Category Archives: Planning

City of Quartz Panel at LitFest in the Dena 2024

Excavating the Future in Los Angeles: A Discussion of Mike Davis’s City of Quartz
Sunday, May 5, 2024, 2:00-3:00pm
LitFest in the Dena, Mountain View Mausoleum, Altadena, CA
With fellow panelists, Ivan Salinas & Mike The PoeT Sonksen

Bio:
Jonathan Pacheco Bell is a Senior Embedded Planner at 4LEAF, Inc. and Adjunct Professor of Urban Planning at Cal Poly Pomona. Born in Boyle Heights and raised in East LA and Montebello, Jonathan came up as a graffiti writer in the 90s creating art and culture on the ground. For nearly 20 years, Jonathan has worked in South Central LA building community partnerships through street-level urban planning. He turned his methods into a new form of practice called Embedded Planning – where the planner works in and from community spaces. He has guest lectured across the U.S. on bottom-up urban planning and is always searching for the next space to engage community members. In addition to teaching and practice, Jonathan serves as Vice President of the Florence-Firestone Community Organization, a 501c3 nonprofit in South Central. He is co-author of the neighborhood history book, A Paseo Through Time in Florence-Firestone. His writing has been published in Planning Magazine, Cultural Daily, UrbDeZine, and Public Libraries Quarterly. Jonathan holds a Master’s in Urban Planning from UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and proudly represents City of Pasadena as a resident in the city’s vibrant and diverse District 5.

Planners Network Disorientation Guide 2nd Edition Launch

Excited for the launch of the 2nd edition of the Planners Network Disorientation Guide. I wrote a new article on Embedded Planning Praxis for it.

Our updated Guide comes 20 years after publication of the 1st edition in 2004-05, which I read closely during my MAUP studies at UCLA Urban Planning.

Big up to editors Cara Chellew, Dr. Norma Rantisi, and peer reviewers! Stay tuned.

Reelected as Vice President of the Florence-Firestone Community Organization

With my fellow FFCO Board Members Ramsey Nicholson and Art Jones. Photo by Aditi Peyush

My fellow Board Members have reelected me to serve as Vice President of the Florence-Firestone Community Organization (501c3) in South Central LA. I greatly appreciate the Board’s vote of confidence and I’m honored to continue uplifting our neighborhood in this role.

FFCO has many wonderful things planned for community members in 2024. Our resource fairs, community food giveaways, and holiday events will continue, and we’re expanding community education programs with generous funding from our partners.

Building on last year’s Vision Zero advocacy, we’re upping our community engagement and planning service. I’m stoked to work on FFCO’s community planning initiatives, including our new public engagement partnership with Metro for the Rail to River Segment B project, community walks and bike rides, client projects with universities like CPPURP and UCLA Luskin, urban planning workshops, Embedded Planning advocacy, community assistance navigating LA County planning efforts underway, and more.

The Florence-Firestone community welcomed me with open arms when I was a “baby zoning enforcement planner” nearly 17 years ago. I figured out my life’s purpose here — as a planner and a person. I’m humbled to be an adopted FF resident serving my friends and neighbors. Thank you for the boundless support and inspiration!

Senior Project 2024 at Cal Poly Pomona

Infographic by Jonathan Pacheco Bell

I’m back this semester teaching URP 4620 Senior Project. Building on research proposals developed in 4600A, this course is independent and student-driven. I’ll be guiding the student’s research process leading to an undergraduate capstone paper, project, or design.

Check out past Senior Projects here: https://c1typlann3r.blog/category/mentee-research-and-projects/

[ Background photo by Misty Fong. A view of Downtown LA and South Central taken from the iconic pedestrian bridge over the Metro Blue Line in Florence-Firestone ]

Cited in Mike Davis Tribute

I thank Professor Genevieve Carpio for citing me in her article on Mike Davis’s enduring impact and City of Quartz. Mike lives on in us.

“Now, as a teacher, I introduce his work to my own students. As one example, with Davis’s words, I try to open my students’ eyes to how our built environment shapes what is possible and what is unlikely, or at least discouraged. I ask them to look for what he calls “Carceral Architecture”: the Twin Towers or dividers on park benches or glass smashed into walls. In this way, I’m among other educators, like Jonathan Pacheco Bell and his work on hostile architecture, who continue to draw on Davis for our pedagogical interventions, especially among future urban planners, architects, and even developers. Indeed, I think one of Davis’s greatest contributions is the ways he underscores the power of the built environment in urban processes, his attention to which has shaped a generation of urban planners and urban historians.”

Dr. Genevieve Carpio. “Mike Davis’s Enduring Impact: A Reflection on Sunshine and Noir in the Junkyard of Dreams.” 105, no. 4, Southern California Quarterly (Winter 2023): 404-408.

Let Them Eat Cake: Utilizing UBI to Empower and Preserve Local Culture

Let Them Eat Cake: Utilizing UBI to Empower and Preserve Local Culture. By: Cole Correa

Celebrating the graduates in my 2023 Senior Projects class at Cal Poly Pomona Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Today we big up this researcher:

Let Them Eat Cake: Utilizing UBI to Empower and Preserve Local Culture

By: Cole Correa

This study examines the potential role of universal basic income (UBI) in maintaining local culture and identity within cities as a response to the negative effects of supermodernity. A descriptive and correlational research design was used to collect data through an online survey of randomly selected individuals in California. The survey gathered information on respondents’ income, connection to their communities, and attitudes toward the use of UBI as a means of preserving local culture. The data was analyzed to identify correlations between these variables and to draw conclusions about the potential effectiveness of using #UBI for this purpose.

The findings suggest that there is a positive correlation between income and connection to local culture and identity, and that UBI has the potential to empower communities and support local culture. However, the study also highlights some potential limitations of using UBI in this way, including the need for careful program design and implementation to avoid unintended consequences. The study concludes by suggesting that further research is needed to explore the potential of UBI to support local culture and identity, and to identify best practices for program design and implementation. This study provides important insights into the potential role of UBI in maintaining local culture and identity within cities. The findings can inform policy and practice in this area and contribute to the growing literature on UBI as a means of addressing broader social and economic issues.

Researcher presenting at the 2023 Cal Poly Pomona Urban & Regional Planning Senior Projects Day. Photo: Jonathan Pacheco Bell

Housing Resource Fair

I’m speaking on an ADU, environmental justice, and affordable housing panel reflecting on lessons I learned doing unpermitted ADU enforcement.

Event: Napa Sonoma Collaborative Housing Resource Fair, SMART station depot, 960 E. Cotati Avenue, Cotati, CA 94931

Saturday, December 9, 2023, 9am – 12pm

FREE AND OPEN TO ALL

Mike The PoeT in URP 5120

Shout out to Mike The PoeT for being our Week 13 guest speaker in URP 5120: Planning Ideas and Action. Mike taught us writing exercises as community engagement. These are ways to get ideas on the page without overthinking. Take a few minutes and just write. For example, we all did the 5-line quick write for these prompts:

  • My style is . . .
  • I believe in . . .
  • I value . . .

Here’s mine:

My style is Embedded Planning

My style is the street

My style is Montebello

My style is more chill today than before

My style is mine

I believe in community

I believe in solidarity

I believe in organizing

I believe in LA

I believe in grass roots

I value partnerships
I value work/life balance
I value friendships
I value education
I value coming together

Navigating the Nexus Panel

Shout out to Cal Poly Pomona students in URP 5400 for organizing the panel, “Navigating the Nexus: Politics, Planning, and Policy.”

I enjoyed sharing space with fellow panelists and students.

We shared stories, reflections, and tactics for navigating the politics of planning.

I got the chance to talk with a new audience about Embedded Planning as a method to bridge the theory/practice gap.

Voices of the Streets: The Lived Experiences of Street Vendors in the Community of Florence-Firestone

Voices of the Streets: The Lived Experiences of Street Vendors in the Community of Florence-Firestone. By: Sergio Saldana

Celebrating the graduates in my 2023 Senior Projects class at Cal Poly Pomona Department of Urban & Regional Planning. Today we big up this researcher:

Voices of the Streets: The Lived Experiences of Street Vendors in the Community of Florence-Firestone

By: Sergio Saldaña

Abstract: The street vendors in Florence-Firestone, an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County, have been left alone by County entities and enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy. However, this has also led to neglect on the part of the County towards the street vending community. Despite the existence of resources to help street vendors with issues such as rent relief, food, and public safety, the County has failed to address these concerns. Qualitative research in the form of in-person surveys was conducted with street vendors and sheds light on this community’s lived experiences. While street vendors appreciate the County’s hands-off approach, the lack of attention from the County has resulted in many problems for street vendors. Many of them struggle to make ends meet and need assistance. They also face public safety concerns, such as the risk of theft or harassment while working on the street.

Based on interview data from street vendors in Florence-Firestone, the County should take a more proactive role in addressing the concerns of the street vendors. The data derived from this study can play an essential part in helping County officials understand the needs and desires of street vendors by knowing their struggles. To give insight into challenges faced by street vendors as well as areas where they may require additional support, County officials can create an actionable plan to support street vending activity more effectively in future. This data can be used to assist officials with addressing regulatory issues preventing street vendors from succeeding. Officials can take measures such as providing education and guidance on compliance or revising regulations to be more vendor friendly. In the culmination of this paper, it is recommended that the County update the Florence-Firestone Community Plan with a new section addressing the concerns of street vendors and direct them towards available resources that may help.

Researcher presenting at the 2023 Cal Poly Pomona Urban & Regional Planning Senior Projects Day. Photo: Jonathan Pacheco Bell

What’s Theory Got To Do With It?

Originally written in 2004 in my first year at UCLA Urban Planning, unearthed in my mom’s garage in Montebello in 2019, edited in Pasadena and poolside in Las Vegas in June 2022 and June 2023, final edits in Pasadena in July 2023, and now published as the first entry in my overdue Student Papers Archive series on Medium:

“What’s Theory Got to Do With It? An Examination of the Utility of Planning Theory in Planning Practice.”

Article: https://c1typlann3r.medium.com/planning-theory-and-planning-practice-d4bf60a61146

Female Perceptions of Parking Safety at the First/Last Mile: An Analysis of Cal Poly Pomona

Female Perceptions of Parking Safety at the First/Last Mile: An Analysis of Cal Poly Pomona. By: Nikole J. Sanchez & Jaden R. Oloresisimo

Celebrating the graduates in my 2023 Senior Projects class at Cal Poly Pomona Department of Urban & Regional Planning. Today we big up this team:

Female Perceptions of Parking Safety at the First/Last Mile: An Analysis of Cal Poly Pomona

By: Nikole J. Sanchez & Jaden R. Oloresisimo

Abstract: This research studies women’s perspective of safety by analyzing women’s fear of victimization at the first/last mile. The first/last mile refers to the very first and last distance of a traveler’s journey such as an automobile driver’s distance from their car to their building and their building back to their car. Research has found that women endure greater fear of victimization than men at the first/last mile due to varying levels of vulnerability, the continuity of violence, and perceived risk caused by the physical conditions of transportation infrastructure. The greater opportunity there is for hidden danger, the greater the perception of lack of safety, the perception of vulnerability, and the fear of victimization.

This research focuses on learning and engaging with women’s perceptions of safety (compared to men’s) in college campus parking. Using Cal Poly Pomona as a case study, this research follows a quantitative methodology through surveys addressing physical and non-physical variables known to impact women’s fear of victimization. The overall goal of this research is to recognize which variables are most impactful to women’s fear of victimization and to create women-endorsed solutions that negate women’s fear.

Research team presenting at the 2023 Cal Poly Pomona Urban & Regional Planning Senior Projects Day. Photo: Jonathan Pacheco Bell

Embedded Planning at APA CA Conference 2023

At the APA California Conference in Fresno, I spoke in the session “A Community Driven Vision and Plan.” I discussed how #EmbeddedPlanning helped the Del Amo Action Committee develop its own bottom-up Vision Plan for unincorporated West Carson, an #EnvironmentalJustice community in Los Angeles County.

Summary:
The Del Amo Community Vision Plan is a remarkable document. This is a project of the Del Amo Action Committee (DAAC) with initial funding by the Rose Foundation, Center for Health, Environment and Justice and California Environmental Protection Agency. It was entirely community led.

Input was gathered from community residents and agency partners over the course of 20 months with the hope that the efforts would set this vision into motion.

The Community Vision Plan was documented with hard work and endless meetings of the community core group members (Bruce Bansen, DAAC Youth Volunteers, Don and Mary Garstang, Jan Kalani, Margaret Manning, Cynthia Medina, Savannah Medina, Rosa and Mary Vega, and University of Dominguez Hills Interns, DAAC staff and board members: Cynthia Babich, Brenda Bibee, Florence Gharibian, Jan Kalani and Lydia Valdez).

All planners can learn from this community-driven effort.

Speakers:
➖Cynthia Babich, Del Amo Action Committee
➖Andrew Flores, AICP, LA County Department of Regional Planning
➖Jonathan Pacheco Bell, 4LEAF, Inc.
➖Christian Mendez, Kearns & West

The Effectiveness of Cooling Centers During an Extreme Heat Event

The Effectiveness of Cooling Shelters During an Extreme Heat Event. By: Anushka Kargathara & Bailey Wong

Celebrating the graduates in my 2023 Senior Projects class at Cal Poly Pomona Department of Urban & Regional Planning 🎉 Today we big up this team:

The Effectiveness of Cooling Shelters During an Extreme Heat Event (Winner of the First Place Award 🥇 for Senior Project Poster!)

By: Anushka Kargathara & Bailey Wong

Abstract: Extreme heat is one of the growing causes of mortality in the nation with temperatures surpassing 120˚F. Extreme heat (temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit and 32 degrees Celsius) links an inequitable distribution of heat resources. During hot summer months, specifically June through August, heat negatively affects lower-income and communities of color and causes fatigue, dehydration, and respiratory illnesses due to environmental changes in air quality.

This research aims to analyze how heat impacts vulnerable populations in San Bernardino County, California, that do not have access to proper cooling methods, and what methods, if any, they use to keep cool. Knowledge of cooling shelters was tested through voluntary survey participation at San Bernardino County shopping malls to help local city governments broaden cooling shelter resources and gauge residential knowledge about their existence. Data collected showed an urgent need for improvement in the accessibility and promotion of local resources and equitable distribution focusing on lower-income communities.

Currently, resources are not readily available to residents and need to be accessible in both English and Spanish to ensure health communication equity to all population groups in San Bernardino County. Creating heat intensity awareness to prepare cities and planners to dispense correct and adequate resources is recommended to promote social cohesion and resident well-being during bouts of extreme heat.

Research team presenting at the 2023 Cal Poly Pomona Urban & Regional Planning Senior Projects Day. Photo: Jonathan Pacheco Bell