Preserving L.A.’s Cultural Heart: Luskin Alum Edgar Garcia’s Journey from Lincoln Heights to El Pueblo 

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At the heart of downtown Los Angeles stands El Pueblo de Los Ángeles, the birthplace of the city and a living remnant of the city’s layered past. As Interim General Manager of El Pueblo, urban planning alumni Edgar Garcia (MAUP ’ 06) oversees 22 acres of museums, historic buildings, legacy businesses, and sacred public spaces, including La Placita or commonly known as Olvera Street. His work at El Pueblo is about preserving Los Angeles’ most treasured historic spaces for future generations. For him, this isn’t just a job; it’s a calling deeply rooted in his heritage, and he credits the training he received at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs with preparing him for this monumental role. 

Garcia grew up in Lincoln Heights, one of Los Angeles’ oldest neighborhoods. As a first-generation Mexican American, he heard stories about his family’s roots in Jalisco and Zacatecas, two states in Mexico celebrated for their rich history and cultural significance. “As a Mexican American born and raised in L.A., I wanted to know what my heritage was,” Garcia recalls. “I went to the L.A. Central Library and found an architectural guide about Los Angeles. Reading about Lincoln Heights got me interested in L.A. architecture which then led me to learning about the history of L.A.” 

It was that curiosity combined with his passion for community that eventually led him to UCLA Luskin, where he immersed himself in urban planning with a focus on preservation. Today, as a director of a historic district, his responsibilities are as multifaceted as the history of the site itself. He’s a landlord to business owners on Olvera Street, a museum director overseeing seven cultural institutions, and a steward of current and future public art, such as the controversial “America Tropical” mural from 1932 by Mexican artist David A. Siqueiros and the future memorial to the 1871 Chinese Massacre. 

Looking back at his time at UCLA, Garcia credits Luskin’s interdisciplinary approach as the foundation for his planning career. “At Luskin, I met transportation advocates, housing experts, people working across every aspect of planning. I was the only preservation guy, but I got out of my comfort zone learning alongside people who came into planning from so many different backgrounds and perspectives.” 

“The interdisciplinary skillset I acquired through my Luskin years really set me up for success.”

The value of Luskin’s academic diversity has proved instrumental in his professional life. Working with L.A. Department of Urban Planning staff, California Department of Transportation representatives, Metro planners, engineers, elected officials, and policymakers required Garcia to speak multiple “planning languages.” His Luskin coursework also taught him how to bridge disciplines and perspectives, a skill that has shaped his leadership today. 

“The interdisciplinary skillset I acquired through my Luskin years really set me up for success,” Garcia says. “That approach is the only way to do this work and be successful.”

Garcia’s role also placed him at the center of a defining moment in our city’s history. He stood alongside Mayor Karen Bass during an executive directive signing at El Pueblo on July 11, a site chosen because of its painful past and its role as a beacon of hope for immigrant communities. 

In his introductory speech he spoke about how in the 1930s, La Placita was the site of forced repatriations, where Mexicans and Mexican Americans, some U.S. citizens, were rounded up and deported. However, decades later, in the 1980s, the La Placita Church became the first Catholic church in the city to declare public sanctuary, offering refuge to Central American migrants and sparking the sanctuary movement. 

“To have the mayor sign support for immigrants at the Pico House was profound,” Garcia reflects. “It proves that history is meaningful, and it resonates with what’s happening now. We survived that period with dignity and hopefully that history inspires people today.” 

For Garcia, moments like these reaffirm the importance of his work at El Pueblo, not just in preserving historic buildings but keeping the stories of Los Angeles alive for generations to come. 

  

UCLA Student Research Drives Water Resilience and Equitable Solutions in Post-Fire Los Angeles

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A team of UCLA master’s students in urban and regional planning (MURP) has produced an extensive report, “Drought and Climate Resiliency Solutions for Small Water Systems in Los Angeles County,” offering real-world strategies to strengthen water security and climate resilience. 

When the January 2025 wildfires swept through Pacific Palisades, a group of MURP students witnessed the devastation unfold in real time on their first day of class. What started as a class project on water system vulnerabilities quickly became a real-world assignment: students, many personally affected by the fires, sprang into action to research and propose solutions that not only addressed the immediate impacts of the wildfires but also offered long-term strategies to strengthen water security and climate resilience. 

Developed in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works and guided by faculty at the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, the year-long project examines the vulnerabilities of small water systems, many of which were directly impacted by the L.A. wildfires, and proposes solutions to ensure safe and reliable drinking water for fire-impacted communities across Los Angeles County. 

The twelve-student research team included Alex Sun, Allison Samsel, Aydin Pasebani, Catherine Ren, Chloe Curry, Dana Choi, Emily Cadena, Leo Blain, Leila Moinpour, Nasir Sakandar, Veronica De Santos, and Will Callan. They conducted in-depth analyses on drought risk, wildfire impacts, and system preparedness, culminating in a professional presentation of their findings. Their work is already informing county and state-wide efforts to advance the human right to water and shape long-term climate resilience strategies. 

“This work by our student team will serve to directly inform real-time L.A. County and California state agency efforts to ensure a human right to water in the region,” said Greg Pierce, UCLA professor of urban planning, Luskin Center for Innovation senior director, and director of the Human Rights to Water Solutions Lab who co-advised the report. “The methodologies developed on drought water shortage risk and fire vulnerability also have wide applicability well beyond the county.”  

Edith de Guzman, adjunct professor of urban planning and water equity and adaptation policy cooperative extension specialist at Luskin Center for Innovation was another co-advisor on the project and underscored the importance of the students’ work. “This project benefited greatly from the hard work, diligence, and nimbleness of a dozen MURP students,” de Guzman said. “In the end, the result is an impressive suite of actionable assessments, analyses, and findings — all painstakingly documented.”  

A key emphasis of the report is the feasibility of water system consolidation, an approach that can improve technical and financial stability for struggling utilities. Alongside consolidation, the report also considers alternative strategies such as water conservation, new well development, and recycling projects. 

“This suite of outcomes contributes innovative new guidance in understudied and largely unregulated spaces — including community water system fire risk and preparedness,” said de Guzman. 

Pierce praised the students’ work following the capstone presentation: “You did amazing work that culminated in a professional presentation that demonstrates real solutions for climate resiliency in small water systems. But at its core, this report is about water access as a human right. You should all be very proud.” 

The findings are a partial preview of the Southern California Community Water Systems Guide, which will be released by Luskin Center for Innovation in late Summer 2025. This guide will present performance data on all community water systems in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties, building on analyses completed in 2015 and 2020, which focused only on Los Angeles County.  

Planning for Recovery: Kenyah Kerilus’ Summer with ICF Disaster Management

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This summer, Masters in Urban and Regional Planning student Kenyah Kerilus applied her skills in disaster management as a housing and urban development intern with ICF, helping wildfire-impacted communities in Oregon rebuild and recover.

Where are you working this summer and what are your primary responsibilities or focus areas day-to-day?
I am working at ICF consulting firm as a housing and urban development intern assisting with a disaster management relief project, ReOregon. This project addresses the series of Oregon wildfires that occurred in 2020. There are 8 counties that were the most distressed/impacted and the goal is to aid those residents to reestablish their housing whether its through reimbursement, reconstruction, or relocation. I specifically worked with the construction team where we streamline the process of an applicant going through any of those paths. My main responsibilities were to determine what inspections each home/case needed and assigning them out, keeping applicant documents/records updated as they move through the process, and analyzing the cost differences between our pricing and the applicants’ contractors. The construction team itself does a lot and works with many different people (the applicant, construction advisors, outside contractors, etc.) and my main focus was to help move things along efficiently while working under the construction manager. 

Describe a specific project, interaction, or milestone this summer that made you think, “Yes, this is why I chose this field.” What did you take away from that moment?
An interaction that made me think “yes, this is why I chose this field,” occurred during my halfway checkpoint. My manager thanked me for my contributions and explained how the work I had done actually made a difference within the team, bringing us closer to achieving our deadline goals. As an intern, I think it’s easy to feel like the tasks you are doing are just busy work and don’t mean much, especially with this internship being fully remote. Hearing exactly how I had made a difference—and knowing that people who had been waiting far too long were closer to receiving the housing or reimbursement they deserved—made me genuinely happy.

How has this experience shaped your career goals or next steps at Luskin? Any advice for peers seeking similar internships or research opportunities?
This experience has taught me to be more open-minded to new experiences and reaffirmed for me that I would like to work in the disaster management field. I think that I was very stuck in how a job title sounded or what I thought I liked/didn’t like, that it stopped me from trying new things to actually find out. I would not have expected to enjoy working at a consulting firm had I not decided to take the chance to intern at ICF. My advice to peers would be to not limit yourself in what you think you like and to look deeper into roles because the day-to-day may be completely different than what you imagined. Take those chances now, while we are still in school!

How has this experience informed or shifted your vision for the kind of urban planning work you hope to pursue after graduation?
This experience reaffirmed my desire to work in disaster management, but it also showed me that there isn’t just one way to contribute in this field. I had a very specific idea of what disaster management would involve, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn about policy, federal funding, and state programs through the guidance of my wonderful coworkers, managers, and mentors. While I’m not yet certain which area of urban planning I will pursue after graduation, whether in government, non-profit, or consulting, I’m excited to know that the skills I’m developing now can be applied across a variety of contexts.

What planning tools, mapping skills, or community engagement strategies have you found most valuable in your day-to-day work so far?
Knowing how to analyze data has been a skill I use almost everyday and helps when I create my reports! Also, a lot of the information I learned in the ‘Law & Quality of Urban Life’ course was very helpful. Having that background knowledge in zoning and land use regulations helped me catch on quickly working with the construction team.

Manville: Ventura’s Main Street Debate Oversimplifies Downtown Challenges The UCLA planning scholar warns that business depend on many factors beyond the street closure.

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As Ventura’s City Council prepares for a final vote on whether to keep Main Street closed to cars or reopen it, business owners and residents remain deeply divided. Some credit the pandemic-era “Main Street Moves” closure with creating a lively, family-friendly downtown, while others say it’s driven customers away and hurt businesses.

Michael Manville, professor and chair of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, commented in an article published by the Ventura County Star against drawing direct conclusions about the closure’s impact. He notes that downtown retail across the country has faced long-term challenges, from e-commerce to competition with big box stores, making it hard to isolate the effect of Ventura’s street closure.

Manville frames the debate as less about hard data and more about perception.

“Downtowns and businesses in downtowns have good and bad periods for all sorts of reasons,” Manville said. “Isolating the amount of good or bad luck that you can attribute to the street closure is difficult. If someone owns a business and the business is flagging a little bit and there happens to be a street closure, it makes sense to blame the street closure and see if changing it up can change your fortunes.”

Mapping Safer Streets: Paul Louboutin’s Summer at LADOT

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Paul Louboutin, a Master of Urban and Regional Planning student specializing in transportation equity and design, spent his summer putting classroom theory into practice through hands-on work at the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.

What organization or agency are you working with this summer, and what are your primary responsibilities day‑to‑day? 

This summer I am working at Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) as an intern among their Transportation Planning and Policy team. My main tasks are quite diverse; they can range from data collection and analysis on traffic models to policy reports on specific transportation related measures. 

Describe a specific project, interaction, or milestone this summer that made you think, “Yes, this is why I chose my field.” 

I worked on a map design highlighting the existing conditions of MacArthur Park, which will undergo some potential road closures along Wilshire Boulevard to reconnect both sides of the park. This map is currently available on LADOT’s website Advanced Planning section under “Reconnecting MacArthur Park”. As a graduate student in urban planning at UCLA, I personally focused my studies on transportation equity and safety. I was glad to improve my design skills working on this visioning project in Westlake, which puts people before cars, building off my academic research improving pedestrian safety and accessibility around Stoner Park in Sawtelle. By creating this map, I learned that design elements follow standards such as a specific color palette, different fonts and sizes. More importantly, I realized that final products like this map have been reviewed multiple times by various experts, each bringing valuable input before releasing it to the public. This project examines potential open streets and permanent street closure concepts to reconnect MacArthur Park. I believe this experience prioritizing safety for those walking, biking, and rolling convinced me that I chose the right career path: working as a transportation planner seeking to provide safe streets for all road users. 

What’s one insight or perspective you’ve gained that surprised you, shifted your thinking, or changed how you approach urban planning? 

During my summer internship, I got the opportunity to work on the Measure M guidelines, an ordinance which received incredible public support in 2016. This ordinance which imposes a retail transaction and use tax allowed the city to build and expand rail lines, implement active transportation projects, improve public transit networks and reduce congestion. I specifically worked on the expenditure plans for different ongoing and future projects in Los Angeles. Looking at all these budget plans, and how important Measure M was for the city, I was surprised to see how funding is crucial in transportation planning. In an academic environment like Luskin, projects I worked on usually didn’t consider funding implications, which in my opinion is a huge mistake. I believe I stayed too long in this bubble which blinded me from the current situation, funding and investment are key to executing successful projects. Therefore, this professional experience undoubtedly shifted my understanding from an abstract conception of urban planning learned in class and real-life challenges that planners face every day. 

How has this experience shaped your career goals or next steps at Luskin? Any advice for peers seeking similar internships or research opportunities? 

This summer internship at LADOT was decisive for my own career goals. The diversity of the tasks I worked on with my team was eye-opening and I was personally challenged to put my skills learned at Luskin into practice. I now can see myself working as a transportation planner on a wide range of projects through data analysis but also design elements to better implement comprehensive policies. This opportunity is great to learn how to cooperate with other team members but also how to work in a traditional office environment. As a transportation planning intern, having this macro understanding of the city ins and outs through LADOT’s public agency lens is in my view an extremely rewarding opportunity to start exploring the professional world. 

Cycling Toward Stability: How Bikes Help the Unhoused UCLA ITS’s Jacob Lawrence Wasserman highlights bikes as a low-cost mobility lifeline.

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In San Diego, Deacon John Roberts leads a weekly cycling program that gives homeless participants more than exercise. It offers mobility, community, and a sense of freedom. For many of the participants in the program, cycling is a lifeline for job searches, addiction recovery, and access to services, despite unsafe riding conditions, theft, and persistent stigma.

Transportation is a major barrier for the unhoused, and advocates say bikes should be part of broader mobility strategies. “Bikeshare passes are dirt cheap compared to giving people cars or giving people transit passes,” said Jacob Lawrence Wasserman of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies in a new Bloomberg CityLab article. “But it requires getting over that stigma of thinking every unhoused person on a bike must have stolen it.”

Homeless cyclists. part of the “invisible cyclist” population. often face unsafe riding conditions, theft, and stigma, with limited inclusion in policy discussions. Despite risks, bikes offer independence, health benefits, and social connection.

Michael Manville Critiques L.A.’s Vision Zero: Progress ‘Incredibly Disappointing” Urban planning expert Michael Manville says Los Angeles’ Vision Zero traffic safety initiative has failed to deliver

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The Los Angeles Times article examines the harsh reality of implementation challenges for ambitious urban goals like phasing out gas-powered vehicles or becoming a fully interconnected Smart City. Most notably, the Vision Zero initiative—the city’s pledge to end traffic deaths by 2025—has stumbled amid funding shortfalls, political inertia, fragmented coordination, and a lack of accountability.

On Vision Zero’s failure, UCLA professor and chair of urban planning Michael Manville didn’t mince words: “Incredibly disappointing,” he said. “The city remains incredibly dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians.”

Despite these setbacks, Los Angeles has committed significant resources to Vision Zero. In the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the city approved a budget of $100 million for Vision Zero initiatives, including road redesigns, improved signage, and enhanced lighting in high-risk areas.

Underpaying and Overusing Our Roads: The True Cost of Driving UCLA Luskin’s Mike Manville is challenging how we think about traffic, housing, and fairness.

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by Peaches Chung

If you’ve ever been stuck in gridlock traffic on the 405 or circled the block looking for parking in L.A., you’ve experienced the kinds of problems Michael Manville has spent years researching and trying to solve. As professor and chair of urban planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Manville is reshaping how we think about transportation and housing in a sprawling city like Los Angeles and turning his research into real-world impact.

At the center of Manville’s transportation research is a deceptively simple idea: the way we price things matters and how we price things shapes how we use them.

” Driving costs less than it should, because the full social costs of driving, like congestion, pollution, infrastructure wear, aren’t reflected in what we pay to use our roads.”

“Driving is too cheap, and housing is too expensive,” he says. “Driving isn’t cheap in the absolute sense of the word ‘cheap’ because cars aren’t cheap and gas isn’t free, but in the sense that it costs less than it should, because the full social costs of driving, like congestion, pollution, infrastructure wear, aren’t reflected in what we pay to use our roads.” The price of housing, meanwhile, is driven up by restrictive land-use policies that limit supply.

Manville’s first introduction into urban planning began in a newsroom while covering transportation and housing topics as a local reporter. When the newspaper he worked for went bankrupt, he joined the local planning commission. Eager to turn his newfound passion into a career, he enrolled in the urban planning master’s degree program at UCLA and after a summer as a research assistant, decided to pursue a Ph.D. Today, he leads the department that jumpstarted his second career.

Building on the groundbreaking work of his mentor Donald Shoup, former UCLA urban planning professor and pioneer in parking reform who famously argued that free or underpriced parking distorts urban development, Manville and many other experts in the field have expanded this logic more broadly, emphasizing that it’s not just parking that’s mispriced, it’s also the roads themselves.

One proven strategy to address this is congestion pricing, a transportation policy that charges drivers a fee to use certain roads during peak traffic times. A controversial idea that has gained some traction in recent years, the goal primarily is to improve traffic flow and lower pollution, although it can also generate revenue for public transit and infrastructure.

It’s the idea that using roads during peak times should come with a price, just like electricity or water. “We meter every other government-owned utility,” Manville explains, “but not roads.” “It’s the only system that we don’t charge prices for, and it’s not a coincidence that it’s the only system that colossally breaks down about two times a day.” Manville argues that the same basic principle we apply to everything else in our economy, pricing goods and services based on demand, should also apply to road usage.

“We meter every other government-owned utility, but not our roads. It’s the only system that we don’t charge prices for, and it’s not a coincidence that it’s the only system that colossally breaks down about two times a day.”

Cities like Singapore prove it can work. In Singapore, dynamic tolling keeps traffic flowing at 45–55 mph even in a city as densely populated as San Francisco. Manville argues that Los Angeles could reap similar benefits if it embraced the idea. “We’ve normalized the dysfunction of our transportation system,” he says. “But there’s nothing inherently fair about free roads, or unfair about charging for their use.”

For Manville, reimagining cities isn’t just about policy; it’s about turning research into practical, real-world implementation. At UCLA Luskin, he says, that happens through teaching the next generation of planners, working directly with policymakers, and ensuring research is more accessible to community members. “The biggest impact we can have,” he explains, “is making sure our students leave with the ability to weigh tradeoffs—not chase perfect solutions.”

When asked what he hopes for the next generation of urban planners who will be tasked to solve some of the most complicated issues our cities face today, Manville had some wisdom from his own experience as a young planner.

“I came to UCLA convinced there were a bunch of right answers,” he reflects. “But the biggest lesson I’ve learned, and hope to pass on, is that progress comes from understanding the nuance and complexity of the issues we hope to solve. In a city as vast and diverse as L.A., differing perspectives are inevitable and real change begins with listening, especially to those you may not agree with.”

D.C. Tops L.A. for Worst Traffic in the U.S. in New Report Mike Manville explains how traffic congestion signals economic growth and how unregulated road access worsens it.

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According to a new MSN report based on Consumer Affairs data, Washington, D.C. now ranks as the city with the worst traffic in the U.S., overtaking Los Angeles.The average commute time in D.C. is 33.4 minutes, edging out L.A., which now holds the No. 2 spot. While Los Angeles still leads in total weekday congestion hours (7 hours and 51 minutes), D.C. follows closely with 6 hours and 35 minutes.

Experts suggest that increased congestion may indicate a thriving economy. Professor and chair of the urban planning department Michael Manville explains that areas with economic opportunity attract more residents, and keeps current residents because of opportunities.

“Because we don’t do anything to regulate access, the roads in an area with a booming economy become overloaded and congested,” Manville added.

The exact causes of D.C.’s worsening traffic remain uncertain but could include a return to office mandates under recent federal policies. In contrast, cities with the least traffic include Rochester, Salt Lake City, Cleveland, Hartford, and St. Louis.

Rebuilding for Resilience: Minjee Kim on Post-Fire Urban Planning In the Building Better Cities podcast, Minjee Kim discusses how the aftermath of L.A.’s wildfires presents a chance to reimagine recovery—through sustainable, equitable, and long-term urban planning.

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Dr. Minjee Kim, assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, was featured on the Building Better Cities podcast in the episode titled “Who Rebuilds LA? Planning Post-Fire Recovery with Dr. Minjee Kim.” In the wake of the devastating LA wildfires, Kim presents this disaster as an opportunity to rethink how cities rebuild with long-term resiliency in mind. “The L.A. fires presented the opportunity to think large scale,” she says. “I see the Los Angeles fires that happened as an opportunity to think about urban planning and development in the long term… in terms of resiliency and fire resiliency, but also in terms of what is a good sustainable form of urban development.”

In conversation with host Kate Gasparro, Kim discusses how post-disaster recovery can serve as a launchpad for long-term, equitable urban planning—if supported by the right governance structures. Drawing from her research and experience advising the L.A. County Blue Ribbon Commission on post-fire recovery, she explores potential models for regional redevelopment agencies, citing examples from San Francisco, New York City, and Cincinnati.