Advancing Transit-Oriented Communities and Planning for Equity in Los Angeles

Twice in the past decade, voters in Los Angeles County have approved ballot initiatives raising sales taxes to finance transport infrastructure investments throughout the region. In the face of uneven gains and displacement risks, the Alliance for Community Transit- Los Angeles (ACT-LA), a broad-based coalition of transportation advocates, community and neighborhood groups, and work centers, has led citywide and regional campaigns to ensure that the transit investments are coupled with affordable housing and inclusive workforce and economic development policies. In this presentation, Lily Song, a lecturer in urban planning at the Graduate School of Design, will discuss a “design action research” project, funded in part by the Center, that is supporting ACT-LA’s efforts by having a team of GSD students work with ACT-LA members to transform transit stations and public spaces into “sanctuaries” for transit riders and neighborhood residents. Song and three GSD students who worked on the project – Elifmina Mizrahi, Fiona Riley, and Anne Lin – will discuss the possibilities, pitfalls, and strategies of advancing proactive policy and planning measures that try to serve historically marginalized communities and simultaneously seek to strengthen democratic problem-solving capacity and institutional accountability. 

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