Academic Journal Archives - Center for Cities + Schools

Empowerment as Prevention: How Youth-Driven Initiatives Transform Frameworks for Change

Youth-led action research has significantly influenced local and statewide policies aimed at supporting students experiencing homelessness in California. This study employs a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) methodology, summarizing five years of research conducted by high school student cohorts and UC Berkeley graduate students to examine effective strategies for preventing and addressing student homelessness. The…

Creating Coherence: Building a Home for Students Experiencing Homelessness in California’s Community Schools

Investing in Youth as Community Leaders

The Personal is Pedagogical: Student-led Learning Builds College and Career Skills and Community

Oakland High School: Student Agency, Partnership, and Dignity

BluePrints for Hope: Engaging Children as Critical Actors in Urban Place Making

Third- and fourth-grade elementary school students have been contributing their ideas to the redevelopment of their community in San Francisco, using a methodology known as Y-PLAN (Youth-PlanLearn-Act, Now!). This article explains the process and describes the ideas the children have come up with – and how key areas and insights are being incorporated into the…

Social Enterprise for Learning: A Replicable Model of Service Learning and Civic Engagement

Many schools offer service learning—community service linked to classroom studies—to help students become more effective participants in a democratic society. Different forms of service learning combine various amounts of discussion and analysis of social issues with engagement in activities that have real impact outside the classroom. What we call “Social Enterprise for Learning,” or SEfL,…

Public Schools as Public Infrastructure: Roles for Planning Researchers

Our nation’s public schools are important elements of public social and physical infrastructure. The quality of cities depends on the quality of schools.

Joint Use of Public Schools: A Framework for Promoting Healthy Communities

Despite the growing interest in expanding the joint use of K–12 public schools by public health and planning practitioners to promote healthy, sustainable communities, the topic has received little attention in the urban planning and public health scholarship. The objective of this article is to situate joint use in the academic literature focused on the…

The Impact of State Regulations on the Costs of Public School Construction

In this article, we measure the impacts of three public school construction regulations on the costs of construction in a model that incorporates a more comprehensive set of project and locality characteristics than previous research.

The Critical Role of Young People and Schools in Resiliency Planning

Putting Schools on the Map: Linking Transit-Oriented Development, Households with Children, and Schools

Ariel H. Bierbaum and Jeffrey M. Vincent Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Volume 2357, pgs 77-85 Transit-oriented development (TOD) remains a popular strategy to achieve environmentally sustainable infill development and auto use reduction. Typically, TOD in the United States offers retail amenities and housing catering to single individuals, childless couples, and…

Integrating Infrastructure Planning: The Role of Schools

This article discusses the ways in which schools affect urban development and transportation, acknowledging that their location, design, and physical condition may be some of the most important determinants of neighborhood vitality. As California continues to grow and the state continues to make significant investments in public school facilities, crafting a vision and strategic supporting…

School Siting and Walkability: Experience and Policy Implications in California

Vincent, Jeffrey M., Miller, Ruth, and Dillon, Lianne California Journal of Politics and Policy, vol. 9, no. 3 As California looks to implement a Health in All Policies approach into state decision making, and weave health, equity, and environmental sustainability into more policies, a better understanding of the relationship between school siting and walkability is…

Engaging Students in Transforming Their Built Environment via Y-PLAN: Lessons from Richmond, California

This field report describes how high school students from Richmond, California used an innovative educational strategy called Y-PLAN (Youth – Plan, Learn, Act, Now) to actively participate in the planning and transformation of their school, neighborhoods and city. Our description follows students through the five-step YPLAN process, highlighting how they effectively challenged the ways in…

Cultivating Inclusion: Belonging and Agency in Young Black Men through Civic Action Research

Engaging Schools in Urban Revitalization: The Y-PLAN (Youth-Plan, Learn, Act, Now!)

This article analyzes the data produced by Y-PLAN between 2000 and 2005 and demonstrates the model’s effectiveness in fostering positive community outcomes and meaningful learning experiences, as well as its theoretical implications for the planning and education fields.