Evelyn Blumenberg, associate professor and vice chair of urban planning at the UCLA School of Public Affairs, researches the effects of urban structure, employment, services and the spatial location of residents on economic outcomes for low-wage workers. She is an authority on the role of planning and policy in shaping the spatial structure of cities.

 

Blumenberg has investigated the relationship between the spatial structure of urban areas and economic equality; gender issues and U.S. local economic development planning; neighborhood economies and welfare dynamics; welfare recipients and the California labor market; and interagency collaboration in the context of welfare reform.

 

Her current research examines the role of transportation in facilitating the welfare-to-work transition and how institutions respond to major policy shifts such as welfare reform. Blumenberg is currently conducting a statewide transportation needs assessment of welfare recipients and the poor for the California Department of Transportation.