In metropolitan regions across the country, residents face constrained, expensive housing markets and rising income inequality. Middle- and high-income households are beginning to seek more affordable housing in accessible neighborhoods with traditionally lower rents and proximity to jobs and transportation. Many low-income households are simply unable to secure affordable rents. As neighborhoods change and housing demand shifts, landlords are presented with a new set of financial prospects. Displacement and evictions are central components of this changing landscape, altering the geography of race and class across regions. Recent studies have found a spike in evictions in San Mateo County, disproportionately affecting people of color.

There is relatively little research on the impacts of displacement on households, individuals, and communities. Existing research has shown that evictions negatively affect the health, quality of life, and economic outlook for households, often with long-term consequences. This study contributes to this small but growing body of research, with results specific to local Bay Area conditions. We assess the relationship between displacement and housing costs and quality, commutes, neighborhood location and quality, mental and physical health, and healthcare access. We completed in-depth phone surveys with 100 primarily low-income tenants who received services from Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (CLSEPA), which serves low-income communities in San Mateo County. Survey respondents live in and/or were displaced from San Mateo County communities. These surveys provide a window into the consequences of displacement for households in the San Francisco Bay Area, with implications for researchers and policymakers both locally and across the nation.

A tale of two cities. The Mason-Dixon line. The Berlin Wall. Fresnans have evoked a variety of metaphors to describe the spatial divide between the rich, clean and white neighborhoods in the north and the southern areas housing the poor, polluting industries and communities of color that has characterized urban development in the city since its inception. The narrative explaining this spatial inequality has been remarkably consistent over time - sprawl fueled by aggressive developers, corrupt city councilmen and the market pushed the city limits ever farther northeast, abandoning the older neighborhoods to the south where the poor and immigrant communities settled and were too disorganized to counter the government's neglect.

The spatial concentration of the poor, people of color and unwanted land uses can be seen in cities around the country and is identified by public health scholars to be a key driver of the disparities in health between racial and socio-economic groups. City governments are increasingly returning to their core and investing in New Urbanist and Smart Growth strategies to transform these older, more densely developed neighborhoods as the drive for environmental sustainability, walkable neighborhoods, and the attraction of creative urban residents grows. The potential effects of such efforts on the health and wellbeing of the existing residents, however, remains under explored. This dissertation asks if and how the new planning paradigms that use public health as a goal and organizing principle significantly change planning practice and lead to the re-distribution of environmental risks and resources to reduce health disparities? I investigate this question through three case studies of in Fresno a) a downtown revitalization plan, b) the general plan update, and c) a foundation based community development effort to increase the power of South Fresno residents to engage in planning.

Following a year of fieldwork I find that everyone is talking about healthy neighborhoods, however for whom and how to achieve them appear to be quite different. While community groups seek to improve the living conditions of the poor residents of South Fresno and ensure their ability to stay in a revitalized downtown, planners are focusing on attracting wealthier residents and actively avoiding any talk about equity, affordable housing and public investment. Thus, although health seems to be providing a unifying framework in terms of a vision for the physical environment, it does not ultimately resolve the inherent tensions between community and economic development.

Regions across the United States have developed sustainability plans and programs funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI). In California, this grant overlapped with a state mandate for regional sustainability planning, SB 375, legislation charging regions with developing long-range sustainability plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Regional agencies lead sustainability planning efforts, yet little is known about how effective and equitable regions are in their engagement with sustainability planning. We examined how three federally funded SCI projects in California incorporate social equity and explore the process and outcomes. We focus on the conditions under which regional collaboration is most conducive to incorporating equity. We found that equity approaches vary greatly by region and are as much about process as product. Networks of information sharing, trust and relationships in regions awarded SCI grants have increased. However, regional sustainability planning processes are not without conflict as participants maneuver though historic institutional challenges.