CURRENT PROJECTS/EVENTS

UCLA Complete Streets for California 2012 Conference: March 2, 2012 Kyoto Grand Hotel, Downtown Los Angeles 

The second UCLA Complete Streets conference will present speakers from academia and practice to share observations and findings about recent accomplishments and explore new research and complete streets implementation examples.  As the support behind the complete streets movement continues to evolve, exemplary on-the-ground projects are steadily growing in strength and in numbers.  What are recent accomplishments that have made appearances on the horizon of this movement, how have these efforts fared in their objectives to redefine and repurpose streets as public spaces?  What are promising new approaches and strategies for implementing complete and living streets in California and in the U.S.?  

For more information, including  detailed agenda and presentations  from the conference, please click here to visit the event site. 

Parklets for Los Angeles

Project funded by the Gilbert Foundation 

The Complete Streets Initiative will create a ‘Parklet Toolkit’ as the first phase of this Gilbert Foundation supported project. The toolkit will assist cities, including Los Angeles, interested in best practices and provide practical guidance for the development of small-scale parks. The second phase, conducted in collaboration with the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council (DLANC), will construct and implement a demonstration parklet in Downtown Los Angeles. This demonstration parklet will provide a free opportunity for exercise in this park poor, low income community. In the third and final phase of this Gilbert Foundation funded project, the UCLA Complete Streets Initiative will evaluate the demonstration parklet, through examining what worked and what could be improved for future projects. The toolkit and evaluation report will be posted on this site once finalized. 

Mobility, Safety, and Health Performance Metrics for the City of Los Angeles

In collaboration with Ryan Snyder Associates and LA County Department of Public Health: RENEW

This project is to develop a set of key performance metrics for the City of Los Angeles. The purpose of this effort is to inventory available data, inventory data that is not available and create a series of benchmarks, metrics and goals which can be used to measure progress on active transportation and related health metrics. Findings will be presented to high-ranking city officials, and city staff in agencies such as Department of City Planning, City Council, Department of Transportation and the Mayor’s office. The final report will be posted on this site once finalized. 

PAST PROJECTS/EVENTS

UCLA Complete Streets for Los Angles 2011 Conference 

In February 2011, the Luskin and Lewis Centers hosted the “Complete Streets for Los Angeles” conference. This conference was targeted towards city planners, developers, engineers, advocates and health professionals. The speakers and materials sought to engage the audience while learning about the latest research, policy and implementation strategies and opportunities for complete streets projects and policies. Over 300 people attended this successful event, and it began a dialogue about potentially hosting a research initiative focused specifically on complete streets within the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. For a detailed agenda, please click here. 

Model Design Manual for Living Streets

In collaboration with Ryan Snyder Associates and LA County Department of Public Health: RENEW

This manual is a comprehensive document written by leading experts from across the United States in transportation planning, architecture and engineering, and funded by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health which details how to design living streets. The manual outlines bicycle and pedestrian design features as well as thinking about streets as vital public places that support healthy mobility, human interactions, and ecological processes among other needs. This manual is a resource for cities looking to update their existing standards and for other community organizations to better understand the options available for improving streets in their community.

The manual has been extremely well received with over 4,000 downloads to date. The manual has been presented at: American Planning Association California chapter conference, US Department of Transportation, Walk 21, with an upcoming presentation at the National American Planning Association conference in Los Angeles. 

To download the manual, please click here.

ABOUT THE INITIATIVE

The UCLA Complete Streets Initiative is a Luskin School of Public Affairs-wide program working to achieve more livable and complete streets for people in the Los Angeles region. Complete streets enable people to travel safely regardless of their transportation mode, ability or age. The Initiative expands beyond complete streets to also encompass living streets concepts in street design in areas such as, street-water management, landscaping and fostering vibrant economic development.  The program works achieve our goals through creating decision support tools for our community stakeholders and civic partners, promoting education opportunities, public outreach and research. Our approach is cross-disciplinary requiring input from academics and professionals within urban planning, public health, architecture, engineering, safety and economic development, among others.The Complete Streets Initiative is supported by the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, the Luskin Center for Innovation and the Dean’s Office of the Luskin School of Public Affairs. 

ABOUT THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Madeline Brozen is the Program Director of the UCLA Complete Streets Initiative. Her background is in transportation planning, non-motorized transportation, GIS and applied research. Prior to working with the Complete Streets Initiative, Madeline worked for the NASA DEVELOP Program performing applied earth science research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and Stennis Space Center, outside of New Orleans. During her time in Los Angeles, Madeline worked for Ryan Snyder Associates as an assistant transportation planner on Safe Routes to School and Bicycle/Pedestrian Master plans. Madeline is a long time cyclist and public transit user and her interest in complete streets projects and policy stems from her love of having a variety of transportation options available.

Madeline holds a M.A in Urban Planning from UCLA, where she focused on transportation planning. She also holds a B.S in Urban Studies from the University of New Orleans where she focused on GIS and Remote Sensing. Madeline is a two-time scholarship winner from WTS-LA. She also received the Outstanding Student Award from the University of New Orleans and an award for Service to the Community from the UCLA Urban Planning Faculty.

Madeline can be reached by phone at (424) 255-8737 or e-mail at MBrozen@publicaffairs.ucla.edu