Land Use Strategies

Home » Featured work » Owning Our Air » Land Use Strategies

How is air pollution tied to land development?

Despite West Oakland’s ethnically diverse beginnings, over a century of discriminatory policy and development created a racially segregated and environmentally polluted West Oakland. From government-sponsored redlining in the 1930s to freeway construction in the 1950s and urban renewal in the ’60s and ’70s, the neighborhood’s air quality today can be traced to the way land has been zoned and developed over the years.

Illustrated map of Oakland, showing West Oakland and the shoreline in red, inner Oakland in yellow and the more affluent areas in green and blue..Computer-generated map of Oakland with West Oakland and shoreline depicted in red, inner Oakland in orange, and Piedmont and outer Oakland in green.
Left map shows race-based redlining in 1937 (image: T-RACES). Right map shows cumulative impacts of environmental pollution (image: CEJA).

Explore the 35 land use strategies

Today, Owning Our Air contains 35 strategies addressing land use issues, with a particular focus on targeting industrialized sources of air pollution.

80+ strategies aim to improve air quality across West Oakland by 2030

Get updates

Are you local?
Are there specific programs you’re interested in?

Latest Steering Committee activity

Owning Our Air is overseen by a Steering Committee comprised of West Oakland residents, businesses, air quality experts, and government representatives.

Find meeting summaries and notes, recordings and agendas, and other working documents.

View activity