When Will Dominie set out to work on his study analyzing gentrification in Los Angeles and how it affects transit riders, probably one of the things furthest from his mind was winning an award. Dominie, a UCLA Luskin School Urban and Regional Planning 2012 graduate, wanted to shed light on a growing problem where bus service was being cut in favor of rail lines, costing hundreds of thousands of Angelenos who rely on mass transit as part of their daily lives. Many lower-income residents are being displaced by the gentrification of many areas and it has meant a decrease in transit ridership. Dominie’s study, Is Just Growth Smarter Growth?  The Effects of Gentrification on Transit Ridership and Driving in Los Angeles’ Transit Station Area Neighborhoods, earned him the Parker Award for the best transportation and planning capstone project in the United States from the Council of University Transportation Centers. Dominie will receive his award in a ceremony in Washington D.C. next month.[…]

Allison Yoh, Associate Director of the Lewis Center, was quoted today in a Los Angeles Times story about a recently-approved project to build a streetcar line in downtown Los Angeles. The planned line could open as early as 2015 and would mainly follow Broadway, Hill, and Figueroa Streets. Click here for the complete story.

UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Dean, Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr., is organizing a UCLA Luskin team for the United Way’s Annual “HomeWalk”, a 5K Walk/Run to End Homelessness, on the morning of Saturday, November 17, 2012 at Exposition Park. Joining Dean Gilliam in leading the team are: Erica Quintana, MPP ’13, Brad Rowe, MPP ’13, Ian Bohannon, MSW ’13 and Jacki Murdock, MURP ’13. Dean Gilliam will be covering the $25 registration fee for the first 75 UCLA Luskin students, staff and faculty to register. We ask each team member to set a goal of raising $100 towards the Luskin team goal of $5,000. We will provide breakfast and a post-walk lunch. If you hit your goal of $100 (or come close!) you will receive either a Luskin T-shirt or hat (your choice) in addition to the HomeWalk t-shirts that the United Way gives to participants. Homelessness is the most extreme form of poverty. The current economic environment and[…]

Today’s teens are members of the first generation to have never known a world without instantaneous and nearly ubiquitous mobile phone access. They also must surmount greater hurdles to driver’s licensing than any previous generation faced. And they are struggling to transition into the most unwelcoming job market since the Great Depression. These tectonic happenings surely augur equally dramatic changes in the travel choices and patterns of young adults in the years ahead. Or will they? This report, written by UCLA’s own Evelyn Blumenberg, Brian Taylor, Michael Smart, Kelcie Ralph, Madeline Wnder, and Stephen Brumbagh, examines this question. The publication may be found here.

UCLA Urban Planning professor Brian Taylor was featured on the KCRW public radio program “Which Way LA?” on Wednesday. The segment, called, “Is LA too Complacent about Carmageddon 2?”, discussed the upcoming “Carmageddon II” freeway closures in Los Angeles. During the interview, which begins at minute 7:44 and continues throughout the recording, Taylor says the “Carmageddon I” disaster messaging was very effective leading up to the closures last year, almost too effective because it was picked up by local, national, and even international news. “The awareness was so high people dramatically changed their behavior for a short period of time.” The researchers found that there were 60 to 70% drops in freeway volumes near the closure last year and that almost all of the reductions were due to people simply not making trips. Taylor says this level of reductions was not necessary. This year, Taylor does not expect that the reduction in trips or traffic volumes in and around Los Angeles will be as dramatic because[…]

The 2012-2013 Lewis Center Student Opportunities PowerPoint presentation, given at the September 26 orientation sesions for incoming Master of Public Policy and Master of Urban Planning students, is now available for download. Download the file here.

Madeline Brozen, Program Director of the Lewis Center’s Complete Streets Initiative, featured in a recent piece in the U.K.’s The Guardian newspaper about Los Angeles’ move to begin building parklets in a recently-approved pilot program. To read the story, click here.

Two of the nation’s leading experts in urban transportation, Dr. Martin Wachs and Dr. Brian D. Taylor, FAICP, held a discussion on Wednesday night at the Hotel Angeleno to discuss their report, “Why It Wasn’t Carmaggedon” and implications for the upcoming, Carmaggedon II. The discussion, called “The Boy Who Cried Wolf: Are You Ready for the REAL Carmaggedon?” was held exclusively for UCLA Luskin Dean’s Associates. For more information on how to become a Dean’s Associate and to attend intimate special events such as Wednesday night’s, please click here. To read Wachs and Taylor’s report, “Why It Wasn’t Carmaggedon,” please visit this link.

UCLA Luskin’s Complete Streets Initiative was involved in three sessions during the Pro Walk/Pro Bike: Pro Place 2012 Conference at the Long Beach Convention Center. The convention, September 10-13, brought together cities across North America searching for ideas in bringing healthier, more equitable, and more vibrant economic solutions to their communities . Madeline Brozen, Complete Streets Initiative Program Manager, was featured on a panel and during one of the mobile workshops. Ryan Johnson, a Lewis Center Graduate Research Grant recipient, had his capstone project featured during a poster session. Brozen spoke about tranportation system performance during the panel, “The Power of the Performance Metric – Getting Your Jurisdiction Back on Track.” Specifically, the session described a collaborative effort to calculate new performance metrics for the City of Los Angeles. Traditional metrics have only considered cars, but modern metrics should capture bikeability, walkability, effects on public health, and disparities. During the mobile workshop, called “Reclaiming the Right of Way – Implementing and Designing Parklets,” participants visited the[…]

The Federal Highway Administration of the US Department of Transportation has selected the Model Design Manual for Living Streets as one of only twelve recipients for the 2012 Exemplary Human Environment Initiative award. The award recognizes the comprehensive street design manual, which including extensive guidance for active transportation and environmentally sustainable design practices. Supported by the UCLA Luskin Center and Lewis Center along with Ryan Synder and Associates and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, this manual has generated high visibility from national media outlets and cities across the globe. The manual’s website, managed by UCLA Complete Streets Initiative program director Madeline Bronzen, has received over 15,000 hits, serving as a resource for hundreds of communities. Colleen Callahan, deputy director of the Luskin Center, managed the chapter that focuses on tips and tools for creating streetscape ecosystems that are lively, economically vibrant and environmentally sustainable.