About That $17 Billion Water Project: Delta Tunnels 101
This piece breaks down the controversial $17 billion water project that would build two 30-mile water tunnels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
READ MORE >July 2016
KQED Science
water
Expanding Housing Supply in California: A New Framework for State Land Use Regulation
The Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley analyzes Governor Brown’s Streamlining Affordable Housing Approvals proposal, plus looks at similar legislation in Massachusetts known as Chapter 40B.
READ MORE >July 2016
Journal of Case Study Research by the Center for California Real Estate
affordable housing
Opportunity Score
This online tool evaluates housing locations across 350 cities according to the accessibility of jobs within a 30-minute walk or transit ride.
READ MORE >June 2016
Redfin; Walk Score
economic opportunity, transportation, walking and bicycling
Sprawl and the Cost of Living
This analysis looks at the “sprawl tax”: how much more Americans pay in time and money because of sprawling urban development patterns. It finds that the sprawl tax is large enough to erase much of the supposed cost advantages of low density settlement.
READ MORE >June 2016
CityCommentary
transit-oriented development
California’s Green Innovation Index: Eighth Edition
This report tracks California’s progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, spurring technological and business innovation, and growing businesses and jobs that enable the transition to a more resource efficient economy. It includes scorecards detailing the role of regions in the state’s clean technology success, showing that places not often thought to be clean technology pacesetters are clean-energy leaders.
READ MORE >June 2016
Next10
clean energy, climate change, economic opportunity
The Northern California Megaregion: Innovative, Connected, Growing
This report looks at environmental and economic trends across the Bay Area, Sacramento Area, Northern San Joaquin Valley, and Monterey Bay Area: the “Northern California Megaregion.” The report gives specific policy recommendations including regarding transportation connectivity in order to meet the state’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.
READ MORE >June 2016
Bay Area Council Economic Institute
climate change, economic opportunity, transportation
Building a Bikeable City for All
This article references several reports and highlights on-the-ground efforts to make social equity more central to discussions about bicycle infrastructure and advocacy, especially since people of color account for the fastest growing group of riders in cycling.
READ MORE >April 2016
Next City
social justice, walking and bicycling
Protecting the Most Vulnerable: A Financial Analysis of Cap-and-Trade’s Impact on Households in Disadvantaged Communities Across California
This study looks at how California could more than offset the cap-and-trade compliance costs that are passed on to consumers of electricity, natural gas, and gasoline, with specific mitigation strategies.
READ MORE >April 2016
UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation
clean energy, climate change, social justice
Can New Transportation Technologies Improve Equity and Access to Opportunity?
This report looks at the pros and cons of subsidizing trips on ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft to connect economically disadvantaged individuals and families with larger public transportation systems.
READ MORE >April 2016
Center for American Progress
social justice, transportation
How Rising Commercial Rents Are Threatening Independent Businesses, and What Cities Are Doing About It
This report examines how high rents are shuttering businesses and stunting entrepreneurship. It also explores six strategies cities are using to create an affordable built environment where local businesses can thrive.
READ MORE >April 2016
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
community development, economic opportunity, social justice
Sustainable Communities Strategies and Conservation
This report looks at the potential of SB 375 to transform land use in California and includes a survey of conservation measures in existing Sustainable Communities Strategies, along with conservation-related proposals that were made but not adopted in each region. It also includes a selection of model policies and best practices for future Sustainable Communities Strategies.
READ MORE >April 2016
The Nature Conservancy; Sequioa Riverlands Trust
agriculture, climate change, open space and parks
What Makes Housing Too Expensive
This article compiles various sources and looks at solutions to the urban housing affordability crisis. It proposes that government regulation for producing new housing must be reduced while increasing funding for affordable housing must be increased.
READ MORE >April 2016
BloombergView
affordable housing, gentrification and displacement
Toward a Sustainable Future: Is Southern California on Track?
In 2012, the Southern California Association of Governments adopted its first Sustainable Communities Strategy as required by state law SB 375. This report assesses the region’s progress in achieving the ambitious emissions, transportation, and land use goals set in the region’s Sustainable Communities Strategy.
READ MORE >April 2016
ClimatePlan
climate change, transportation, walking and bicycling
How Lyft and Uber Can Improve Transit Agency Budgets
This paper looks at how transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft could make transportation services for people with limited mobility (often called paratransit and dial-a-ride) more affordable plus lead to new partnerships between transit agencies and these companies.
READ MORE >March 2016
Brookings
transportation
California Migration: A Comparative Analysis
This report takes a closer look at the 625,000 more people who moved out of California to other states than moved into California from other states between 2007 and 2014.
READ MORE >March 2016
Beacon Economics and Next 10
affordable housing, economic opportunity
