Traffic in Los Angeles by Friscocali licensed under Creative Commons.

LA will soon pilot congestion pricing. How cities can be equitable for all genders. How Phoenix will navigate climate change.

LA will give congestion pricing a go in 2021: LA is America’s most car-centric city and is about to pilot a type of congestion pricing through a toll program for freeway drivers at peak hours starting in 2021. Congestion pricing, or road pricing, can increase transit and active transportation use, and reduce travel times for drivers who choose to pay it, along with improving air quality. In LA’s case, low-income drivers will have access to a discount, as will drivers with four or more passengers. (Professor Donald Shoup | CityLab)

Making cities equitable for all genders: Female voices are often not heard in urban issues, even though issues such as gentrification, availability of restrooms, police defunding and more are all feminist issues. This is because our spaces and built environment are largely shaped by a single-gendered view and power relations. In this interview, Leslie Kern discusses her new book “Feminist City” which focuses on these issues. (Leilah Stone | Metropolis Magazine)

How Phoenix will deal with climate change: America’s hottest city has developed a plan to battle climate change. Currently, Phoenix is a hot spot, not just in terms of temperature, but also coronavirus cases and protests; and communities of color are under the most threat in all three cases. The city is developing a Heat Action Plan to help it become a sustainable desert city and allow its residents to adapt. (Sarah Kaplan | Washington Post)

Race shaped America’s roads and cities: Racist practices such as bulldozing neighborhoods where people of color lived to build highways have shaped American roadways and cities. Planners should now focus on making sure access to amenities is not just reserved for white people or those with higher incomes. (Ashish Valentine | NPR)

Gentrification fears in North Philly: A development plan for one of the poorest neighborhoods of Philadelphia is raising gentrification fears. Currently, the developers have no obligation to provide affordable housing for low-income communities, but a zoning change would require it, thus creating a sense of urgency to change laws. (Jason Laughlin | Philadelphia Inquirer)

Quote of the Week

“Cities have become much more expensive, and housing is not the only factor. For non-college workers, you have a combination of changing wage structure and then rising prices, and the net effect is making cities less attractive for people without college degrees.”

David Autor in MIT News discussing how cities have stopped creating lower and middle-class jobs for Black and Latino workers.

This week on the podcast, Brianne Eby of the Eno Center for Transportation joins us to talk about congestion pricing.