Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Regional planning may require a better understanding of multijurisdictional planning and equity within intergovernmental context. This research explores how intergovernmental context and metropolitan planning organization (MPO) activities impact rail proposals for low-income and minority communities. In two case studies, Boston and Miami, other government agencies determined the projects within MPO plans. In Boston, however, advocates leveraged agreements and federal rules to secure rail, and the MPO has developed extensive equity analyses. The cases exemplify the fiscal paradox that MPOs face—they have fiscally constrained plans but control little funding. Findings indicate the need to better relate multijurisdictional planning ambitions to intergovernmental context.

Keywords

environmental justice transportation metropolitan planning organizations equity regional planning

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Anderson

1984, May 20. “Other Transit Projects Will Ride on Metrorail’s Success.” The Miami Herald, p. 21A.

Charite

2008. “North Corridor Moves Forward—At Last.” Miami Times, May 7, p. 1A, 5A.

CLF (Conservation Law Foundation). 2005. “Notice of Intent to Sue under 42 USC 7604.” January 12. Boston, MA: CLF. http://www.clf.org/work/HCEJ/bostonpublictransitcommitments/docs/2005-1-12.pdf (accessed September 23, 2010).

CTPS (Central Transportation Planning Staff). 2009. “Journey to 2030-Amendment: Transportation Plan of the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization.” Boston, MA: Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization. http://www.ctps.org/bostonmpo/3_programs/1_transportation_plan/plan.html (accessed September 23).

Deakin

2007. “Equity and Environmental Justice in Sustainable Transportation: Toward a Research Agenda.” In Institutions and Sustainable Transport: Regulatory Reform in Advanced Economies, edited by Rietveld

Stough

R. R.

, 51–69. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Edner

McDowell

B. D.

2002. “Surface-Transportation Funding in a New Century: Assessing One Slice of the Federal Marble Cake.” Publius 32 (1): 7–24.

FHWA (Federal Highway Administration). 1998. “[TEA-21] Fact Sheet: Metropolitan Planning.” http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/tea21/factsheets/metropln.htm (accessed June 15, 2013).

FHWA (Federal Highway Administration). 2005. “[SAFETEA-LU] Fact Sheets on Highway Provisions: Metropolitan Planning.” http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/tea21/factsheets/metropln.htm (accessed June 15, 2013).

FHWA & FTA (Federal Highway Administration & Federal Transit Administration). 1999. Memorandum—Action: Implementing Title VI Requirements in Metropolitan and Statewide Planning. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/ejustice/ej-10-7.htm (accessed September 21, 2010).

10.

FHWA & FTA (Federal Highway Administration & Federal Transit Administration). 2004. 2004 Certification Report Miami Urbanized Area: Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade Metropolitan Planning Organizations. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation.

11.

FHWA & FTA (Federal Highway Administration & Federal Transit Administration). 2007. 2007 Certification Report Miami Urbanized Area: Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade Metropolitan Planning Organizations. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation.

12.

Frug

Barron

2008. Citybound: How States Stifle Urban Innovation. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

13.

Gannett Fleming. 2009. Miami-Dade 2035 Long-Range Transportation Plan: Final Report. Miami, FL: Metropolitan Planning Organization for Miami-Dade County.

14.

GAO (Government Accountability Office). 2009. Metropolitan Planning Organizations: Options Exist to Enhance to Enhance Transportation Planning Capacity Federal Oversight. GAO-09-868. Washington, DC: GAO.

15.

Goldman

2007. “Transportation Tax Ballot Initiatives as Regional Planning Processes.” Transportation Research Record 1997:9–16.

16.

Goldman

Deakin

2000. “Regionalism through Partnerships? Metropolitan Planning Since ISTEA.” Berkeley Planning Journal 14:46–75.

17.

González

Healey

2005. “A Sociological Institutionalist Approach to the Study of Innovation in Governance Capacity.” Urban Studies 42 (11): 2055–69.

18.

Hall

P. A.

Taylor

R. C. R.

1996. “Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms.” Political Studies 44:936–57.

19.

Harrison

2006. “Re-reading the New Regionalism: A Sympathetic Critique.” Space and Polity 10 (1): 21–46.

20.

Healey

1999. “Institutionalist Analysis, Communicative Planning and Shaping Places.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 19:111–21.

21.

Healey

2006. “Transforming Governance: Challenges of Institutional Adaptation and a New Politics of Space.”European Planning Studies 14 (3): 299–320.

22.

Innes

J. E.

Gruber

2005. “Planning Styles in Conflict: The Metropolitan Transportation Commission.” Journal of the American Planning Association 71 (2): 177–88.

23.

Katz

Puentes

Bernstein

2005. “Getting Transportation Right for Metropolitan America.” In Taking the High Road: A Metropolitan Agenda for Transportation Reform, 15–44. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.

24.

Kladko

2006. “Commuter Rail at a Crossroads.” The Boston Globe, January 22, p. 18.

25.

Laurian

Day

Berke

Ericksen

Backhurst

Crawford

Dixon

2004. “Evaluating Plan Implementation—A Conformance-Based Methodology.” Journal of the American Planning Association 70 (4): 471–80.

26.

Lebowitz

2008. “Off the Tracks?” The Miami Herald, March 18, p. 1.

27.

Lewis

P. G.

1996. Shaping Suburbia: How Political Institutions Organize Urban Development. Philadelphia: University of Pittsburgh Press.

28.

Luberoff

Altshuler

1996. Mega-project: A Political History of Boston’s Multibillion Dollar Artery/Tunnel Project. Cambridge, MA: Taubman Center for State and Local Government, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

29.

March

2010. “Practicing Theory: When Theory Affects Urban Planning.” Planning Theory 9 (2): 108–25.

30.

Marin

Terrell

2005. MBTA’s Silver Line: Taxpayers Get Less for More. Boston, MA: Sierra Club. http://www.sierraclubmass.org/issues/conservation/silverline/slreport.pdf (accessed October 30, 2010).

31.

McDowell

B. D.

1984. “The Metropolitan Planning Organization Role in the 1980s.” Journal of Advanced Transportation 18 (2): 125–33.

32.

Miami-Dade MPO. 2010. “Title VI Report.” https://skydrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=CB30042F1B5FAF4F!1969&app=WordPdf (accessed October 16, 2013).

33.

MDT (Miami-Dade County Transit). 2009. Transit Development Plan FY 2010 to 2019. Miami, FL: MDT.

34.

Moroni

2010. “An Evolutionary Theory of Institutions and a Dynamic Approach to Reform.” Planning Theory 9 (4): 275–97.

35.

Offices of Geographic Information (MassGIS), Executive Office for Administration and Finance, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 2003. “2000 US Census-Environmental Justice Populations.” http://www.mass.gov/anf/research-and-tech/it-serv-and-support/application-serv/office-of-geographic-information-massgis/datalayers/cen2000ej.html.

36.

PACT (People Action for Community Together). (n.d.). Untitled. Miami, FL: PACT. miamipact.org/nehemiah-assembly.html (accessed January 8, 2014).

37.

Peterson

S. A.

Rasmussen

Kaplan

B. L.

2007. “An Environmental Justice Assessment of the Transportation System: How the Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization Examines Equity in the Planning Process.” On conference CD for the 2008th 87th Annual Meeting of TRB in Washington, DC.

38.

Rast

2006. “Environmental Justice and the New Regionalism.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 25 (3): 249–63.

39.

RITA (Research and Innovative Technology Administration). 2011. “Metropolitan Planning Organizations [zip file] from Transportation Atlas Database.” http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_atlas_database/2011/index.html(accessed June 15, 2013).

40.

Ross

2002. “Penelas: Tax Key to Mass Transit.” The Miami Herald, January 31, 1B.

41.

Sanchez

T. W.

Brenman

, with Ma

J. S.

Stolz

R. H.

2007. The Right to Transportation: Moving to Equity. Chicago, IL: Planners Press, American Planning Association.

42.

Sciara

G.-C.

2012. “Planning for Unplanned Pork.” Journal of the American Planning Association 78 (3): 239–55.

43.

Sciara

G.-C.

Wachs

2007. “Metropolitan Transportation Funding.” Public Works Management & Policy 12 (1): 378–94.

44.

Scott

J. W.

2007. “Smart Growth as Urban Reform: A Pragmatic ‘Recoding’ of the New Regionalism.” Urban Studies 44 (1): 15–35.

45.

Solof

1998. History of Metropolitan Planning Organizations. Newark, NJ: North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. http://www.njtpa.org/pub/report/hist_mpo/documents/MPOhistory1998.pdf (accessed June 24, 2013).

46.

Taylor

B. D.

Schweitzer

2005. “Assessing the Experience of Mandated Collaborative Inter-Jurisdictional Transport Planning in the United States.” Transport Policy 12 (6): 500–11.

47.

TCRP (Transit Cooperative Research Program). 2008. “Civil Rights Implications of the Allocation of Funds between Bus and Rail.” Legal Research Digest 27.

48.

Teitz

2007. “Planning and the New Institutionalisms.” In Institutions and Planning, edited by Verma

, 17–36. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

49.

U.S. Census Bureau, 2000. Decennial census, Summary File 1.

50.

U.S. Census Bureau, 2006-2008 American Community Survey. 2008a. “Fact Sheet. Somerville City [Boston City].” factfinder.census.gov (accessed October 28, 2010).

51.

U.S. Census Bureau, 2006-2008 American Community Survey. 2008b. Demographic profiles. factfinder.census.gov (accessed July 9, 2013).

52.

Viglucci

2002. “Is Tax the Best Idea for Fixing Transit?” The Miami Herald, October 27, p. 1B.

53.

Weir

Rongerude

Ansell

C. K.

2009. “Collaboration Is Not Enough: Virtuous Cycles of Reform in Transportation Policy.” Urban Affairs Review 44 (4): 455–89.

54.

Wheeler

2002. “Key Characteristics of an Emerging Movement.” Journal of the American Planning Association 68 (3): 267–78.

55.

Wolf

J. F.

Farquhar

M. B.

2005. “Assessing Progress: The State of Metropolitan Planning Organizations under ISTEA and TEA-21.” International Journal of Public Administration 28:1057–1079.

56.

Yin

R. K.

2003. Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

57.

Zoller

T. D.

Capizzano

J. A.

1997. Evolution and Devolution: A National Perspective on the Changing Role of Metropolitan Planning Organizations in Areawide Intermodal Planning. Charlottesville, VA: Virginia Transportation Research Council.

Bypassing Equity? Transit Investment and Regional Transportation Planning

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References