New Book Co-edited by Urban Planning Professors Explores “Informal Urbanism”

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Urban Planning professors Vinit Mukhija and Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris have a new book out this month called “The Informal American City: Beyond Taco Trucks and Day Labor”, and it aims to challenge how planners and policy makers think about informal urbanism.

The book, published by MIT Press and co-edited by Mukhija and Loukaitou-Sideris, looks at examples of informal or unregulated activities in eight large cities in the United States. Through a collection of case studies and analyses written by top experts in urban planning, including a number of their colleagues at UCLA Luskin, Mukhija and Loukaitou-Sideris make the case for a need to examine informal urbanism not just economically but also spatially.

The following is a Q&A that Mukhija and Loukaitou-Sideris participated in with UCLA Luskin:

Q: How did the original idea for this book come about? Has there been literature on this topic before?

Living in a city like Los Angeles we are surrounded by informal activities and settings. We start our book by describing urban scenes that are quite common in some Los Angeles neighborhoods: A street vendor selling ice popsicles pushing his cart down the sidewalk, a yard sale in front of someone’s garage, day laborers looking for work opportunities in front of the neighborhood hardware store. These are only a few of the everyday settings and activities that are omnipresent in Los Angeles and many other US cities; many more are discussed in our book. While there is significant literature about the informal economy in cities, most of this literature concentrates on informality in the developing world. Additionally, most of the existing literature focuses on the economic transactions of informality and ignores its spatial settings.

Q: Why is it that informal urbanism is often dismissed by planners and policy makers as “marginal?” What did you find that contradicts this thinking?

All too often informal urbanism is considered a “third-world problem.” Most planners in developed countries assume that informal activities are either limited in scope and therefore safe to ignore, or criminal in nature, and thus should be opposed. Some perceive that dealing with informality falls only within the regulatory realm, and there is no important role that planning or design can play. Some progressive planners may worry about making conditions worse for those engaged in informal activities and prefer an approach of benign neglect. Our book includes detailed case studies of examples from Los Angeles, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Kansas City, Atlantic City, and New York City, and shows that informal or unregulated but otherwise licit activities are widespread and varied in American cities. And while informality has often been associated with immigrants, informal activities are pervasive and spread across different social groups, diverse urban settings, and different geographical regions of the country.

Informal and formal activities are not always distinct and rigidly separated. They often overlap and depend on each other. The ubiquity of many informal activities also shows that informal practices are not transitory, even if some of their specific settings are ephemeral. Finally, our case studies show the contradictory nature of informality, with both potential winners and losers associated with it.

Q: What are some common types of informal urbanism that people see everyday, but might not categorize as a different type of urbanism? And what are some benefits that communities get from these unsanctioned enterprises?

Informal activities that people may see everyday, depending on where they live, range from taco trucks to day labor (as our book’s subtitle indicates), yard sales, unpermitted granny flats, informal gardening, urban agriculture, informal parking (when people rent their driveways and front yards), informal taxi services, etc. In certain cases, such informal activities exist because they fulfill some needs that are not adequately addressed by the formal economy. A good example is unpermitted second units that may offer affordable housing to tenants and income to landlords in single-family lots. However, the notion that informality is always a virtue or only has positive consequences is also flawed. We are well aware that informality can lead to increased vulnerability, exploitation, and unhealthy conditions for those undertaking the informal activities or consuming its products, in addition to revenue losses for municipal governments.

Q: What are the policy or societal responses to informal urbanism that you hope will arise from your book?

We argue that in addition to examining the economic consequences of informality, we also need to address and respond to it spatially. Some policy or societal responses include: 1) the creation of a supportive public infrastructure (e.g., worker centers for day laborers, appropriate sidewalk space for street vending, water pipes for colonias, etc.) that can lessen the hardships for those participating in informal activities; 2) the identification and enhancement through design of underutilized space that can host certain informal activities; 3) the provision of sensible environmental regulations that ensure safety, cleanliness, good sanitation, and lack of noise or odors in informal settings.

Policy responses should give particular consideration to the socio-spatial context of informal settings. While citywide regulations may be appropriate for matters relating to health and safety, other issues relating to when and where informal activities can take place may be neighborhood-specific.

Q: What do you hope planners, specifically, can gain from this book?

We hope that the book will make informality more visible to planners and policy makers in the US as it is a topic that deserves their positive attention. The complex nature of informality makes addressing it difficult. However, we find that ignoring informality is not always the best policy. At the same time, outlawing or criminalizing informality is rarely successful. And while some regulation is necessary to protect the health and safety of the general public, many existing laws and ordinances make absolutely no room for informality and other unexpected activities. While several of our chapters recommend some form of formalization through more sympathetic ordinances and permits, the belief that legalization and regulation can adequately respond to all informal activities is also misleading. Our case studies also indicate that alternative and non-state institutional arrangements can play a constructive role in addressing the more pernicious aspects of informality. Lastly, our cases studies indicate that creative design approaches may allow the safe co-existence of formal and informal activities in spatial settings and the lessening of conflict between them.

To learn more about the book, you can read Mukhija’s and Loukaitou-Sideris’ brief interview with MIT Press.

Contributors  include Jacob Avery, Ginny Browne, Matt Covert, Margaret Crawford, Will Dominie, Renia Ehrenfeucht, Jeffrey Hou, Nabil Kamel, Gregg Kettles, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Kate Mayerson, Alfonso Morales, Vinit Mukhija, Michael Rios, Donald Shoup, Abel Valenzuela Jr., Mark Vallianatos, and Peter M. Ward.

 

Paul Ong Honored for Engaged Scholarship

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Urban Planning professor Paul Ong has been named the 2013-14 recipient of the Don T. Nakanishi Award for Outstanding Engaged Scholarship in Asian American Studies.

David K. Yoo, director and professor of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center and Department, announced Ong’s honor in a letter to colleagues:

“A long-time member of the Center’s Faculty, Professor Ong has dedicated his career of 29 years at UCLA to strengthen the bridge between ‘gown and town.’ In addition to his professorship at UCLA Luskin, he holds appointments in Asian American studies and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. He has also provided tremendous service and leadership for the UCLA campus, most recently as the Director of the Center for the Study of Inequality and Co-Founder and Senior Editor of the national AAPI Nexus Journal: Policy, Practice, and Community. Professor Ong received his B.A. from the University of California, Davis, a Masters in Urban Planning from the University of Washington, and the Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

“A prolific scholar, Professor Ong has authored or edited nine books and published over 70 journal articles and papers, including the influential and often-cited State of Asian American series of policy-related studies for which he served as research director. Professor Ong has taught key service-learning courses for both Asian American studies and Urban Planning at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In particular, Professor Ong has offered courses that are multidisciplinary and that are engaged with community-based research.

“Colleagues, community leaders and students overwhelmingly endorsed Professor Ong for the award. One community leader commented, ‘His entire career has been about having his research and scholarship translated into useful information to help the API community.’ Another community leader affirmed, ‘Dr. Ong has always sought to pursue research that is relevant to key issues in API communities, and more importantly, to work with community organizations who are engaged in those issues…At the same time, Dr. Ong maintains the highest standards of academic integrity in the research – he provides us with accurate data, analysis and the facts, even if sometimes the facts run counter to what we may have assumed—which is ultimately what is most needed and useful to inform our work.’

“At UCLA, Professor Ong’s innovative courses have pushed the academic boundaries outside the classroom in meaningful ways, as one faculty colleague stated, ‘His work has not only set a high standard for scholars with similar aspirations, but also been critical in bringing attention and much needed resources to many communities in Los Angeles. Without scholars like Professor Ong, the AAPI community in Los Angeles and in the nation would remain invisible or absent in public policy debates.’ As one student described, ‘Professor Ong’s intentions of partnering students with community partners was important in providing students like me, an opportunity to gain more cultural competency…the experience has guided my career decisions to work in the nonprofit sector…I am proud to know that our research was used as a tool for community building.’

“We are honored to present this well-deserved recognition to Professor Ong for his lasting efforts of putting research at the service of the community and his active role in engaging the public sector and policymakers in partnerships that lead to significant change.

“Through the generosity of UCLA faculty, students, staff, and alumni as well as community leaders, an endowment was established that honors Professor Emeritus Don T. Nakanishi, who served on the UCLA faculty for 35 years and who ably directed the Asian American Studies Center (1990-2010). Among his invaluable contributions to Asian American Studies, professor Nakanishi co-founded two, national publications: Amerasia Journal (1971) and AAPI Nexus (2003). Professor Nakanishi published widely in the areas of Asian American politics and education, mentored thousands of students, and provided professional and community-based service locally, nationally and internationally. The Nakanishi Award includes a five thousand dollar award. The award rotates annually between faculty and students. The graduate and undergraduate student awards will be given during the 2014-2015 academic year.”

International Practice Pathway Program Sends Seven Students Abroad

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By Adeney Zo, UCLA Luskin Student Writer

Seven students from all three departments at UCLA Luskin are going abroad this summer to do internships through the Global Public Affairs Initiative’s International Practice Pathway program.

The IPP program is an integral part of the Global Public Affairs initiative and offers the unique opportunity for Luskin students to intern abroad as a part of their coursework. Through IPP, Luskin students can study international affairs and apply their studies firsthand in under-served communities around the world. Before going overseas, students attend lectures in cross-disciplinary studies such as urban planning, social welfare, public policy, economics, administration, public health and environmental sciences in order to prepare for a future in global careers. After a year-long preparation period, students then apply for summer internships through well-established international organizations in order to conduct research and fieldwork abroad.

“We wanted to give a structured program to students who want to be exposed to the career side of international work,” says Stephen Commins, Urban Planning professor and co-founder of the IPP program. “It’s important for students to have career talk and not discuss academic subjects only, and this program exposes students to what career paths are available for international work.”

From the start of the program in 2011, IPP has expanded greatly and will be sending seven students abroad to various parts of the world this year. “Our two main goals for IPP are to keep growing the summer fellowship program and provide more structured career counseling for students,” says Commins.

Public Policy student Jonathan Slakey is currently preparing to go abroad with IPP next year. “I knew I wanted to travel to India and help in development work, specifically with the human rights NGO, the Association of Relief Volunteers (ARV),” says Slakey. The ARV serves impoverished communities in Andhra Pradesh, India, and Slakey will be traveling to their headquarters to help the NGO with expansion and publicizing in order to receive necessary funding.

“There are so many excellent development programs in the world that lack coverage in developed countries, which are major potential sources of funding for charitable organizations,” explains Slakey.

Though IPP does not have a set of required courses, only lectures, students apply the skills and knowledge they have gained in their degree coursework to their work abroad. One of Slakey’s courses on Education Policy, taught by Professor Meredith Phillips, will play directly into his work with ARV. “I have had to work with data all quarter, and I have a better understanding of how to organize data effectively and what to look for in a dataset, all skills I hope to use with ARV’s data in India,” he says.

As IPP continues to expand, more Luskin students may also have this unique opportunity to witness firsthand how the theories and data from their coursework operate in organizations and communities around the world.

To see a list of the countries students are going to and follow along with them on their travels, visit the Luskin Abroad blog here. Urban Planning students going on a summer exchange program to China and Jon Baskin, a student traveling to Canada on the Dr. Edwar Hildebrand Fellowship for Canadian Studies, will also be contributing to the blog.

 

UCLA Luskin Congratulates the Class of 2014

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UCLA Luskin congratulated the graduating class of 2014 this morning, welcoming 51 Public Policy students, 93 Social Welfare students, and 71 Urban and Regional Planning students into the ranks of its alumni during a ceremony at Royce Hall.

Dean Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr., quoted the recently departed author Maya Angelou in his opening address to the assembled students, faculty, staff and friends of the School. “‘You can only become truly accomplished at something you love,’” Dean Gilliam said. “‘Don’t make money your goal.’

“‘Instead, pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.’”

Social Welfare graduate Brianna McCullough, earning her second degree as a Bruin, spoke of the growth she and her fellow students had undergone during their time at UCLA Luskin. “Most people think it is how we start that holds the most importance, but the piece that holds the most meaning, really, is where we end,” she said.

She highlighted the ability of individuals to instigate change in their communities, citing the founding members of the field of social welfare to show one person’s potential. “We as the future social workers of tomorrow must reflect on the foundation of our past,” she said. “What will be our legacy?”

In the audience were members of UCLA Luskin’s first graduating class of students earning certificates in Global Public Affairs. Formed in 2012, Global Public Affairs is a Luskin initiative that seeks to examine global policy issues through lectures, research opportunities, and international internships and exchanges. The students were Urban Planning’s Ana Luna, Vicente Romero de Avila Serrano, Rupinder Bolaria, Nicole Walter, Sean F. Kennedy, Catherine M. Oloo and Luis Artieda Moncada; and Public Policy’s Gabriela F. Cardozo, Corinne N. Stubbs, Ika Anindya Putri, Yaqiu Chen and Debbie Iamranond.

The keynote speech was delivered by Congresswoman Karen Bass, Democrat from the 37th District of California and the first African American woman to serve as Speaker of the California Assembly. Like many of the graduating students, Bass has advocated for foster youth and children in need, serving as co-chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption and co-founding the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth. Her roots in Los Angeles go deep; she founded the Community Coalition in 1990, bringing together residents of the city to fight against the crack cocaine epidemic.

Representative Bass offered warm wishes of congratulations to the students and called upon them to remember their commitment to instigating positive change. Drawing on her own experience as a community organizer, she made clear that policy victories are not the final goal — true change requires sustained effort.

She shared the story of her work to get lawmakers in Sacramento to understand the role of relative caregivers — aunts and uncles, grandparents and other family members — in the lives of foster children. When colleagues were dismissive of the positive influence these relatives can have, she organized face-to-face meetings with foster children and their families so that lawmakers could hear their struggles in person. The tactic worked, and the legislation passed.

Bass said the experience taught her a lesson on the value of listening to one’s constituents. “Never lose your connection to the communities, the people and to the emotions of their struggle,” she said. “If you lose touch with the very people you are supposed to serve, you can do harm.”

Throughout, she hailed the students’ commitment to making the world a better place. “While some at other schools are earning their degrees and thinking about their own individual advancements, you have decided to change the world,” she said.

“And let me be clear, the world needs you.”

DVDs of the commencement ceremony are available for purchase through Take One Productions.

Graduating Student Profile: Adam Monaghan MURP ’14

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“I wouldn’t have gotten this job if I hadn’t come to school at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs in the Urban Planning program,” says Adam Monaghan. He’s reflecting on his academic and career journey days before he crosses the stage at commencement on June 13 with his master’s degree. And, no, we didn’t ask him to say that.

The job Monaghan is referring to is with real estate development company, Community Dynamics, which teams up with municipal agencies and financial institutions to create sustainable communities that attend to the needs of residents, such as proximity to workplaces and access to transportation, schools, day care and recreation. For Monaghan, it’s an opportunity that presented itself in the last quarter of his degree program. Along with many other talented and ambitious UCLA Luskin graduates, he will be starting his new position a few days after receiving his diploma.

Monaghan’s introduction into the urban planning world was as fortuitous as it was unexpected. After graduating from Boston College with a theology degree and a penchant for travel, Monaghan left home to fulfill his two-year commitment with the Peace Corps. His assignment was in Guajiquiro, Honduras. His job was to be an urban planner – a field he knew nothing about.

“I had to look up what an urban planner was. I had no idea,” Monaghan laughs. “But it’s one of those things that just kind of works out.”

Adam talking to villagers in Guajiquiro, Honduras during his time as an urban planner for the Peace Corps.
Adam talking to villagers in Guajiquiro, Honduras, during his time as an urban planner for the Peace Corps.

After initial training and on-the-job learning through immersion and help from fellow urban planning volunteers who had interrupted their work or retirement to also join the Peace Corps, Monaghan found himself helping to draft a 10-year strategic plan for economic and infrastructure development in Guajiquiro, and managing a project to design a potable water system for 2,700 people in six villages. It was through the work that Monaghan learned he had a knack for it, and the passion.

When his stint with the Peace Corps ended, Monaghan landed in Nicaragua. He’d gone there on a surfing trip with Nick Mucha, a friend he met in the Peace Corps, and discovered that the waves were attracting scores of surfers and tourists to the small fishing village of Gigante. With his urban planning hat on, Monaghan settled in the town and spent time talking to the locals about organizing a development team. He and Mucha founded Project Wave of Optimism aimed at helping the community capitalize on the inevitable transition into a tourist destination and foster development in a sustainable way.

Key to Project WOO’s development model, Monaghan says, was that projects were voted on by the town’s residents, so that they had a voice in getting what they wanted. By fundraising through individual donors and securing corporate sponsors, Monaghan and Mucha purchased and converted a truck into a bus that would transport people easily in and out of town – something that had never before existed.

“I facilitated a process where local people were able to share their ideas about community development. It was like community organizing, which is what we did in the Peace Corps – going door-to-door from town to town. After coming to Luskin I learned that what I was doing is called ‘local participatory planning and based on the theory of communicative action in the urban planning world,’” Monaghan says.

Incidentally, his non-profit has recently opened a health center and is hosting a UCLA Public Health intern this summer. Project WOO is expanding and can also be an internship destination for UCLA Luskin students.

After completing that first development project in Nicaragua, Monaghan was on to his next job with the international development company, Chemonics International Inc., which took him to Washington D.C., Kandahar and Kabul, Afghanistan, and Gaziantep, Turkey. For those years, he oversaw various projects and teams working to repair infrastructures, improve socio-economic conditions and support community groups impacted by development projects. It was sensitive work in tumultuous areas, but the conditions for development were ripe, though often dangerous.

Monaghan recalls a harrowing experience in which a local member of his team was threatened by the Taliban. After returning home, he also learned that various locations that he frequented were later bombed or attacked by gunmen. It was around that time that Monaghan met and married his wife and began to think about graduate school.

“I saw that people were doing really cool data management and mapping with geographic information systems in Afghanistan,” Monaghan says. “I wanted the framework and the practical urban design tools like Geographic Information System (GIS). And it was a way to take a step back from the hectic work environment and learn things.”

Monaghan and his wife began checking out the nation’s top 25 Urban Planning programs – UCLA Luskin was one of them. He ultimately chose UCLA Luskin over other schools because of the location and because of key recommendations from two colleagues at Chemonics, who were UCLA Luskin graduates.

Adam stands near the bus his non-profit, Project WOO, converted for the residents of Gigante, Nicaragua
Adam stands near the bus his non-profit, Project WOO, converted for the residents of Gigante, Nicaragua.

“This has been a very ‘choose your own adventure’ kind of experience,” Monaghan says of his time at UCLA where he also worked as project manager for Luskin’s new Global Public Affairs certificate program, which just graduated it’s first set of students. With help from the Timothy Papandreou Fellowship established by Urban Planning alumnus Timothy Papandreou, which is given to students that demonstrate innovation in projects that have solved problems or helped transform communities, Monaghan’s initial goals as a student were to focus on regional and international development and to learn GIS. Instead, he ended up choosing the design and development concentration and becoming interested in real estate.

“I took Joan Ling’s real estate development and finance class in winter quarter of this year and my mind was blown. I didn’t know that real estate development was so similar to project management,” Monaghan says. It was in Professor Ling’s advanced real estate class where he met his new employer.

“My future boss served as a panelist for our final presentation in Joan’s class. I followed up with him afterwards and it turned into a job,” Monaghan explains. “If it wasn’t for Joan Ling’s classes, I wouldn’t have been in a position to even know that jobs like this existed or have the framework and skills to seek them out.”

It’s been a decade-long unconventional journey, but Monaghan is ready to take the next step in his urban planning career. Asked what advice he might have for future students hoping to secure employment upon graduation, Monaghan says with a laugh: “Planning.”

“You have to be thoughtful about your two years,” he notes. “I can’t tell you how many times I sat down – even before I started here – and planned out what I wanted to do. And once a quarter I would reassess to think about what I’ve learned, what I still need and what I have time for.”

Monaghan also encourages students to be open to doing hard work, even grunt work or things that don’t come naturally.

“Do things you think you’re not good at and be a student in every opportunity. Go into everything with an open mind to learn.” But most of all, he says, have your eyes open and be tenacious.

“There are all these opportunities out there. Some have more light shined on them than others. Some you have to dig a little harder for than others. Sometimes you have to wait your turn, but when it is your turn, you have to pounce.”

Mann Discusses The Changing Landscape of Food & Farming

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By Adeney Zo
UCLA Luskin Student Writer

“This is a project that started the day my daughter was born…” began Charles C. Mann, a UCLA 2014 Regents’ Lecturer and award-winning author and journalist.

Despite the summer heat, the UCLA Luskin Terrace was packed with students and non-students interested in hearing Mann’s lecture on the future of food production and farming. Mann is most well-known for writing the New York Times bestseller 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created and 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Keck Award for best book of the year). Additionally, Mann’s articles on various topics in science and technology have been published in the nation’s leading magazines and newspapers.

Mann’s lecture tackled the issue of how the global population over the past 200 years has increased exponentially without significant increase in food production nor the technology to speed up the process.

As the global per-capita income increases, people who once lived in destitution now require the resources of a middle-class lifestyle. Other significant problems include the loss of arable land (“suburbs eating up the farms”), increasing competition for water, intensification of agriculture and global climate change. These issues further feed into the need to counter growing consumption rates with drastic changes in production and farming.

“When my daughter is my age, there will be 10 billion people in the world,” Mann explained. “We need to double the food production by 2050, but we only see about a 2.4% increase [in production] each year.”

In order to combat the food crisis, researchers have proposed two general paths by which the world can increase food production. The first is to industrially produce genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that can grow significantly faster than ordinary crops. Researchers have been experimenting for years to change RuBisCO, the essential enzyme for converting carbon dioxide to glucose. RuBisCO is by nature incredibly slow and faulty, but plant growth can speed up significantly if researchers can manipulate this enzyme.

Farms in Thailand have already begun implementing this genetically engineered production system with their rubber tree farms. As the world’s number one producer of natural rubber, Thailand benefits economically from the monoculture production of rubber trees. Mann explains that converting once-diverse areas to rubber tree farms makes the most economical sense to local farmers on the short term, but these decisions have unforeseen and potentially catastrophic implications for biodiversity.

The second farming option is to transition from the large monoculture farms of today to local, diverse farms that grow different kinds of crops on a relatively small acreage of land. Mann gave the example of Lloyd Nichols’ farm outside Chicago — a farm with over 1,000 varieties of crops, high productivity and little to no chemical inputs. Nichols’ farm employs a staff of 19 people, including two people with masters’ degrees, in order to maximize the diversity and production of his farm. Mann cited this farm as an example of how the diversification of farms can potentially combat the food crisis in an ecofriendly and efficient way.

With these two options in mind, Mann reminded the audience that the future of food production relies on which path the world will choose over the next few years. He concluded: “It’s not a matter of scientific knowledge now, but a matter of human knowledge. So what will we choose?”

Blumenberg Named White House ‘Champion of Change’

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From the White House press office:
For Immediate Release
May 12, 2014

White House Honors “Champions of Change” for Transportation

WASHINGTON, DC – Tomorrow, the White House will honor eleven local heroes who are “Champions of Change” for their exemplary leadership to ensure that transportation facilities, services, and jobs help individuals and their communities connect to 21st century opportunities. These individuals are leading the charge across the country building connectivity, strengthening transportation career pathways, and making connections between transportation and economic growth.

Across the Federal government, the Administration has been dedicated to providing “ladders of opportunity” for all Americans, by investing in connecting communities to centers of employment, education, and services, and is calling for greater emphasis on those initiatives supporting this outcome. Recent research has found that social mobility varies by geography, and poor transportation access is a factor preventing lower income Americans from gaining higher income levels than their parents. Transportation plays a critical role in connecting Americans and communities to economic opportunity through connectivity, job creation, and economic growth. Recognizing social mobility as a defining trait of America’s promise, access to reliable, safe, and affordable transportation is critical.

The Champions of Change program was created as an opportunity for the White House to feature individuals doing extraordinary things to empower and inspire members of their communities. The event is closed to press but will be live streamed on the White House website. To watch this event live, visit www.whitehouse.gov/live at 10:00 am EST on May 13, 2014. To learn more about the White House Champions of Change program, visit www.whitehouse.gov/champions.

Dr. Evelyn Blumenberg Ph.D. UP ’90, Professor and Chair of Urban Planning, UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs 
Los Angeles, CA

Professor Evelyn Blumenberg’s research examines the effects of urban structure—the spatial location of residents, employment, and services—on economic outcomes for low-wage workers, and on the role of planning and policy in shaping the spatial structure of cities. Evelyn has investigated the travel behavior of special population groups including low-income adults, immigrants, and youth; the effects of the economy on the travel behavior and transportation assets in low-income communities; and the relationship between residential location, automobile ownership, and employment outcomes among the poor. Evelyn is recommended for Ladders of Opportunity because her current research examines (1) travel behavior of low-income adults; (2) the transportation expenditure burden; and (3) the relationship between transportation and the economic outcomes of low-income families.

Josh Baker, General Manager, Radford Transit, New River Valley Community Services
Blacksburg, VA

Josh is the leader of a major investment in the development of a brand new Public Transit system in the City of Radford, Virginia. He pioneered the concept and worked with community leaders, local university administration, state officials and the Federal Transit Administration to garner support for a much needed community service. Josh dedicated his work and time over the course of three years to help make the new service a reality. It’s the first time in over 30 years there has been any transit available to the City of Radford, and it was badly needed. Radford Transit has grown rapidly providing over 325,000 passenger trips annually, even providing transfer connections throughout the entire region. Now residents can move effortlessly and reach their destinations within and between the communities of Radford, Pulaski County, Montgomery County and the Towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg.

Dan Burden, Director of Innovation and Inspiration, Walkable and Livable Communities Institute
Port Townsend, WA

Dan Burden is the Director of Innovation and Inspiration for the nonprofit Walkable and Livable Communities Institute. For more than 35 years he has worked to inspire leaders in 3500 cities on ways to design cities for people first; still accommodating the auto. His work helps define the future of transportation; and is now celebrated with thousands of new innovations giving full support to walking, bicycling, transit, and living in place; driving less, enjoying life more. Dan has proven his ability to energize leaders of towns and cities to help them frame and focus on their assets, get beyond their barriers, raise the bar in design of place. He has an ability to help them focus on their values and become believers in their future, achieving their hopes and dreams, and once momentum is gained, expand to the rebuilding of their entire community.

Anthony Chiarello, President and CEO, TOTE
Princeton, NJ

Anthony has led TOTE to build the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered container ships in the world; TOTE is the first maritime company in the U.S. to convert its entire fleet to natural gas. As a result of his vision and leadership, natural gas suppliers are now creating distribution networks in major U.S. ports, making gas available to all transportation modes in those markets. Natural gas powered ships will achieve emissions reductions far below even the world’s most stringent regulatory standards. These emissions reductions will have long-lasting and far-reaching positive effects on the health and safety of citizens along the U.S. coastline, particularly in Washington, Alaska, Florida, and Puerto Rico where TOTE ships are part of the critical domestic supply chain. As the adoption of natural gas fuel spreads, air emissions will be lowered along the coastline as part of the North American Emissions Control Area, and additional environmental benefits will accrue in ports, on roads, and rail lines.

Greer Gillis, Area Manager of Parsons Brinckerhoff
Washington, DC

Greer Gillis is the Washington, D.C. Area Manager of Parsons Brinckerhoff, where she oversees transportation services staff in managing various infrastructure, planning, and design projects as well as leading client relations management, business development, and financial oversight for activities in the metropolitan Washington DC area.     She is the Vice President of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) Washington, DC chapter and serves as National Chair of its “Celebrating Women Who Move the Nation” Awards Committee.  She is also a past President of the Women’s Transportation Seminar International’s Washington, D.C. Chapter. Throughout her career, she has served as a role model and advocate for building a diverse transportation workforce.

Marilyn Golden, Senior Policy Analyst, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
Berkeley, CA

For over 25 years, Marilyn Golden has led national system-change efforts that broaden the rights of people with disabilities to transportation. Marilyn has played a key role in federal policy development in the interconnected areas of transportation and architectural barriers. She has been a strong advocate for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) throughout all the stages of its proposal, passage, and implementation, as well as a forceful watchdog through its many stages of regulatory interpretation and the regular challenges to its strong mandates. Her advocacy has been focused on a broad range of transportation issues—including fixed route buses, all forms of passenger rail systems, ADA complementary paratransit, privately-funded over-the-road buses, taxis, airport shuttles, as well as air travel. As a national transportation advocate, she has led the struggle for many of the policy victories during and since the ADA to provide better public transportation for people with disabilities. Marilyn served on the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board from 1996-2005 as a very strong and effective advocate for the interests of people with disabilities.

Daphne Izer, Founder, Parents Against Tired Truckers (PATT)
Lisbon, ME

Daphne Izer founded the nonprofit safety organization Parents Against Tired Truckers (PATT) after losing her son Jeff in a fatigue related truck crash that killed three other teenagers and seriously injured a fourth. Daphne has worked tirelessly to advance truck safety in order to help prevent other families from suffering a similar, devastating loss. PATT has focused its efforts on reducing truck driver fatigue, seeking a requirement for the use of technology to accurately record truck driver hours behind the wheel and reduce falsification of driving logs, and to promoting safe trucking. Recently, PATT took another step toward realizing its goal of requiring electronic logging devices (ELDs) in commercial trucks when the FMCSA released the NPRM for the ELD rule. This May, as PATT marks its twentieth anniversary, Daphne is recognized for her instrumental work in bringing attention to the urgent need for change in truck safety policy and programs, with a focus on reducing truck driver fatigue.

Flavio Leo, Deputy Director, Aviation Planning and Strategy, Massachusetts Port Authority
Newton, MA

Flavio has played a key role applying innovative transportation technology to enhance airport safety, security and equitable access at MassPort Airport in Boston. This includes the implementation of aircraft related noise mitigation strategies for the surrounding urban communities and the greater Boston region , leading to an enhanced quality of life. Through his leadership, transparency and enhanced public participation, he has established a relationship with over 30 diverse communities, which have had a long history of engagement with Massport and the FAA. He has been the leader and “face of Massport” on an innovative program to address airport noise and other safety and technology improvements, which can be applied nationwide.  Flavio was selected for his leadership and coordination for the implementation of a set of noise reduction strategies created with extensive community participation and implemented that will reduce aircraft noise impacts to the greater Boston area including to nearby disadvantaged communities.

Susan Park Rani, President, Rani Engineering
Minneapolis, MN

Susan Park Rani is an inspiration and a role model for women, minorities, immigrants, and virtually anyone with a desire to pursue the American Dream and start their own business. As a leader in the transportation field, she has demonstrated that opportunities in this industry are widespread and growing—and open to all who wish to acquire the necessary skills and participate. Rani, born in South Korea, moved with her family to the United States as a child, speaking no English. She ultimately obtained a degree in civil engineering, and in 1993, at the age of 34, founded one of the first woman-and-minority-owned engineering firms in Minnesota where she grew up, with just two employees. Over the years, the company has been involved in a number of high-profile transportation projects, and today, Rani Engineering employs 50 people, the company grosses over $5 million a year, and anticipates doubling in size within the next five years. In 2012, Rani Engineering was named the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Contractor of the Year by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Big John Smith, Transportation Director, Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes, Joint Business Council
Fort Washakie, WY

For the past 25 years, “Big John Smith” has served as the Transportation Director for the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes’ Joint Business Council on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming.  Big John is also the Rocky Mountain Regional Representative on the Tribal Transportation Committee, and the Executive Director of the Intertribal Transportation Association. Big John has succeeded in improving the reservation’s transportation infrastructure (highways and bridges), has led the effort to dramatically cut alcohol-involved crashes and fatalities on the Wind River Reservation.  He has worked with tribal leaders to toughen tribal laws to enhance seat belt compliance, and has led the effort to use positive messaging to educate drivers of all ages about the dangers of drinking and driving.  His love for the people of Wind River has been instrumental in building relationships with tribal, local, county, state and federal partners to save lives.

Wanda Vazquez, Regional Traffic Safety Liaison, Rincon Family Services
Chicago, IL

Wanda Vazquez has been an active mentor and trainer for Hispanic advocates in the Chicago area helping them become certified child passenger safety technicians. As a motivational instructor, she teaches students how to correctly install car seats and help families understand the importance of safe transportation for their children. Once the training is completed, the students become nationally certified and are able to staff car seat inspection stations or participate in community events. Statistics show that Hispanic children are at a greater risk than non-Hispanic children for injuries and death in traffic crashes because their restraint use is low. Often times this is because their parents are from home countries where car seat use is not the norm. By training Hispanic advocates on how to correctly install car seats and the value of occupant protection, they can in turn go into the Hispanic community where they are welcomed and are able to teach families the importance of keeping their children and themselves safety secured whenever they travel. Ms. Vazquez also served as the Diversity Representative on the National Child Passenger Safety Board and was instrumental in translating materials into Spanish and ensuring that the concerns of the Hispanic community were heard. Wanda is a recommended Champion for her active role as a mentor and trainer for Hispanic advocates in the Chicago.

 

UP Alumnus Marc Norman Selected for Harvard’s Loeb Fellowship

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Urban Planning ‘92 alumnus Marc Norman was recently named a Harvard Graduate School of Design Loeb Fellow. This highly prestigious fellowship, comprised of top professionals in design, entails a year-long opportunity to study and work on projects through Harvard GSD and MIT.

“I started interning at Skid Row Housing Trust while still a student at UCLA which exposed me to the ways planning skills could be applied to address the affordable housing crisis,” says Norman. “The skills and knowledge gained at both places prepared me for interesting positions at Local Initiatives Support Corporation, private consulting, Deutsche Bank and academia. [Urban] Planning really set up a wealth of opportunities and experiences.”

After graduating from UCLA Luskin, Norman worked in the field of community development and finance for over 15 years, focusing his efforts on economic development, employment opportunities, and affordable housing for the community. Norman is now the director of UPSTATE, a Center for Design Research and Real Estate at Syracuse University School of Architecture, and teaches courses on real estate and policy at the school.

As a Loeb Fellow, Norman plans to examine finance and design practices in order to identify the best approach to funding equitable and progressive urban development. The culmination of his research will come with the launching of the Design Innovation Fund in spring 2015.

 

Professor Michael Lens Receives Awards in Two Paper Competitions

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By Adeney Zo, UCLA Luskin Student Writer

Urban Planning professor Michael Lens recently received awards from the Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA) and Housing Policy Debate for his research in housing policy.

Though Lens was aware that his Housing Policy Debate submission was part of a paper competition, the JAPA award came as a surprise. “I’ve been working on the paper that was eventually accepted for publication by JAPA – going back to my dissertation…I had such an elated feeling that my work had finally paid off,” says Lens. “And with the two awards, it was like I had won the lottery twice in the span of one week.”

Lens’ JAPA submission, selected as one of the journal’s two “Best Papers of 2013,” focuses on the relationship between crime and subsidized housing in New York City. Though the crime rate in the city has decreased over the years, Lens found that the cause could not be directly attributed to the city’s substantial investments in subsidized housing. While his findings suggest that subsidized housing neither increases nor decreases crime rates in neighborhoods, Lens still encourages the development of housing subsidies in less distressed neighborhoods, particularly in cities with tight rental markets such as New York and Los Angeles. However, Lens suggests that these cities need to find ways to expand housing options in higher-income, less-distressed neighborhoods, or they risk exacerbating concentrated poverty and further subjecting low-income households to unsafe living environments.

“It is likely that other factors affect crime more than housing investments and that these subsidies were not extensive enough in the typical neighborhood under examination,” explains Lens.

Lens’ winning paper for the Housing Policy Debate competition, titled “Employment Accessibility Among Housing Subsidy Recipients,” analyzes how the location of subsidized housing affects housing recipients’ employment opportunities. Utilizing a new measure for job accessibility that he developed which provides each housing census tract with a spatially-weighted job accessibility index, Lens found that those living in public housing are closer than any other group of housing subsidy recipients to employment opportunities. However, they are also highly concentrated among the low-skilled unemployed individuals that serve as their competition for most jobs.

“Although people think that most of the job growth is happening in the suburbs, there is actually more growth in central cities,” states Lens.

However, many low-income households are now offered housing vouchers instead of public housing, and the location of their preferred housing (in less distressed neighborhoods) tends to take these families farther from employment opportunities.

“From a policy standpoint, I suggest what matters is to ensure subsidized households are not in the worst of both worlds – inaccessible to jobs and located in places highly concentrated with low-skill workers.”

As for the future, Lens will continue researching employment accessibility and housing policy, but he explains that his work in housing subsidies and crime will be laid to rest for the time being.

“For the housing subsidy and crime paper, that was the fourth or fifth paper I’ve done on topic of crime and subsidized housing. The JAPA award is sort of closing the chapter for now,” says Lens. “With employment accessibility, I have a few projects to try and see if access leads to better employment outcomes.”

Lens’ JAPA and Housing Policy Debate papers on crime and housing in New York City can be found here.

 

Conference Explores Future of Digital Cities

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As part of a newly expanded focus on the structure and administration of digitally enabled urban environments, UCLA Luskin held a two-day conference April 24-25 titled “Who Owns the Digital City?”. Scholars, entrepreneurs and activists came to campus to explore innovations and share knowledge on digitally empowered publics, tackling questions of ownership, service, participation, equity and justice in equal measure.

Read the formal conference summary

The conference kicked off with a keynote address Thursday, April 24, as detailed in this report by UCLA Luskin student writer Max Wynn.

Rethinking Digital Ownership: The contrarianism of Jaron Lanier

Technologist and futurist Jaron Lanier, author of Who Owns the Digital Future, opened the “Who Owns the Digital City?” conference in front of a crowd gathered on UCLA Luskin’s rooftop terrace.

Lanier is a tech pioneer whose wide-ranging accomplishments include coining the term “virtual reality,” starting a number of successful tech companies, and possessing one of world’s most extensive collections of actively played rare instruments.

After an adjective-laden introduction from Dean Frank Gilliam, Lanier approached the microphone.

“Oh god, aren’t I impressive,” he asked with an air of mock conceit.

The gathered crowd laughed, but it was an appropriate introduction for what followed. Lanier’s talk, like his book, presented a scathing critique of the current Internet landscape, and of the big businesses that dominate it. However, it was a critique given in an off-kilter manner that was befitting of the dreadlocked man delivering it.

His argument centered on the concentration of technologically bred wealth in the hands of a digital elite. According to Lanier, these elites have positioned themselves at the hubs of digital networks, and have succeeded in monetizing the shared data of their users. The users, or “peasant class,” are not compensated for their role in this wealth creation process. The result has been a tech sector that is actively contributing to the continued destruction of the middle class.

As Lanier’s assault wore on, many of the titans of literature, business, philosophy and, of course, technology were both praised and criticized, often in the same breath.

Lanier’s eclectic interests were on constant display, and within the first ten minutes he discussed the works of Aristotle, Marx and Shelley. In doing so Lanier strayed from Silicon Valley’s typical catalog of cultural references, though Ayn Rand was mentioned briefly.

While Lanier referenced an extensive cast of literary figures, his talk veered well beyond the bounds of letters. At one point he linked “Maxwell’s demon,” a famous thought experiment in the field of thermodynamics, to macroeconomic theory and the history of American business.

The talk ended in an appropriately unexpected fashion. After readjusting the microphone, Lanier was joined onstage by the musician Paul Simon’s son, Harper. As the sun dropped below the Westwood skyline, the duo performed a series of musical compositions. Lanier played a number of exotically named instruments from his personal collection while Simon strummed on a guitar and swayed from side to side.

Afterwards, Lanier signed books and took questions from a crowd still slightly awed by the evening’s spectacle.

 

The Promises and Pitfalls of Digital Governance

Listen to Jaron Lanier here