Micah Wilcox

Micah Wilcox is a second-year Master of Urban and Regional Planning student. He received his bachelor’s degree in sociology and environmental and urban studies from the University of Chicago in 2023, and served as a 2023-24 Executive Fellow, a Cal State Sacramento program for aspiring public servants in California. He was born and raised in Ventura, and he enjoys spending time in a good cafe, exploring cities by bicycle and writing about urban planning.

Project Overview

Over the past decade, Los Angeles voters and elected officials have repeatedly expressed support for “active transportation” like walking, biking, scootering or using a wheelchair, i.e. any mode of transportation other than cars, buses and trains. Despite widespread popularity, funding and policy support, the four government bodies responsible for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure — Bureau of Street Services (StreetsLA), Bureau of Engineering, Department of Transportation (LADOT) and LA Metro — have struggled to collectively deliver and maintain that infrastructure. My applied planning research project investigates how we can better organize the planning, funding, delivery and maintenance of active transportation infrastructure in Los Angeles by identifying and adopting best practices from other cities.

Why is this topic, specifically, important to you?

In every city in which I have lived, I’ve relied on good, safe, and widespread pedestrian and cycling infrastructure to access opportunities –– whether to attend classes, get to work or simply explore my community. From experience, I can say that walking, biking or using an electric scooter ranges from uncomfortable to dangerous in much of Los Angeles, including along Westwood Boulevard. I became a planner to help communities achieve more sustainable and equitable outcomes. I see identifying best practices to improve project delivery for active transportation infrastructure across Los Angeles as the best way to apply what I have learned.

Who are the partners involved in this project and how will you be working with them?

My client is Hilary Norton, executive director of FASTLinkDTLA, a transportation management organization in Downtown Los Angeles and a co-founder of the Festival Trail, an organization advocating to connect Olympic and Paralympic venues via shared-use paths. I will work with her to connect with longtime active transportation advocates to better understand previous struggles delivering projects in Los Angeles. By helping move projects forward, I will familiarize myself with the existing barriers to active transportation project delivery that my project seeks to address.

How do you hope that this project will impact the field moving forward?

I hope that my project will provide momentum for reforms that improve active transportation infrastructure across the entire city.