The University of California Institute of Transportation Studies has awarded a four-campus proposal “Restorative and Racial Justice in Reconnecting Communities" in the amount of $400,000.
The project will be led by overall Principal Investigator UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge Director Paul M. Ong, and Principal Investigators UC Irvine Department of Urban Planning and Public Policy Associate Professor Douglas Houston, UC Berkeley Institute of Urban and Regional Development Principal Investigator Margaretta Lin, and UC Davis, Department of Environmental Science and Policy Assistant Professor Jesus M. Barajas; Co-principal Investigator UC Berkeley Department of City and Regional Planning Associate Professor Charisma Acey; Project Manager UCLA ITS Research Project Manager Jacob L. Wasserman; and Researcher UCLA, Center for Neighborhood Knowledge Deputy Director Chhandara Pech.
Non-Academic Project Stakeholders include Margaret Gordon, Co-founding Director, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, Evan Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer, Valley Vision, and Alfonso Directo Jr., Advocacy Director, Alliance for Community Transit-Los Angeles.
The project goal is to improve restorative justice (RJ) practices in transportation and infrastructure planning by evaluating the effectiveness of programs to redress harm caused by transportation infrastructures.
The research will incorporate qualitative and quantitative methods to examine historical and contemporary issues, thus providing breadth and depth. Researchers will use spatial analysis and a survey of several dozen Reconnecting Communities (RC) projects to identify those harmed and assess engagement practices used. They will conduct six RC case studies throughout California to examine historical and contemporary infrastructure decision-making, and finally, conduct a deep process study of advisory board decision- making processes in the Bay Area to understand types of government-led RJ engagement that can truly repair harms. By employing these three methods, the project researchers aim to gain a thorough understanding of the effectiveness of RJ practices.
The research project is made possible by the expertise and experiences of
our multi-campus team and community partners. The project will produce an integrated report, a policy brief, and a slide deck for in-person presentations. We will disseminate findings to three audiences: elected officials and agency administrators; planners, project managers and technical staff; and community-based organizations. The objective is to share the best policy, professional, and engagement practices.