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Archive for the ‘Equity’ Category

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Lifting the High Energy Burden in America’s Largest Cities

Thursday, April 21st, 2016
While energy efficiency programs provide benefits beyond energy savings, we find they are an underutilized strategy that could complement bill assistance and weatherization programs to reduce high energy burdens in low-income communities.

AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT ECONOMY (ACEEE)
This report provides a snapshot of energy burdens in cities across the US. We focus on the high home energy burdens faced by select groups in major metropolitan areas…In the first half of this report, we analyze data from the US Census Bureau’s 2011 and 2013 American Housing Survey to determine energy burden values for 48 of the largest US cities and specific households within each city. In the second half of the report, we discuss strategies for alleviating high energy burdens, with a focus on policies and programs to increase the impact of energy efficiency initiatives in these communities.

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San Diego, CA: Fixing a Broken Intersection in City Heights

Thursday, April 14th, 2016

District 9 Council Representative Rudy Vargas-Lima, confirmed that the City will move forward creating a “marked crosswalk” with “rectangular rapid flash beacons” and that the project is funded, but not scheduled at this time…The intersection falls just outside the El Cajon Mobility Study, an ongoing project to develop infrastructure improvements that benefit the Rapid Bus service and make the corridor more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists.

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Posted in Equity, Local, Roads, Show Us Your Infra, Urban Planning

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Bike-Share Stations in the U.S.

Friday, April 8th, 2016
FIGURE 1. Bike-Share Connectivity to Scheduled Public Transportation

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
BUREAU OF TRANSPORTATION STATISTICS
Bike-share systems typically operate independently of local transit authorities. However, most bike-share docking stations (86.3 percent) can be found near local public transportation stops (transit bus, commuter rail, heavy rail, light rail, and transit ferry). These locations offer modal choice and the opportunity to connect between modes. Transit bus is the most typical connection, with 84.2 percent (2,236) of bike-share stations located a block or less from a transit bus stop.

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Stalled Out: How Empty Parking Spaces Diminish Neighborhood Affordability

Thursday, April 7th, 2016
2-bedroom apartment vs. parking spaces

CENTER FOR NEIGHBORHOOD TECHNOLOGY
Late at night, when Chicago sleeps, apartment parking lots are at their peak usage. When CNT visited those lots and garages at 4:00 a.m., though, we found one third of the parking spaces sitting empty…This may not seem like a huge problem, but each indoor, underground parking space – one individual space – costs $37,300 to build. Multiply that by all of the spaces in the lot, and the price tag is huge. We think that wasted money and space should be allocated to housing instead.

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Guest on The Infra Blog: Rachel Gutter, Director, Center for Green Schools

Wednesday, April 6th, 2016
Rachel Gutter, Director, Center for Green Schools

Rachel Gutter is Senior Vice President of Knowledge at the U.S. Green Building Council and Director of the Center for Green Schools.

“It’s been 20 years since the federal government published a comprehensive inventory of K-12 public school facilities, and at the time…more than 15,000 schools in the United States had air that was actually unfit to breathe. And then they dropped it for the last 20 years…because of our limited insight into the conditions of the school facilities, we have no sense of just how pervasive the problem is. But just like we know that lurking across these hundred thousand K-12 public schools there are thousands of schools that still have air that’s unfit to breathe, we know that there are likely thousands of schools that have water that’s unfit for drinking. And that’s not acceptable.”

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Equity, Guests on The Infra Blog, National, Policy, Schools, The Infra Blog

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Low-Income Solar Policy Guide

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2016
solar1

GRID ALTERNATIVES
VOTE SOLAR
CENTER FOR SOCIAL INCLUSION
There are many effective policy tools for supporting solar adoption among consumers at large, and nearly all of them help expand low-income access to solar power to some extent. However, fully enabling low-income solar participation requires policies and programs that are specifically designed to address the unique barriers faced by these communities. This guide provides an overview of those barriers, as well as underlying principles for successful programs, existing policy tools that can be used to create programs, and examples of state and local models that have successfully improved access.

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San Diego, CA: Downtown Mobility Plan

Friday, February 26th, 2016
Downtown San Diego

CITY OF SAN DIEGO
CIVIC SAN DIEGO
City centers across the nation are experiencing revival and renaissance. Urbanized communities are becoming increasingly desirable, with more people showing interest in living and working in locations with a variety of mobility, cultural, entertainment, employment, and housing options. A combination of transportation strategies is needed to accommodate these shifting attitudes and accompanying influx of residents, employees, and visitors to urbanized areas – even more so in downtown areas already experiencing high concentrations of residential and employment populations.

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Posted in Biking, Buses, Congestion, Equity, Infra Views, Land Use, Local, Public Transportation, Smart Growth, Transit, Urban Planning

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Menino Survey of Mayors

Wednesday, January 27th, 2016
Biggest Local Challenge From a State or National Issue

BOSTON UNIVERSITY
INITIATIVE ON CITIES
Mayors overwhelmingly believe that physical infrastructure is one of the greatest challenges facing their city. Mayors were asked to identify the greatest challenge they face which falls outside their control—in other words, a challenge that is typically the purview of other levels of government. “Think about the next five years and beyond. What ONE trend or issue that you primarily think should be a state and/or federal matter will pose the biggest challenge to your city?” Importantly, this question did not query mayors about challenges to their cities generally, which was explored in last year’s report.

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Equity, Funding, Infra Views, Local, National, Policy, Public Opinion

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Riding Tandem: Cycling & Gentrification in Chicago and Portland

Wednesday, January 20th, 2016
Figure 2: Change in community composition 1990-2010 and bicycle infrastructure in Chicago

MCGILL UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF URBAN PLANNING
Bicycles have great potential to be an equitable, healthy and sustainable mode of transportation. Cycling infrastructure, including lanes, parking, or bicycle share programs, can help foster a safe and inviting environment where users of all abilities have high access to opportunities and services. Yet cycling advocacy is increasingly being critiqued from an ethical perspective.

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Transforming Transportation: Towards Walking and Biking

Tuesday, January 5th, 2016

This video is about the health and environmental benefits of active transportation, defined as “any self-propelled, human-powered mode of transportation, such as walking or bicycling” (CDC, 2011).

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