The 2019 Los Angeles Countywide Sustainability Plan — of which 16 UCLA researchers contributed — was honored at a June 17 virtual ceremony with the Award for Excellence in Sustainability by the American Planning Association (APA) Sustainable Communities Division. The awards honor projects, plans, policies, individuals and organizations whose work is dedicated to supporting sustainable communities.
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Los Angeles Times columnist Nicholas Goldberg examines the decline in L.A. Metro ridership — even before COVID-19 pandemic — and what can be done to ensure it rebounds after the end of the pandemic.
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For many Los Angeles residents, the daily commute is frustrating. A project by three UCLA faculty members aims to change that — especially for those who ride to work on two wheels — by creating bicycle “flows” that produce real-time digital art exhibitions throughout the city.
One of the project’s goals is to make cycling to work feel as accessible and safe as other modes of travel, so the professors envision groups, or flows, of cyclists that would be organized by a smartphone app. The app would encourage reluctant or inexperienced cyclists to participate by pointing them toward those flows, suggest routes that are optimized for enjoyability and safety over efficiency or speed, and enable participants to share their experiences.
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When buildings are aligned in rows with no gaps between them, pedestrians are usually exposed to higher concentrations of vehicle-related, ultrafine particles that harm human health, according to a study co-authored by UCLA air quality expert Suzanne Paulson.
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One of the few uplifting developments in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic was the remarkable boost in air quality around the world.
Did the clean air mean anything? Was it evidence that collective action could clean the air faster than many thought possible, or just a fluke of the weather, or proof that even radical steps couldn’t fight climate change? The answer, UCLA air quality researchers say, isn’t precisely any of these but includes elements of all three.
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