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Evaluating the Environmental Justice Effects of Land
Use Scenarios in the Sacramento Region with the
PECAS Activity Allocation Model
Project
Number: 2601
Research Project:
In 1994, a Presidential Executive Order directed
every federal agency to make environmental justice (EJ)
part of its mission by identifying and addressing
adverse effects of its programs, policies, and
activities on minority and low income populations.
It is widely recognized, however, that modeling
tools currently used by transportation agencies have
a very limited ability, if any, to perform such
analyses. Not surprisingly, the U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT) order summarizing and expanding
the Executive Order charges federal, state, and
regional transportation agencies to identify,
develop, and implement the analytical capabilities
necessary to identify EJ effects of transportation
projects, plans, and policies.
Concurrently, there has
been increased recognition of the potentially
harmful social, economic, and health effects of
highway induced urban sprawl on low income and
minority groups in the U.S. In response, many have
advocated smart growth and/or transit oriented
developments (TODs) policy strategies to redress
these effects and improve access for disadvantages
groups. Today, there are over 100 existing TOD
projects in the U.S. and this number is growing.
The Sacramento region’s
ambitious planning efforts have been accompanied by
equally ambitious model development efforts, which
have included the development and partial
calibration of the advanced PECAS activity
allocation model. This model can currently allocate
employment and population into buildings and other
built forms and simultaneously calculates space,
rents, flows of goods, services, and labor, and
consumer surplus for each household and employment
activity type.
Principal Investigator:
Caroline J. Rodier, Ph.D.,
Assistant Research Engineer, California PATH,
University of California Berkeley
Team Member:
Joseph Michael
Pogodzinski, Ph.D., Professor, San Jose State
University
Institution:
Mineta Transportation
Institute
Telephone Number:
(408) 924-7560
Email Address:
mti@mti.sjsu.edu
Project Objective:
The proposed research will
enhance the calibration of the PECAS activity
allocation model and use the model to simulate the
EJ effects of a smart growth scenario (or the
Preferred Blueprint) and an urban sprawl scenario
(or the Base Case). The EJ effects simulated with
the PECAS activity allocation model will include a
consumer surplus measure (for each of the 16 income
household classes), which will represent changes in
household access to jobs and payments for goods and
services (including household rents and
transportation costs). In addition, the employment
categories will allow for some assessment of
benefits and losses to low-wage and/or minority
dominated labor categories by location (e.g.,
service and agricultural workers).
Project Abstract:
In recent years, there has
been increased recognition of the potentially
harmful social, economic, and health effects of
highway induced urban sprawl on low income and
minority groups. Many have asserted that the
emphasis of transportation policy on highway
construction after World War II restricted these
groups’ access to jobs, education, health care, and
other important services and increased their
exposure to harmful air pollutants.
In response, many have
advocated smart growth and/or TODs policy strategies
to redress the perceived harmful effects of urban
sprawl and improve access opportunities for
minorities and low income groups. Today, there are
over 100 existing TOD projects in the United States.
A diverse mix of TOD projects is found across the
country, and current trends indicate that the number
and type of TOD projects will increase over the
coming years. TODs exists not just in cities with
well-established rail infrastructure, but
increasingly, in areas limited to bus service. While
most are developed in nodes, TOD corridors are
beginning to emerge, notably in the Arlington
County, Virginia, and the Hollywood Area of Los
Angeles.
Some studies have
evaluated EJ benefits from TODs. For example, the
Fruitvale TOD in Oakland, California, identified
more jobs, improved property values, and better air
quality to low income and minority populations as
key EJ benefits from the project. However, other
studies disagree that TOD policies are a solution to
income equality or central city declines.
Milestones Dates:
Task 1: Literature
Review
June 2007–July
2007
Review literature on the
EJ effects of smart growth/TODs and sprawl.
Task 2: Additional
PECAS Calibration August
2007–September 2007
Conduct additional
calibration of the Sacramento PECAS model to
Sacramento area data.
Task 3: Simulate
Scenarios
October 2007–November 2007
Prepare data files for
scenario and simulate scenarios including
sensitivity analyses.
Task 4: Analyze
Scenario Results
December 2007–January 2008
Analyze outputs from PECAS
model to construct a number of EJ measures.
Task 5: Draft Report
February
2008
Draft final report and
submit for peer review.
Task 6: Final Report
May 2008
Draft report including
peer review comments. (see MTI note below)
Submit TRB paper for
presentation and publications following completion
of report.
August
2008
Total Budget: $51,518
(Includes
$6,450 for MTI’s costs in both above amounts)
Student Involvement: TBD
Technology Transfer
Activities:
Upon publication, pdf and html
versions will be available on the Mineta
Transportation Institute web site. The project
experience and data will be available for community
meetings. Authors are encouraged to submit articles
based on the research to relevant journals and to
present the information to end-users at conferences.
Potential Benefits of the Project:
This project will produce a number of practical
research applications. The results will:
1. Further federal, state, and regional
transportation agencies’ understanding of the
advantages of applying advanced activity based land
use model to evaluate the EJ effects of
transportation and land use plans.
2. Significantly contribute to the limited academic
literature on the EJ effects of smart growth/TODs
and urban sprawl.
3. Assist SACOG in their model development process
by enhancing the calibration of the PECAS model and
by providing opportunities for staff training on the
operation of the model. The results of the study
will be submitted to the Transportation Research
Board for presentation and publication.
The proposed project
addresses four MTI areas of emphasis: 1)
interrelationships among transportation, land use, the
environment, and the economy; 2) transportation
decision making and consensus building; 3)
transportation planning and policy development; and
(4) sustainable transportation.
In addition, the proposed
project directly addresses two MTI and Caltrans
suggested topics: 1) Model approaches to
environmental justice in transportation planning,
programs and projects, including identifying and
removing the barriers to minority and low-income
community participation in transportation planning
and decision making at the local and regional
levels. 2) Address the interaction between
transportation, land use, and social equity.
Identify best practices in smart growth that
incorporate equity principles and support those
principles with transportation investment. This
project also addresses the EQUITY research issue
identified by the executive committee of the
Transportation Research Board as critical.
TRB Keywords:
Environmental impacts; Land use; Land use planning;
Transportation planning; Travel demand; Travel
demand management; Trip distribution
Primary Subject:
Transportation/Land Use/ Environment
Goals:
To foster an understanding of federal, state, and
regional transportation agencies’ knowledge of the
advantages of applying advanced activity based land
use model to evaluate the EJ effects of
transportation and land use plans by contributing to
academic literature regarding EJ effects of smart
growth/TODs and urban sprawl. This project will also
assist SACOG in its model development process by
enhancing the calibration of the PECAS model and by
providing opportunities for staff training on the
operation of the model.
Enabling Research:
Legal analysis; Modeling;
Statistical analysis
Modal Orientation:
Roads; Planning |
