we were seeing pretty significant losses on the local bus.”

As project manager, Luhrsen oversaw all aspects of the design process as well as public outreach efforts.

“We spent the first six to seven months working through existing conditions and developing what the goals of the project should be very publicly with the stakeholders and public,” said Luhrsen.

The main goal of the Reimagining Project was to increase efficiency and ridership on the local bus – with zero additional operating costs. This meant that only existing resources could be utilized to reroute and improve bus lines.

“Transit is not about making money, but providing access to the system and mobility to people who can’t or choose not to drive,” said Luhrsen. “How much resources you should spend driving ridership and covering as many people as possible is an important discussion to have.”

Balancing the two ends of the public transportation spectrum, coverage and frequency, was a core debate during the planning process. On one hand, lines could be designed to reach as many locations as possible while decreasing bus frequency. Alternatively, lines could be routed to frequently serve areas with the most riders, at the expense of areas with less need.

“The goal is to carry as many people as we can in the heaviest areas,” explained Luhrsen. “We really want to refocus our network on where people are living and working now.”

As of February 2015, project plans have received final board approval and are on track for implementation throughout the city in August 2015.

Though Luhrsen is contributing to major transportation improvements in Houston, he has not lost his connection with Los Angeles and the Luskin School. Luhrsen currently is a board member of the Luskin’s Institute of Transportation Studies and maintains close contact with his former faculty advisor, Professor Brian Taylor.

“He asked me to sit on the ITS board, continuing my involvement despite not living in LA. I help guide research and give feedback on research enterprises,” said Luhrsen. “My relationship [with the Luskin] continues to allow me to give back in a small way.”