2016

Physical activity (PA) improves the quality of life and health and is closely linked to the built environment. To promote sustainable and active living in communities, many cities are implementing bike sharing programs. These programs provide co-benefits of reduced emissions by decreasing vehicle miles traveled (VMT). However, no study has been conducted locally to quantify and assess the impacts on PA patterns and health. PASTA-LA, a sister-study of the European Union PASTA project, will be the first and only study outside of Europe to explore the health-related outcomes of bike share in Los Angeles, California. 

California’s climate is one of extremes, susceptible to rapid shifts between drought and flood. For example, the state experienced a record multi-year dryness between 2012–2016 followed by extreme wetness during the 2016–2017 winter. With global climate change, warming is likely to cause even greater precipitation variability in the future. But patterns of change by region and over time in precipitation extremes in California remain uncertain.  

Los Angeles County has high rates of food insecurity, federal food assistance and chronic diet-related diseases, in part due to lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables and limited green space and safe outdoor spaces in many communities. Urban agriculture has the potential to improve public health through increased food access and consumption, thus may help address urban food insecurity. However, there is very limited data and documentation of urban agriculture activities (e.g. size, production, crop types) in the County. Recognizing this data gap, this project expanded the current documentation efforts and assessed the production potential focusing on how urban agriculture affects public health by integrating health impact assessment (HIA) methodology, geospatial analysis and policy review. 

Transportation emissions are a primary cause of Los Angeles’ notoriously poor air quality. Policymakers and “smart growth” advocates assert that intensifying land use around the public transit rail system will not only help accomplish transportation and environmental goals, but also housing and economic development goals. However, recent studies reveal that rail development is linked to gentrification and displacement of public transit’s core ridership. This project combined literature and policy review, spatial analysis and interviews to investigate underlying causes and develop future policy recommendations that prioritize social equity and minimize displacement. 

Zoning is the primary legislative tool through which land use is locally governed in the United States. In Los Angeles, zoning and land use exert a fundamental influence on the production, consumption and delivery of energy. While recent state and local policy has sought to integrate land use and sustainability practices, these efforts do not acknowledge the full extent of land use policy’s influence on urban energy systems. Thus, this project comprehensively mapped a history of L.A. County zoning and building code ordinances over the past 150 years and evaluated their impact on L.A.’s urban energy systems and public health.  

Assembly Bill 551 (AB 551), California’s Urban Agricultural Incentive Zones (UAIZ) Act, provides tax incentives to landowners to transform vacant lots into small-scale agricultural plots. Major benefits of implementing AB 551 include:  Reduced number of food deserts across the City of Los Angeles.  Reduced transportation pollution from shipping produce.  Creation of new green spaces in previously vacant lots.  Expansion of local farming coupled with sustainable agriculture technologies.  Thus, the implementation of AB 551 is crucial to ensure the City of L.A. meets its 2025 Sustainable City pLAn outcome to increase urban agriculture sites by 25%. The objective of this project is to research the adoption and implementation methods of other California cities and counties that have already adopted AB 551 to relay this information to LAFPC and to share the best implementation strategies for the City of L.A.

Encouraging more green jobs is critical to successfully implementing the sustainability solutions, and being able to measure the growth of green jobs across Los Angeles and beyond is meaningful for many reasons. As one of the three E's of sustainability along with the environment and ethics, a thriving economy is an essential part of a sustainable future for the City of Los Angeles. Not to mention, transitioning to a green economy requires a trained workforce in industries such as environment, energy, transportation, and planning.  In this project, Chambeshi assisted research associated with the legal implications of the City of Los Angeles’ newly launched Low-Income Car-Share Project. Specifically, he complied and assessed the green job creation data and benefits and initiated the standardizing process of green job classification across city departments to help measure the growth of green jobs. Additionally, he helped revise greenhouse gas emission standards for the California Cap-N-Trade program to allow entities to accurately measure the amounts of emissions.