About Marlon Boarnet
Dr. Marlon Boarnet is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the METRANS Transportation Research Consortium. METRANS is the center for transportation research at USC and has partnerships with over a dozen universities worldwide. Boarnet is a renowned authority on urban economics, urban growth patterns, transportation, and regional science. His research focuses on land use and transportation, links between land use and travel behavior and associated implications for public health and greenhouse gas emissions, urban growth patterns, and the economic impacts of transportation infrastructure.
Boarnet is a past president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (2019-2021). For twelve years, Dr. Boarnet co-edited the Journal of Regional Science, serving as managing co-editor for eight years. Dr. Boarnet has also served an associate editor of the Journal of the American Planning Association and on the editorial boards of the Journal of Planning Literature, Journal of Transport and Land Use, Papers in Regional Science, and Transport Policy.
In recognition for lifetime scholarly achievement, Dr. Boarnet is fellow of both the Regional Science Association International and the Weimer School of the Homer Hoyt Institute for Real Estate. Boarnet has acted as principal investigator on approximately 30 million dollars of funded research, supported by agencies that include the U.S. and California Departments of Transportation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Air Resources Board, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Areas of Expertise
transportation planning, land use and transportation, regional science, economic analysisSelected Publications
- Li, W., Zhong, H., & Boarnet, M. G. (2024). Effects of new transit lines on commuting: Evidence from restricted-use Census Bureau microdata. Applied Geography, 164.
- Wang, B. S., Rodnyansky, S., Boarnet, M. G., & Comandon, A. (2024). Measuring the impact of COVID-19 policies on local commute traffic: Evidence from mobile data in Northern California. Travel Behaviour and Society, 34.
- Boarnet, M. G., Shao, Q., & Pilgram, C. A. (2024). Monetary cost, time cost, and mode choice: Transit and ridehailing in California. Transportation Research D: Transport and the Environment, 130.
Recent Courses Taught
PPD 523, Urban Economics with International Applications
PPDE 634, Land Use and Transportation
PPD 245, The Urban Context
Professor, Director USC METRANS Consortium