Social / Demographics

Neurodivergence and the City
Researchers are starting to understand how people with conditions like autism experience cities differently — and how to design for the neurodiverse brain.

Community Colleges: A Pathway for Native Hawaiian Achievement and Growth
The University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges provide Native Hawaiian students with transformative educational experiences, integrating academic success, cultural identity, and strong community support to help them find purpose and thrive.

Building Resilient Communities: Insights from the LA County Cities Summit
The Los Angeles County Cities Summit convened local leaders to share strategies for advancing sustainability, addressing climate resilience, extreme heat, and other pressing environmental challenges through policy and community-driven solutions.

Rural Homelessness Could Be Vastly Underestimated, Study Finds
The annual ‘point in time’ count fails to capture the diverse types of situations experienced by unhoused people in rural communities.

Mobile App Makes DC Transit Easy to Navigate for Visually Impaired Riders
The app gives step-by-step directions and audio and visual cues accessible from anywhere for thousands of bus stops and rail stations.

How ‘Anti-DEI’ Efforts Impact Sustainable Transportation Studies
Research into accessibility, transit equity, and traffic safety is losing federal funding at an alarming rate.

Language Matters: Addressing Communication Gaps in Disaster Response
A UCLA study reveals that language barriers left many Asian residents in Los Angeles County without critical wildfire evacuation and recovery information, highlighting the need for more inclusive emergency communication strategies.

Half of Altadena’s Black Homes Lost or Damaged in Eaton Fire
The community has higher Black homeownership rates than most of Los Angeles, but now faces an uncertain future as residents struggle to rebuild.

Making Autonomous Vehicles Safer for Blind Pedestrians
A team of researchers is developing a dataset to fill a critical gap in self-driving cars’ learning models.

Hitting Its Stride Or Hitting A Wall? South Texas At a Watershed Moment
Can South Texas rise up without drying up?

Population and Economic Shifts in the Wake of the Maui Wildfires
The 2023 Maui wildfires have caused significant out-migration, reduced in-migration, and substantial economic losses, reshaping the island’s population and straining its recovery efforts.

More Than a Game: How Sports Can Uplift Communities After Disaster
In the wake of devastating wildfires, a professional sports team in Los Angeles is stepping up to support affected fans, offering aid, morale-boosting gestures, and a sense of community resilience.

Condos, a Key Source of Affordable Housing for Homeowners, Are in Jeopardy
Decades of increasing costs and deferred maintenance could lead to people losing their homes unless changes are made.

DOT Memo Directs Transportation Funding to Communities With Higher Marriage and Birth Rates, Compliance with Immigration Officials and No Mask Mandates
The memo ties immigration enforcement to federal funding and prohibits mask or vaccine mandates.

The Philadelphia Loan Program Transforming the Demographics of Development
The Jumpstart loan program is helping Black and female residents become developers.

Bringing Communities Together: Lunar New Year Festivities Across LA County
To celebrate the Lunar New Year, LA County Parks is hosting free community festivals at 61 parks, featuring cultural performances, food tastings, crafts, and interactive activities that honor the Year of the Snake and promote unity and tradition.

From Brownfields to Community Assets: A Conference on Land Revitalization
The 2025 California Land Recycling Conference (CALRC) will convene experts in Carson, CA, from September 16-18 to discuss brownfield redevelopment, sustainability, and equitable land reuse, with session proposals open until March 31, 2025.

Good Planning Under Bad Leadership
Planners must sometimes work under bad leadership. Here are suggestions for responsive planning in challenging political environments.

Equity in Energy: Protecting Livelihoods and Restoring Communities
The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy must be equitable, ensuring that workers receive support, communities are revitalized, and degraded lands are restored to create a more sustainable and inclusive future.

Opinion: Public Restrooms Shouldn’t Be Starbucks’ Problem
The outrage over the chain’s decision to limit the use of its bathrooms should prompt more questions about why the U.S. lacks public restrooms.
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