TOD and Social Equity: An Agenda for Research and Action

Though building more transit-oriented development (TOD) is critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the push for TOD raises new equity concerns.  Due to the difficulty of preserving and building new affordable housing, the potential for displacement, air quality issues associated with new density, and the complexity of regional planning processes, now more than ever must we address these equity issues. Sponsored by the University of California Transportation Center and the Center for Community Innovation at UC-Berkeley’s Institute for Urban & Regional Development and APA California – Northern, this conference will bring together policymakers, community leaders, business leaders, and scholars to discuss how to plan for and build equitable TOD. Topics to be discussed include TOD, displacement, and environmental justice; obstacles in TOD implementation; and planning for TOD from a regional equity perspective.  Our conference aims to highlight the equity and distributive issues that arise with TOD, with the goal of producing an agenda for future research and action.

SPEAKERS

– Keynote Speaker: Scott Bernstein, President, Center for Neighborhood Technology

– Prof. Robert Cervero, Director, University of California Transportation Center

– Michael Bodaken, President, National Housing Trust

– Dena Belzer, Principal, Strategic Economics

– Jeanne Dubois, Executive Director, Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation

– Michael Woo, Los Angeles City Planning Commission and Dean, CSU-Pomona

– Prof. Rolf Pendall, Dept. of City & Regional Planning, Cornell University

– Ismael Guerrero, Executive Director, Denver Public Housing Authority

– Jonathan Sage-Martinson, Coordinator, Central Corridor Funders Collaborative (Twin Cities)

– Scott Kirkpatrick, Program Manager, Sound Transit

– Doug Johnson, Senior Planner, Metropolitan Transportation Commission

– Denny Zane, Move L.A.

– Jeff Hobson, TransForm/Great Communities Collaborative