COVID-19 has reshaped people’s mobility patterns worldwide (Arellana et al., 2020; Hensher et al., 2021; Orro et al., 2020; Park, 2020), including in the US (Brough et al., 2021; Ehsani et al., 2021; Hu and Chen, 2021; Kim and Kwan, 2021; Liu et al., 2020). Public transit and transportation network companies (TNCs) were hit particularly hard (Du and Rakha, 2020; Khatun and Saphores, 2023). For example, San Francisco experienced a staggering 94% drop in transit ridership during the lockdown (Toussaint, 2020), and an 87% drop in Uber trips in April-May 2020 compared to early 2020 (Brown and Williams, 2023). 

Many public policies that aim to reduce solo driving, congestion, and vehicle emissions, and increase walking, biking, and shared mobility are based on pre-pandemic travel behaviors. However, higher levels of working from home, streaming, e-shopping, and micro-mobility options post-pandemic have changed travel behavior. How does post-pandemic household travel patterns differ from their pre-pandemic values? Do the policies and plans that aim to advance California’s mobility, environmental, and equity goals warrant review and possible amendment? The purpose of this project is to answer these questions and to analyze the potential impacts of changes in household travel on the California Transportation Plan 2050.

In recent decades, common-interest housing developments have become prevalent in many American cities. According to the Community Associations Institute’s 2021 estimates, nearly 30% of the U.S. population now lives in a development or area governed by a community association, with homeowners associations being the most common type. Despite the widespread presence of homeowners associations (HOAs), there has been limited research on how they impact the adoption of new mobility technologies, innovative urban neighborhood designs, and sustainable land use and transportation initiatives. HOAs and similar community governing bodies have the authority to impose additional restrictions on community activities, which has often led to them being perceived as obstacles to achieving a more environmentally friendly and inclusive future. While this perception is grounded in reality, it doesn’t fully account for the significant variation in how HOAs operate. This perspective also hinders innovative thinking about how HOAs could contribute to creating more sustainable communities. Exploring ways to engage these influential entities in pursuing various planning objectives is crucial.

This project will improve the collective understanding of how HOAs and other community associations impact sustainable land use and transportation. The researchers will achieve this by: i) creating an integrated geospatial database that includes information about HOAs, land uses (including Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs), and transportation indicators, ii) investigating the relationship between the presence or absence of HOAs and factors such as ADU construction, travel patterns, and the built environment, and iii) identifying best practices and extracting lessons from successful cases.