Mitigating Negative Consequences of New Urban Growth in Disadvantaged Communities
New housing and development in California are often planned in communities that already face economic hardship, environmental burdens, and limited access to reliable transportation. Recent research finds specifically that in the San Francisco (S.F.) Bay Area and Southern California (SoCal) metropolitan regions, there is a high propensity to plan new urban development in socially, economically, and environmentally disadvantaged communities (DACs) with poor transit accessibility and limited personal mobility. This project first reviews the literature to identify potential unintended negative impacts of high concentrations of new urban growth in DACs across social, economic, educational, environmental, and transportation dimensions. It then identifies the tools to mitigate these impacts. Next, it selects four DACs—North Richmond (primarily in unincorporated Contra Costa County) and West Oakland (City of Oakland) in the S.F. Bay Area, and Bloomington (unincorporated San Bernardino County) and Florence-Firestone (unincorporated Los Angeles County) in Southern California—that are targeted for new growth in their regional plans. Using document analysis and semistructured stakeholder interviews, this study next examines the kinds of disadvantages these communities face and the tools used to mitigate them. It finally qualitatively assesses how well the disadvantages are being mitigated. The study finds that DACs located in unincorporated county areas lack political champions and do not receive close, focused attention from county government departments. Regional policies are often vague and ineffective, and while several tools exist to mitigate disadvantages, their implementation or efficacy at the DAC level is sparse. Without stronger policies, new development risks reinforcing existing inequities—placing more housing in areas where residents already face long commutes, fewer services, and greater environmental risks. The study recommends focused state and federal aid to DACs. The regional agencies should develop a policy framework to proactively mitigate disadvantages in DACs. The state and regional agencies should develop regulations and incentives for local governments to meet the needs of DACs, including by engaging local community-based organizations. Finally, local government should facilitate fair and effective community benefit agreements with the developers and local employers.
Shishir Mathur, PhD
Dr. Shishir Mathur is an MTI Research Associate and a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at San Jose State University. He served as Associate Dean of Research (College of Social Sciences) during 2016-2019 and the Director of the Certificate in Real Estate Development during 2016- 2020. His research interests include transportation finance, urban and real estate economics, affordable housing, international development, infrastructure and development finance, and growth management. His research has been published in top-tier journals such as Transportation Research Part A, Transport Policy, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Urban Studies, Land Use Policy, Cities, and Habitat International. He is the author of three books: Development Charges: Funding Urban Infrastructure in India and the Global South (Cambridge University Press), Understanding India’s New Approach to Spatial Planning and Development: A Salient Shift? (Oxford University Press) and Innovation in Public Transport Finance: Property Value Capture (Routledge). Dr. Mathur has advised several international and national organizations. United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) sought his input on ways to encourage land-based financing in Africa, Asia, and South America. He advised Federal Transit Administration on ways to promote land value capture to fund transit-oriented developments and transit infrastructure.
Christopher E. Ferrell, PhD
Dr. Christopher E. Ferrell began his career in 1995 as a planner for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). He completed his doctoral studies in City and Regional Planning at the University of California at Berkeley in 2005 and worked as a consultant with Dowling Associates, Inc. for 10 years before leaving to help form CFA Consultants in 2010. He is currently a principal, board member, and the executive director of the Transportation Choices for Sustainable Communities Research and Policy Institute, a 501c3 nonprofit. He has been the principal investigator for several research projects for the Mineta Transportation Institute, where he has been a Research Associate since 2005. His research focuses on the relationships between transportation and land use, livability, travel behavior, transportation policy, and planningrelated institutional structures. His research experience includes the study of multimodal transit and freeway corridors, best practices for building successful transit-oriented development, the effects of transit-oriented development on surrounding property values, the effects of neighborhood crimes on transportation mode choice, and a set of methods, metrics and strategies for evaluating transit corridor livability. As a practitioner, he has planned mixed-use, infill and transit-oriented development projects, analyzed the impacts of specific and general plans, planned and implemented intelligent transportation systems, and developed bicycle and pedestrian plans. He has taught several quantitative methods classes in the San José State University Urban Planning Department and a course in transportation and land use in the City and Regional Planning Department at the University of California at Berkeley.
Cindy Adrian
Cindy Adrian holds a Masters in Urban Planning from San Jose State University and is an intern at the City of San José Department of Transportation. Her interests include transportation planning, food systems, and land use.
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Contact Us
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