Transit-Oriented Development and Equity in Latino Neighborhoods: A Comparative Case Study of MacArthur Park (Los Angeles) and Fruitvale (Oakland)

Abstract

Type of Report and Period Covered Sponsoring Agency Code Supplementary Notes AbstractTransit-oriented development (TOD) projects in low-income neighborhoods have the potential to provide needed transportation access to a segment of the population that stands to benefit significantly from these large-scale transit infrastructure projects. This research project reveals that large-scale TOD projects have the potential of leading to neighborhood revitalization and equitable outcomes in low-income Latino communities. But these positive outcomes depend on both the process and context of these particular neighborhoods, and how transportation planners incorporate the various forms of political, financial and cultural capital that exist in these communities into the planning and implementation process of TOD projects. This comparative case study analyzed the Fruitvale Transit Village in Oakland and the MacArthur Park METRO TOD in Los Angeles. We uncovered how TOD projects in Latino neighborhoods have the potential to improve access to regional transportation systems, increasing the number of affordable housing units, supporting local and diverse Latino retail businesses, and building upon existing social services. We conclude that TODs can help serve as catalysts for revitalization in low-income neighborhoods by paying attention to and building upon endogenous forms of cultural, political, financial and built capital that exist in these neighborhoods, and encouraging more bottom-up participatory forms of decision-making and activism in neighborhoods.

A Twenty-Five-Year Biography of the TOD Concept: From Design to Policy, Planning, and Implementation

“…As an illustration, Transit-Oriented Community (TOC) guidelines were added to the Los Angeles municipal zoning code as an effort to promote affordable housing near transit. In recent years, scholars have become increasingly concerned with potential gentrification and displacement effects of market-driven TOD, although they have yet to find statistical evidence of neighborhood change in the vicinity of transit stations (Baker and Lee 2017;Clagett 2014;Dong 2017;Sandoval 2016;Sandoval and Herrera 2015). Nonsignificant findings may overlook another reality depicted by neighborhood activists, though.…”

“…How to plan for and implement equitable TOD in ways that enhance transit access to opportunities (Appleyard, Frost, and Allen 2019), especially for transitdependent populations? Only in recent years have researchers started to pay attention to the benefits of TOD living, or lack thereof, for disenfranchised groups, especially low-income immigrant communities (Great Communities Collaborative 2007;Sandoval 2016;Sandoval and Herrera 2015;Vincent et al 2012). Such efforts should expand to many more vulnerable groups along other variables: gender identities, mobility impairment, age, ethnicity, and the like.…”

Modern Urban and Transport Concepts as a Key to Manage the Development of Urban Agglomerations and Adjasent Joint Territorial Communities

“…Дослідження і теоретична розробка ТОР концепцій ведеться з 1993 року, і за цей час ТОР став популярним смарт інструментом упровадження стабільного розвит ку й ущільнення урбаністичних територій, оскільки пе редбачає комплексний розгляд питань використання земельних ресурсів і транспортне планування, що ожив ляє простори всередині міст і покращує умови життя в них [8].…”