Climate Change, Urbanization How Climate-Proofing Mass Transit Can Make Cities More Equitable

Perry World House Visiting Scholar Jesse Keenan is quoted in this article from Bloomberg.

With commuters slowly coming back and Congress considering a major infusion of cash for public transportation, mass-transit operators suddenly have a rare moment to invest for the future. But looking out over a sea of dire problems—including aging infrastructure, a backlog of repairs and the need to rebuild ridership in a Covid-scarred world—how is a system manager to decide what to tackle first?

Researchers using an in-depth case study of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority in Boston have come up with an equation to prioritize repairs...

Jesse Keenan, a professor at Tulane University and a co-author of the report, said that cities have historically approached infrastructure management from an engineering perspective, which means hardening the system’s weakest points against catastrophic events. To social scientists, however, resilience means ensuring that the most vulnerable communities will continue to be served. The goal of this latest paper is to help city managers balance both.

“It's critically important to prioritize the needs of historically marginalized communities,” Keenan said. Not only do they make up “a mountain of the ridership,” they’re also hurt the most when the system fails, “even for just an hour or two. That’s lost wages and extra childcare costs,” he said.

Read more in Bloomberg >>