In this paper we argue that political ecology, a critical subdiscipline of geography, can contribute important insights for transportation geographers and planners. Specifically, political ecology's attendance to environmental subjectivities helps explain why some groups traditionally assumed to be in favor of mass transit resist the projects developed in part to benefit them. Based on qualitative research conducted in Oakland, California between 2011 and 2012, this paper ultimately argues that a political ecology lens helps highlight how environmental and transit subjectivities – identities developed from everyday interactions with mobile and built environments – shape dispositions towards, and the politics around, mass transit projects. This insight is important as it reveals how interactions with the built environment, and the subjectivities these interactions engender, can be overlooked in the context of transportation interventions, especially when these subjectivities are in tension with transit planners' working assumptions and worldviews.

National Civic ReviewVolume 106, Issue 3 p. 28-34 Essays Is Talk Cheap? Dialogue, Diversity, and Our Economic Future Chris Benner, Chris BennerSearch for more papers by this authorManuel Pastor, Manuel PastorSearch for more papers by this author Chris Benner, Chris BennerSearch for more papers by this authorManuel Pastor, Manuel PastorSearch for more papers by this author First published: 24 October 2017 https://doi.org/10.1002/ncr.21324Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume106, Issue3Fall 2017Pages 28-34 RelatedInformation

A growing body of research has been suggesting that social equity may contribute to economic growth and resilience at a metropolitan scale, but there is limited research on the underlying mechanisms that make for this potentially happy coincidence of economic vitality, resilience and inclusion. This article helps address this gap through an in-depth exploration of three case studies of regions that have been able to either sustain growth and equity over time, and/or that responded to external shocks in a way that suggests resilience: Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio. We argue that there are different pathways in each case but that all of them can be characterized as having relatively strong and diverse regional knowledge arenas where data are shared and common understandings have developed across diverse constituencies. While the sample is limited, the role of a diverse and dynamic epistemic community does seem to be exactly the sort of mechanism that might keep fates common and regions resilient.

ABSTRACT Finding the right jobs-housing balance has long been an important concern for urban planners. More recently, attention has turned to jobs-housing fit – the extent to which housing price is well matched to local job quality. Prior analyses have been constrained by a lack of local data on job quality, making it difficult to identify the geography and scale of the problem. We introduce a new methodology for calculating the low-wage jobs-housing fit at both a jurisdiction and neighborhood scale that was designed in collaboration with affordable housing advocates and has been directly applied in urban planning and affordable housing policy efforts. Low-wage fit is particularly important because of ongoing difficulties with affordable housing provision and the disproportionate benefits of reducing transportation costs for low-income earners. We use the calculated metric at both a city and neighborhood scale to identify what can be learned from a low-wage jobs-housing fit metric that is not evident in traditional measures of jobs-housing balance. In contrast to jobs-housing balance, the low-wage fit analysis clearly highlights those jurisdictions and neighborhoods where there is a substantial shortage of affordable housing in relation to the number of low-wage jobs. Because of the geographic coverage of the data sources used, the results can be widely applied across the United States by affordable housing advocates, land-use planners, and policy makers.

Initiatives often differentiate between indicators of outcome and of processes that create those outcomes. However, it is not always feasible or desirable to distinguish between processes and outcomes particularly since outcomes in one arena are often inputs in other processes. As a result, processes and outcomes can become a virtuous cycle towards inclusivity (or represent a vicious cycle towards greater exclusion).

In the last several years, much has been written about growing economic challenges, increasing income inequality, and political polarization in the United States. Addressing these new realities in America’s metropolitan regions, this book argues that a few lessons are emerging: first, inequity is bad for economic growth; second, bringing together the concerns of equity and growth requires concerted local action; and third, the fundamental building block for doing this is the creation of diverse and dynamic epistemic (or knowledge) communities, which help to overcome political polarization and to address the challenges of economic restructuring and social divides. “As America bolts toward a more multiracial future in the face of skyrocketing inequality, local leaders are desperately seeking strategies to foster more inclusive growth. Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor’s research uncovers a critical ingredient of success: diverse regional leaders coming together to build a foundation of shared knowledge and advance positive change.” — ANGELA GLOVER BLACKWELL, Founder and CEO, PolicyLink CHRIS BENNER is the Dorothy E. Everett Chair in Global Information and Social Entrepreneurship, Director of the Everett Program for Digital Tools for Social Innovation, and Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His most recent book, coauthored with Manuel Pastor, is Just Growth: Inclusion and Prosperity in America’s Metropolitan Region. His other books include This Could Be the Start of Something Big: How Social Movements for Regional Equity Are Transforming Metropolitan America and Work in the New Economy: Flexible Labor Markets in the New Economy. MANUEL PASTOR is Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California, where he also serves as Director of USC’s Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) and Codirector of USC’s Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII). He is the coauthor of Uncommon Common Ground: Race and America’s Future and This Could Be the Start of Something Big: How Social Movements for Regional Equity Are Transforming Metropolitan America.

Some see the regional equity perspective as placing undue emphasis on intersectoral cooperation and the complementarity between growth and equity. Is regional equity a departure from an Advocacy Planning paradigm in which values are central, justice is key, and decision making is contentious? We try to reconcile the perspectives and use case studies of Fresno and San Antonio to explore when conflict yields new alliances and when it produces stalemate. We conclude with lessons for advocacy planners operating at the regional scale in which the lack of government and need for governance necessitate new skills of collaboration, (principled) conflict, and community building.

Understanding the factors and processes that help regions sustain economic growth has become a topic of increasing interest in recent years. We examine factors associated with the length of ‘growth spells’ for the 184 largest regions in the United States from the period 1990–2011. We find that growth duration is positively related to a number of factors one might expect, including lower levels of reliance on manufacturing and a higher proportion of the population with middle education levels. However, we also find that the length of growth spells is strongly related to lower levels of metropolitan income inequality and to measures of social and spatial segregation, suggesting that more equitable and more integrated regions are better able to sustain growth.

Declined as the Industry has Thrived is based on worker surveys, in-depth interviews with workers and employers, analysis of industry and government data, and reviews of existing academic literature. It represents the most comprehensive analysis ever conducted of California's food retail industry. The report shows that while California's food retail industry has enjoyed consistent growth over the past two decades, the expansion of a low-price, low-cost business model – and the choices that traditional, unionized grocers have made in the face of it – have produced a dramatic wage decline, with high rates of poverty and hunger among workers in a sector that once enjoyed relatively high wages and unionization rates. The report calls for a two-pronged strategy to arrest and reverse these trends: support for unionization, and public policies that support livable wages and benefits. This strategy would promote the creation of good jobs in the food retail sector and help build long-term prosperity for California's families and communities. California's food retail industry has shown consistent and robust growth in sales and employment, with employment growing faster than in the economy overall. Between 2000 and 2011, the number of grocery stores in California – the largest segment of food retail establishments in the state– increased by 5%, from 9,893 to 10,403.

Economic GeographyVolume 90, Issue 1 p. 115-116 book review Phone Clones: Authenticity Work in the Transnational Service Economy By Mirchandani, Kiran Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2012. Chris Benner, Chris Benner University of California DavisSearch for more papers by this author Chris Benner, Chris Benner University of California DavisSearch for more papers by this author First published: 10 January 2014 https://doi.org/10.1111/ecge.12041Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume90, Issue1January 2014Pages 115-116 RelatedInformation

The growth and change in high -tech industries in Silicon Valley over the last 20 years has produced a highly bifurcated society, with little social mobility between low and high stratums of the society. The highly unequal occupational structure of high-tech industries, combined with the rise in out-sourcing of rela ted service occupa tions, h a s contributed t o the growing inequality in the region. In this environment, traditional models of labor organizing in the electronics sectors have been ineffective in improving wages and working conditions for low-wage workers. Other, more inn o va tive organizing efforts, ho we ver, have had more success. These newer efforts link organizing in the community with organizing in the workplace, build links between en vironmental justice concerns and work­ place safety and health issues, help break down divisions between the public and private sphere, and bring greater public o versight of private sector employment practices. While these efforts have yet to have a major impact in improving emplo yment prospects for low-wage workers in high-tech industries, they do provide some important insights into potential new forms of labor organizing.