| Abstract: | Metropolitan regions in the U.S. are increasingly turning to public transit to address the serious problems of air pollution and traffic congestion. But they may not be capable of simultaneously luring suburban commuters out of their cars while maintaining good access to dispersing metropolitan opportunities for people who cannot drive. After an expensive rail rapid transit system to the suburbs was built in Los Angeles, a grassroots citizen movement used a civil rights lawsuit to force policymakers to meet the needs of poor, minority bus riders in the inner city. This article demonstrates a link between politics and planning by first identifying the crucial political changes, using a model from social movement theory, then examining how planning skills were used by citizen activists when they induced these changes. It suggests a new direction for equity planning, in which practice is based in community institutions acting as a complement to government planning. |
