Transportation moves us. Jobs, school, health clinics, grocery stores, recreational facilities, and more would be impossible to get to without adequate service and infrastructure. Efficient, safe, and sustainable transportation systems are essential to the social, economic, and environmental well-being of cities and regions. But history shows that the benefits of transportation have not been distributed equitably, and historically marginalized communities have had to bear disproportionate costs from transportation as well. More recently, planners and policymakers have taken up the challenge of creating a more sustainable equitable transportation system. Achieving these goals, however, can stand in opposition to other important goals like efficiency and effectiveness. The purpose of this class is for students to come away with an understanding transportation planning and policy in the United States, using the Washington, DC, metro area as a case study for examining the challenges, tradeoffs, and opportunities inherent in advancing sustainable and equitable transportation systems.
About the Instructor:
Jesus Barajas is a Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California, Davis. He received my PhD in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley. Broadly speaking, his research focuses on transportation equity. He's interested in three main questions: Why and how do people travel? What accounts for the differences we see in travel behavior and safety, particularly for historically marginalized population groups? And what do those differences mean for planning and policy?