Report cover
Economic Inclusion and Climate Equity

November 2013

By Vanessa Carter, Manuel Pastor, and Madeline Wander

Please note: reports dated earlier than June 2020 were published under our previous names: the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) or the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII).

Los Angeles is reinventing itself: from sprawl to community development, from car dependence to transit orientation, from municipal fiefdoms to functional regionalism, from inequality to equity. Over the next 30 years, Measure R is funding a transportation build-out across the region to the tune of $40 billion, among other opportunities.

Now is the time to gather a broad-based coalition of institutions: equitable transportation access, shared distribution of benefits and burdens of development, and partnership in planning processes. To move from vision to reality toward the Next Los Angeles, it is vital to collaborate on new policies that invest with equity while also acknowledging the existing tensions and complexities within the field.

“An Agenda for Equity: A Framework for Building a Just Transportation System in Los Angeles County” aims to spark new conversations that bring together the usual and not-so-usual suspects, and find a new common ground around a shared framework for collective action—“Just Growth” and transportation equity.

“Just Growth” – investing with equity – has become critical for sustainable economic growth.

That is, social inclusion is the key to prosperity, and should not just be an afterthought. Research shows that regions with more equitable development result in sustainable economic growth for the region.

Transportation equity is one of the best examples of Just Growth.

Transportation is a sort of “just growth sweet spot”– it connects people to jobs, generates transit-oriented housing development, affects our overall health and environments, among other things. The opportunities to infuse equity are many.

In short, transportation equity means putting people first.

Download

Executive Summary
Full Report

Read our other publications by research area

    Immigrant Integration & Racial Justice

    Our work on immigrant integration and racial justice brings together three emphases: scholarship that draws on academic theory and rigorous research, data that provides information structured to highlight the process of immigrant integration over time, and engagement that seeks to create new dialogues with government, community organizers, business and civic leaders, immigrants and the voting public to advance immigrant integration and racial equity.

    Economic Inclusion & Climate Equity

    In the area of economic inclusion, we at ERI advance academic theory and practical applications linking economic growth, environmental quality, and civic health with bridging of racial and other gaps; produce accessible and actionable data and analysis through the data tools; and establish research partnerships to deepen and advance the dialogue, planning, and actions around racial equity, environmental justice, and the built environment.

    Social Movements & Governing Power

    ERI’s work in the area of governing power includes: conducting cross-disciplinary studies of today’s social movements, supporting learning and strategizing efforts to advance dialogues among organizers, funders, intermediaries, evaluators, and academics, and developing research-based social change frameworks and tools to inform—and be informed by—real-world, real-time efforts towards a vision of deep change.

    Publications Directory

    In 2020, the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) and the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII) merged to form the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI).

    The full list of publications published under our previous and current names can be found in our publications directory.

    a view of the Los Angeles skyline