Projects

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

One contributing factor to declining transit ridership is sexual harassment, which disproportionately affects women and gender minorities, causing them to feel unsafe while walking to, waiting for, and using public transportation. Transit agencies in the United States are increasingly interested in better understanding and addressing sexual harassment in their systems. But agencies need tools they can easily adopt that can be deployed in on-board surveys or other outreach efforts. This project will work with the SFMTA to create data collection tools they can deploy and create a toolkit for them and other transit agencies wanting to address harassment on their systems and improve gender equity.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

Evaluation of particulate matter (PM) due to transportation systems is of interest to public health professionals and policymakers in California and Southern California, specifically. Poor air quality can lead to short-term eye, throat, and nose irritations, as well as long-term cancers. While PM can be reduced through new regulations including bus-only lane projects, carpooling, and the adoption of clean air vehicles, there is a need for highly accurate, yet cost-effective sensors which can assess the efficacy of these improvements. UCLA will develop a field-portable computational imaging and deep-learning enhanced aerosol analysis device, termed c-Air, to characterize PM due to transportation systems. In addition to particle counting and sizing, UCLA will further enhance its system above the current gold standard by classifying particles based upon physical features and volatility using computational imaging and deep learning.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

This capstone project was completed in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Urban & Regional Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

California’s freeways have come under increasing scrutiny for their disproportionately adverse impacts on low-income populations and populations of color. This project uses empirical research to not only understand but also quantify and describe in detail the historical impacts of freeways on communities of color in four California cities and areas: Pasadena, Pacoima, Sacramento, and San José. In these neighborhoods, freeways displaced many residents, significantly harmed those that remained, and left communities divided and depleted. The four cases differ in notable ways, but they share a disproportionate impact of freeway construction on communities of color. In Pasadena and Pacoima, decision-makers chose routes that displaced a greater share of households of color than proposed alternatives. Demolition and displacement were the most visible and immediate effects of the freeways, but toxic pollution, noise, economic decline, and stigmatization remained long after. In suburban areas, white, affluent interests often succeeded in pushing freeways to more powerless neighborhoods. Massive roadway construction complemented other destructive governmental actions such as urban renewal and redlining. Freeways and suburbanization were key components in the creation of a spatial mismatch between jobs and housing for people of color, with few transportation options to overcome it. Understanding the history of racism in freeway development can inform restorative justice in these areas.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

This project uses mixed methods to examine the systemic causes and consequences of the construction of Stockton, California’s Crosstown Freeway and of urban redevelopment for Asian Americans communities. In Stockton, state and local government implemented connected freeway and urban renewal programs. Xenophobia and racism placed Chinatown, Japantown, and Little Manila in their path. The choice of freeway route was racially biased. The neighborhood surrounding an unchosen route was predominantly white, whereas that of the chosen route was predominantly home to people of color. Freeway construction during the 1960s and 1970s directly displaced hundreds of people and housing units downtown—mainly people of color, particularly Asians. The communities most harmed were the Asian American enclaves, where the housing stock declined by about three quarters between 1960 and 1970. The losses were not only physical, as the freeway and redevelopment eviscerated once vibrant ethnic commercial hubs. Because of long-standing economic and political marginalization, Asian Americans were relatively powerless to prevent the destruction; nonetheless, they fought to build affordable housing for their people, protect and in some cases relocate cultural institutions, and support surviving ethnic businesses. In the long run, Stockton failed to revitalize its downtown, while destroying its cultural diversity.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

Youth in dense, central neighborhoods often walk to school and are likely to be impacted by unsafe streets with higher proportions of pedestrian-automobile crashes. Despite Vision Zero and Safe Routes to School programs, they remain disproportionately represented among traffic fatalities, which are the highest in a decade. For these youth, social danger influences their choice to frequent traffic-heavy streets, as these arterials are perceived safer for walking than the quieter, desolate residential streets. Youth’s urban paths are informed by “hot spots” (where crime and crash data indicate danger) as well as “safe spots” (where data indicate safety from crime and vehicular injury) which, when combined with youth perceptions, impact routes to and from school.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

This student research project analyzes the distribution of bus shelters at Los Angeles Metro bus stops and the process for funding, building and maintaining bus shelters in unincorporated areas.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

This capstone project was completed in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Urban & Regional Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

This capstone project was completed in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Urban & Regional Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

This capstone project was completed in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Urban & Regional Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

The racist legacy of freeways has come into stark focus in the past year. This research focuses on one specific impact of freeways: neighborhood severance. Freeways disrupt the neighborhood street grid, creating particular hardships for pedestrians who must take circuitous routes to access transit and to walk to stores, schools, and other destinations. The impacts of disconnected streets on walking and public health are well documented (e.g. Handy 2003; Marshall et al. 2014; Barrington-Leigh and Millard-Ball 2019). But the environmental justice dimension of connectivity has remained unexplored, as has the link between most academic studies of street connectivity and local planning efforts. The research team will test the hypothesis that, while freeways disrupt street networks everywhere, the severance effects are greatest in BIPOC communities. This injustice might arise if White residents have more political voice to advocate for a denser mesh of local streets that cross the freeway, or to cancel a freeway proposal altogether.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

This capstone project was completed in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Urban & Regional Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

This capstone project was completed in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Urban & Regional Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

The State of California has multiple climate, equity, and planning objectives established in legislation and executive orders. There are several State agencies individually responsible for developing policies, administering programs, and distributing funding to guide land use, housing and/or transportation planning decisions that advance the State’s vision. Maps are key decision-making tools for these agencies. While the maps have similar purposes, they each reflect the responsibilities of their respective State agencies, and so may not support coordinated land use, transportation, and equity decisions required to achieve the State’s goals. This project will address the following questions: 1) To what extent do California State government maps guide planning and investment decisions that help meet climate and equity objectives? 2) How do these maps overlap or conflict and what opportunities might there be to coordinate agency efforts to improve or combine them to support the State’s goals?

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

This capstone project was completed in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Urban & Regional Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

Access to in-person medical care is critical for high risk patients, such as those who are pregnant or suffering from certain end-stage diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted medical care access, in part due to transportation system disruptions.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

This capstone project was completed in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Urban & Regional Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

This capstone project was completed in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Urban & Regional Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

Over 3,500 people have died on California’s streets and highways each year since 2016, despite commitments at the state, regional, and local levels to reduce this toll. A growing number of safety experts have pointed to high speed limits as a serious obstacle to increased traffic safety. The basic rule for setting motor vehicle speed limits in California, and across the U.S. is the “85th Percentile Rule.” This rule is deeply ingrained, both practically and legally in transportation engineering practice, but is now being scrutinized by those committed to improving traffic safety. This research synthesis will review the history and evolution of the 85th percentile rule in traffic engineering practice, and critically analyze and summarize research to date on its effects.

Principal Investigator:

Funding Source:

Program Area(s):

Transit use is on the decline in many American cities. Research has shown that concerns about transit safety may influence travel behavior and transit use, and that women are particularly fearful about victimization while travelling. Studies have also shown that women are also very concerned about one type of crime — sexual harassment — which often goes unreported, and thus remains largely invisible to transit operators.The research team will survey college students in 16 cities in six continents to examine their patterns of mobility and transit, with an emphasis on their feelings of safety on public transit and other transportation modes, experiences of sexual harassment, and other types of crime and victimization on public transport and other transportation modes. The results of the survey will establish the extent to which fear regarding their safety affects college students’ transit ridership, and the research team will examine how survey responses may vary because of the students’ sociodemographic characteristics.