Tunnel

Land Use, Transportation, and Housing

While it is common talk about the local and the global, most of us actually live our lives regionally. Every day, we interact with and participate in systems that defy conventional political, socioeconomic, and cultural boundaries. We commute across city or county lines, receive water and power from distant generation sites, enjoy art and performances that reflect area landscapes and cultures, and move from place to place seeking work, education, and opportunity. Center for Regional Change (CRC) research explores these regional dynamics in an informed, participatory, and socially responsible way. Our goal is to help changemakers make sense of the complex social, cultural, political, and economic forces that shape regions, and invest in a healthy, prosperous, sustainable, and equitable future. 

The CRC has developed a range of analytical tools that have helped guide local, regional, and state-level land-use, transportation and housing planning to place social and environmental equity at the heart of their efforts. The CRC’s work on Senate Bill 375, (the state’s policy to promote climate smart cities and regions), helped governments and advocates develop Sustainable Community Plans that prioritize the health and well-being of low-income people and people of color, including in the Six Big Wins campaign in the San Francisco Bay Area and similar efforts throughout the San Joaquin Valley. The CRC creates innovative mapping methods to help guide efforts to support the advocacy for and development of affordable housing across the state, including an inclusionary housing database and web-based mapping tool that features and amenities promotion social determinants of health. The CRC also studies regional change and it’s implications, including the migration from the Bay Area to the Central Valley and Sierra Foothills. It has innovated on transportation by leveraging community engagement through programs like the Transportation Equity and Environment Justice Advisory Group and tools such as the Integrated Transportation Health Impacts Model to illustrate the benefits of shifting from auto-dominated travel to active transportation.

Data Infrastructure for Local Planning

Land-use impacts health. Control is local. In California, a planning document, called a “general plan” sets forth zoning and policy goals for each city and county. Communities collaboratively create such plans through many years of public meetings. The resulting general plan determines where and how much development will occur as well as what type of development (eg.

Gentrification and Displacement Risk Assessment in San Joaquin County

In recent years, San Joaquin County has been characterized by the jobs-housing imbalance affecting much of the state. As the Bay Area’s economy has continued to grow, that growth has outpaced the region’s performance in producing a sufficient amount of additional housing affordable to low and moderate-income households. This has resulted in rapid increases in the cost of housing. San Joaquin County is one of many localities that has absorbed households leaving the higher-cost Bay Area region.

Inclusionary Housing Database

For the past several years, the CRC has enjoyed a collaboration with the California Coalition for Rural Housing (CCRH) as a way to support affordable housing developers, advocates, and policymakers at the frontlines of affordable housing production, preservation, and protection across the state. Based in Sacramento, CCRH is one of the oldest low-income housing coalitions in the country, working to promote and preserve affordable housing and sustainable, healthy communities throughout Rural California.

San Joaquin Valley Healthy Homes

For the past several years, the CRC has enjoyed a collaboration with the California Coalition for Rural Housing (CCRH) as a way to support affordable housing developers, advocates, and policymakers at the frontlines of affordable housing production, preservation, and protection across the state. Based in Sacramento, CCRH is one of the oldest low-income housing coalitions in the country, working to promote and preserve affordable housing and sustainable, healthy communities throughout Rural California.

Decarbonizing California’s Transportation Sector by 2045

Decarbonizing California’s Transportation Sector by 2045

Since the passing of the California Global Warming Solutions Act in 2006 (AB-32), California has taken an aggressive approach to address the climate crisis. Over the last decade and a half, the state has developed a variety of policies and programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with a particular focus on transportation. The California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) contracted with the University of California Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) on a pair of studies to address this.

Shaping Housing Policy, Advocacy, and Development: Collaboration with the California Coalition for Rural Housing

 

For the past several years, the CRC has enjoyed a collaboration with the California Coalition for Rural Housing (CCRH) as a way to support affordable housing developers, advocates, and policymakers at the frontlines of affordable housing production, preservation, and protection across the state. Based in Sacramento, CCRH is one of the oldest low-income housing coalitions in the country, working to promote and preserve affordable housing and sustainable, healthy communities throughout Rural California.

The Next Generation of Sustainable Communities

The Next Generation of Sustainable Communities

In January 2020 an invited group of 70 professionals, representing academic, business, and non-profit sectors, met at the University of California, Davis to discuss lessons learned from sustainable community initiatives and how to facilitate a more rapid change toward sustainable urbanism. The inspiration for the event came from construction of The Sustainable City (TSC) in Dubai and West Village at UC Davis.