Sustainable LA Grand Challenge

Los Angeles County contains 215 community water systems that are disconnected and fragmented. These water systems vary greatly in their local water resources including access to groundwater storage, stormwater capture, water re-use, infrastructure and potential for conservation. For instance, some systems contain more water resources than they need to meet their local demand. Other systems have limited resources and depend on a single source of imported water or groundwater aquifer. As a result, households face unequal access to affordable drinking water that is mainly determined by their geographical location. A feasible strategy to integrate these fragmented water systems is needed to address the inequities in pricing and ensure Los Angeles County can achieve 100% local water. 

Los Angeles County is the largest county in the nation with a population of approximately 10 million people. By 2050, the county is projected to have a 15% increase in population, adding 1.5 million more residents. With projected urban population growth alongside the effects of climate change, providing Angelenos with reliable energy, water and an environment that will enhance their health will be a challenge. The UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge (SLA GC) was developed to address these problems and ultimately transition Los Angeles County to 100% renewable energy, 100% locally sourced water, and enhanced ecosystem and human health by 2050. In response to SLA GC’s original goals, The NOW Institute research team undertook a first-round assessment of where the county stands today and what can be done to achieve those targets by 2050.

Vehicle emissions and the resulting air pollution are notable public health concerns in the Los Angeles region. The vast majority of trips in the County are by means other than public transit. One barrier to transit ridership is the distance to a rail or bus system. Factors like sidewalk availability, safety and exposure to heat make traveling to transit stops more difficult, and the effects are more pronounced amongst the elderly and those with disabilities. Ride-hailing services or “Transportation Network Companies (TNC)” like Uber and Lyft can improve access to transit by connecting users to rail or bus stations that are beyond walking distance. Realizing the potential of TNCs, this study proposed combining them with zero-emission vehicles to ultimately reduce emissions, encourage public transit use, and support L.A. County’s ongoing initiatives to reach 100% renewable energy and reduce air pollution.

Both the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County are engaged in various scientific projects to better understand, measure and preserve biodiversity in the region. However, missing from these approaches is any attempt to capture or measure the social, cultural and political perception of these critical resources across neighborhoods and different demographic groups. Biodiversity is both affected and perceived differently by different groups of people in urban environments, and there are many controversies associated with biodiversity management (e.g. coyote culling and pet safety, secondary poisoning from rat control, environmental contamination, flood control, habitat restoration, etc.).    City and County managers have only sparse and anecdotal data on how individuals respond to or engage with these issues and how their values relate to the goals and practices of biodiversity conservation. This project attempts to address this gap by eliciting responses directly from residents and collectives in the Los Angeles region to shape a more complete narrative of public understanding of and engagement on biodiversity issues. 

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. 

The pilot project launched by the City of Los Angeles in May 2015 combines the concepts of carsharing, EVs, environmental responsibility and equity. Operating on at least 80% EVs from the following underserved neighborhoods—Westlake-MacArthur Park, Pico-Union, parts of Downtown, Echo Park and Koreatown—Phase 1 of the pilot project aims to recruit 7,000 low-income residents.   However, carshare services and electric vehicle (EV) advertising tends to focus on middle to upper-middle-class individuals and communities. To address this gap, the objective of Barberena’s project is to provide recommendations on developing a carsharing model that successfully services low-income residents in Los Angeles through qualitative data analyses (e.g. interviews, literature 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. 

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.

Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) is an energy supply model whereby local governments combine their energy loads and make the choice to purchase energy independently instead of from a utility. Therefore, CCA allows local governments to set their own renewable energy targets and potentially deliver a greater range of renewable energy to their customers. As of 2017, CCAs were projected to account for as much as 60% of California’s electricity load by 2020.   The objective of this project is to assess the potential of the CCA model in California to contribute to meeting 100% local, renewable energy by 2050 in Los Angeles County. Through analysis of policy and planning documents, media coverage and interviews, the project explored opportunities and benefits of this innovation in energy governance and service delivery. It also identified future challenges with the CCA model.