California Air Resources Board

Principal Investigator/Authors: Charisma Acey, Margaretta Lin                 

Contractors: University of California, Berkeley

Sub-contractors: Just Cities and West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project

Contract number: 21RD009

Project Status: Active

Relevant CARB programs: Sustainable Communities & Climate Protection Program, Research Planning

Topic areas: Sustainable Communities, Research & Sustainable Communities, Sustainable Community Strategies (SCS), Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Reduction & Climate Goals, Land Use & Transportation Research

Research Summary:

This project will examine public investment policies and systemic precedents that contribute to the inequitable distribution of resources and resulting disparities across California communities. The project will identify opportunities and potential resources to address these inequities in public infrastructure investment policies and practices in the housing, land use, and transportation sectors. The project findings and resulting report, will identify and prioritize equitable policies that also contribute to reductions in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and preserve, protect, and allow to produce more affordable housing across the state. In addition to offering opportunities to identify how existing and new public investments can be utilized to yield economic, environmental, and social returns to support healthy and more sustainable community development.

The project will develop an online policy mapping tool with multiple resources to support local decision-makers and advocates in preventing current and future harm for people of color and other vulnerable populations as well as reduction in VMT and GHG emissions. The mapping tool will share a research action model to help users identify local conditions and impact (environmental, health, housing, transportation) to understand their connection to inequitable policies and practices in their selected regions. In addition, the tool will include six unique case studies cataloguing history of policies and impacts (drivers of pollution and inequity), existing solutions, and visionary solutions proposed by communities. Moreover, the mapping tool will feature a database of equitable and inequitable investment policies, practices, and strategies across California that have prevented or created harm in distinct geographies. All tools will be developed through a transformative planning process alongside an Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

Keywords: sustainable community strategies (SCS); transportation and land use; equitable climate policy; evaluation methods