ABSTRACT
Concern over climate change has encouraged urban planners to develop environmental sustainability policies and projects that are transforming cities in fundamental ways. Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) projects fall within this category as they curve automobile dependence, lessen carbon emissions, and spur more dense housing and commercial development around transit hubs. This chapter weaves the activist narrative stories of three Chicana neighborhood leaders who transformed sustainable TOD projects to encourage community benefits in their neighborhoods. We analyze how gender and ethnic identity played an essential role in helping these women gain more capacity to influence and transform the projects. These TOD projects encouraged links to social and educational services, supported locally owned retail, and built Chicano/a culturally appropriate public spaces. The barrios examined in this study include the Fruitvale in Oakland, Boyle Heights, and Barrio Logan in San Diego, which are historically important Latino/a neighborhood. We analyze how these Chicana neighborhood activists were influenced by the Chicano/a movement, how they became involved in urban planning issues, and, finally, how each TOD changed to encompass more community benefits. These Chicanas increased their capacity to participate and pressured the city and developers. The narrative stories help to conceptually and empirically ground the larger structural barriers that create inequitable and racially segregated neighborhoods. They also demonstrate how Chicana activists increased their capacity for participation to challenge and pushed back against those projects to make their neighborhoods more environmentally sustainable.
