Inclusion, exclusion, and discrimination, the law of infrastructure: a historical perspective and a path forward

I briefly describe selected law and policy on infrastructure with a special focus on equity, inclusion, and discrimination. I begin with a short historical overview, from early periods of clear discrimination to reforms in the last decades. We will then discuss ways engineers, planners, transportation specialists, and lawyers can hold themselves accountable to society, and discuss solutions to increasing equity and promoting social justice. Cases include urban freeways, waste facilities, open spaces and parks, rail systems, and others.

Joseph F.C. DiMento, PhD, JD. is Distinguished Professor of Law, and of business, transportation science, and planning at the University of California Irvine. His areas of research and teaching are urban planning and land use and international and domestic environmental law. He is the author or co-author of fourteen books, including with Cliff Ellis, Changing Lanes, Visions and Histories of Urban Freeways, MIT Press 2013; with Alexis Hickman, Environmental Governance of the Great Seas: Law and Effect, EE, 2012; with Pamela Doughman, ed. Climate Change, What it Means for Us, Our Children and our Grandchildren, MIT, 2nd ed. 2014. He has written and lectured on infrastructure of many kinds including urban freeways. He is a board member of the UCI Law Center on Land, Natural Resources and the Environment and the Newkirk Center for Science and Society which he directed for nine years.