Transportation Planning, Equity, and Decision-Making in U.S. Minority Communities

• In Event: Transportation and housing #2: precariousness and social exclusions in Latin America and the United States

Abstract

Infrastructure investment in minority and low-income communities in the United States follows a legacy of top down decision-making and unequal distribution of resources. Latino communities in the U.S., like
many other ethnic communities, have been negatively affected by transportation policies that range in severity from a complete lack of investment in public transit to highway interventions that segregate the social and spatial fabric of neighborhoods. East Los Angeles, California is one such community. The presentation will examine one major case study, presenting preliminary findings from a larger body of work on infrastructure investments in U.S. minority and low-income communities. Inequitable transportation policies in minority communities continue to result in infrastructure interventions that challenge notions of democracy in the U.S., like many places in the global south. Despite shifts in regulatory policies resulting from organized environmental justice responses, decision-making processes associated with large-scale infrastructure projects remain relatively top-down and technocratic in nature, often including public participation as a way to manufacture consent. Recent policy shifts in Los Angeles have resulted in increasing investments in light-rail infrastructure, particularly in minority-majority areas. This research seeks to investigate how mobilized networks of community actors in Latino communities, such as East LA, serve to insert local knowledge, and influence decision-making processes at the project level, while seeking to challenge the undemocratic nature of transportation planning. This research will examine the precarious nature of transportation infrastructure investments and the social and spatial implications for minority communities.

Author

• Monica Villalobos, University of Calfornia/Berkeley