Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Road Ecology Course And Seminar Series, Mark D. Sytsma

TREC Final Reports

The American road network is a major economic investment that is a major organizing force for human activity. The road system has profoundly altered ecological processes and, as a result, it is also an important organizing force for ecosystems. Understanding the ecological consequences of road system design and use is critical to effective engineering and management of road systems to minimize impacts. I propose a new course within Environmental Science and Resources at PSU that will expose upper division undergraduate and graduate students to the fundamental concepts of road ecology through discussion, guest speakers, and field trips. I propose a …

City Club Report On Ballot Measure 63; City Club Report On Ballot Measure 65, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

City Club Report On Ballot Measures 61 & 57, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Resolution In Opposition To Ballot Measure 60, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Assessment And Refinement Of Real-Time Travel Time Algorithms For Use In Practice, Kristin A. Tufte, Sirisha Murthy Kothuri

TREC Final Reports

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has set a high priority on the use of existing dynamic message signs (DMS) to provide travel time estimates to the public. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) currently has three DMS in the Portland metropolitan area configured to display travel time information. In the near future, ODOT would like to make travel time estimates available on additional DMS, over the Internet on tripcheck.com and via 511. Travel time estimates are valuable to the traveling public; however, the estimates must be accurate to be useful. The FHWA indicates that 90% accuracy is ideal and suggests …

Enhancing Portland’S Business Environment: A Public — Private Enterprise, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Benchmarking Community Investments In Green Building And Green Buying Programs In Five U.S. Cities, Shanna Nicole Eller

Dissertations and Theses

This is a study of what can be learned from leading U.S. cities about their work on environmental sustainability program efforts and what that information suggests for other cities considering a move into the environmental sustainability arena. The study focuses on green building and buying programs.

This is an exploratory study aimed at determining if detailed information, recommended for pursuit by Portney (2003), is available regarding: (a) how individual city sustainability programs got started; (b) how they maintain or fail to maintain themselves; (c) what they have been able to achieve programmatically; and (d) how effectively they have accomplished environmental …

Connections & Edges: 2040 Lincoln District Vision Plan, Andrew Bean, Luke Bonham, Krista Carpenter, Pete Collins, Daniel Costantino, Early Ewing, Kent Gentry, Mark Gilbert, Yuki Hayashi, Amy Hesse, Kaleen Hyde, Zeljka Carol Kekez, Daniel Lyvers, Briana Meier, Terra Wilcoxson

Urban Design Workshop

The Lincoln Vision Plan presents a concept for the evolution of Portland’s south downtown into a place where state-of-the-art resource management practices, unique systems of public open spaces, and a variety of transit options will support a vibrant, dynamic, high density, ecologically-friendly neighborhood. It is our hope that this Plan, created by Portland State University’s spring 2008 Urban Design Workshop, can serve as a foundation for further discussion and action to bring to life the immense potential underlying this district.

This project was conducted under the supervision of Donald J. Stastny and Edward Starkie.

Techniques For Assessing The Socio-Economic Effects Of Vehicle Mileage Fees, B. Starr Mcmullen, Kyle Nakahara, Smita Biswas, Lei Zhang, Divya Valluri

TREC Final Reports

This project considers the socio-economic impacts of the new highway user fee structure made possible by advanced technology. The fee structure also has implications for land use and healthy communities ( urban/rural, income distributional, and environmental impacts). The 2001 Oregon Legislature created the Road User Fee Task Force (RUFTF) to make recommendations regarding a potential replacement for the gasoline tax. A vehicle mile tax has subsequently been proposed as the replacement. Preliminary work has been devoted to exploring technical and institutional options for implementation of such a charge. OSU researchers have developed the technology and there is a pilot project …

Initiative For Bicycle And Pedestrian Innovation, Jennifer Dill, Lynn Weigand

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation aims to advance the field of bicycle and pedestrian transportation through four primary mechanisms: (1) developing and pursuing a collaborative research agenda that more directly informs practice and and involves students through dissertation research and fellowships; (2) translating relevant research into a format and language that is more useful to practitioners, and making that research available through technology transfer; (3) developing more holistic approaches to the education and training of planners and engineers; and (4) supporting community-based outreach and education, to promote awareness of bicycle and pedestrian issues statewide and nationally. This proposal …

2007 Portland Metropolitan Region Transportation System Performance Report, Robert Bertini

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our transportation system is a key ingredient in the economy, quality of life and urban fabric of the Portland metropolitan area. It has been stated in the past that it is not possible to manage our transportation system tomorrow unless we understand how it is performing today. In this spirit, the Portland State University Center for Transportation Studies has been working with regional and statewide partners to develop new capabilities to measure, monitor and track the performance of the transportation system in real time and using archived data sources. We believe that it is possible to leverage these disparate data …

"Whose Streets? Our Streets!" Urban Social Movements And The Transformation Of Everyday Life In Pacific Northwest Cities, 1990-1999, Leanne Claire Serbulo

Dissertations and Theses

This project returns to the questions that were once at the center of the urban studies debate over social movements. What are urban social movements, and what impacts do they leave on the cities where they occur? Urban protests in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington are used as the foundation for exploring the following research questions: What urban social movements occurred in the Pacific Northwest during 1990s? What goals were these movements struggling for? What impacts did urban social movements have on daily life in Portland and Seattle?

While this project has continuity with earlier attempts to identify, describe, and …

Linking Experiential Learning To Community Transportation Planning, Robert Parker, Bethany Johnson

TREC Final Reports

This OTREC education proposal will link experiential education with local transportation planning through a collaborative partnership between the University of Oregon and the City of Eugene. Educators have long worked to find pedagogical approaches that yield the best educational results. This is particularly true in the planning disciplines where there is an ongoing dialog among academics and practitioners about how to most effectively train aspiring professionals.1 To provide a mix of academic and practical experience, most planning programs include a mixture of theoretical and applied curriculum. The American Planning Association (APA) recognizes this need and as a result, APA accredited …

Housing Needs Study For The Portland Metropolitan Area Final Report, George C. Hough Jr., Sheila A. Martin, Gerard C. Mildner, Risa Proehl

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

The purpose of this report is to respond to the recommendations of the Regional Housing Choice Task Force by providing information to guide housing choice policy for the Metro Council. In particular, the objectives of this project were to: Estimate current and future affordable housing need for the Metro region; Describe the distribution of households by income, age, and size across the metro region; Describe the tenure of these households and the type of housing they will choose; Identify and describe those household types that are most likely to struggle to meet the cost of housing based on their income; …

A Strategy For Reducing The Impact Of Driving Under Influence Of Intoxicants In Portland, Oregon, Christopher Monsere, Delia Chi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII) applies to operating a vehicle under the influence of any substance that can impair driving performance. Nationally and locally there is a strong desire to reduce the societal impacts of this significant social problem. The trend in U.S. alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes was generally decreasing in the mid to late 1980’s but has remained fairly flat since the early 1990s. In 1982, approximately 60% of all US traffic fatalities were alcohol-related. By 1994, this had decreased to 43% but in the decade that followed it has changed little. In 2005, nearly 39% of …

City Club Report On Reforming The Initiative, Referendum And Referral Systems In Oregon, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Imagine 82nd, Jamison Kelleher, Sue Lewis, Daniel Pauly, Steven L. Szigethy, Kenya D. Williams

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Imagine 82nd is a corridor vision plan for NE 82nd Avenue of Roses between the Banfield Expressway and Sandy Boulevard. Based on a community-driven process, it describes and illustrates what the avenue can be, envisioned by those who live, work, and go to school there. This project was conducted under the supervision of Sy Adler and Ethan Seltzer.

Vernonia 2020 Vision: A Plan For The Future, Mathew Berkow, Maria Ellis, Oren Eshel, Harleen Kaur, Terra Lingley, Colin Maher, Stephen Shackman, Ariana Tipper, George Zaninovich

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The Vernonia 2020 Vision Plan was an endeavor by the City of Vernonia to involve citizens in long-term resiliency planning and visioning to complement the short-term recovery effort following a 500-year flood in December 2007. Bridges Planning Group facilitated the process, over the course of which residents identified the highest-priority barriers to resiliency and past and present efforts to overcome these barriers. This project was conducted under the supervision of Sy Adler and Ethan Seltzer.

Ecolopolis 3.0: Infrastructure And Sustainability In Cascadia, Portland State University

Regional Planning and Metropolitan Growth Management Research Projects

This is a working document and is the third report in this series. This report presents a vision for coordination and sustainable economic development in the Vancouver-Seattle-Portland megaregion. Building on two previous studies, the report includes a detailed sector-based economic analysis and recommendations for further strengthening Cascadia's economic "competencies" in areas of green building and architecture, creative services, agriculture and food production and high tech. It also makes recommendations for protecting Cascadia's renowned environmental heritage and reputation for sustainability, while improving flows and connections within the megaregion.

This version, 3.0, has been produced by the Spring 2008 class and is …

Se 122nd Avenue Enhancement Study, Alejandro Bancke, William Elder, Joy Hunt, Caroline Leary, Markus Mead, Cassera Phipps

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The City of Portland’s Bureau of Planning would like to explore opportunities for strengthening the PowellhurstGilbert Neighborhood’s sense of place through mixed-use and/or neighborhood-based commercial development, improved residential and commercial design, and by creating linkages to existing community assets, such as parks and commercial areas. This project expands upon existing plans by incorporating community preferences, market and land use analyses, and urban design strategies to generate neighborhood commercial use and placemaking alternatives for SE 122 nd Avenue. This project was conducted under the supervision of Sy Adler and Ethan Seltzer.

Bin Half Full: Construction Waste Recycling Solutions, Mary L. Grothaus, Melissa Johnston, Shaun Roland, Christina Skellenger, Amy Twilegar

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

According to the City of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development (OSD), construction, remodeling, and demolition (CR&D) waste comprises 20 percent of the City’s waste stream. Additionally, per capita waste generation in this sector is increasing faster than in the residential or commercial sectors. However, the current amount of CR&D waste that is landfilled can be reduced: 90 percent of the waste from a typical project can be diverted from landfill disposal. Although OSD currently requires that 50 percent of CR&D waste from every project is recycled, the City estimates that contractors recycle slightly less than this. OSD’s Portland Recycles! Plan …

Food Cartology: Rethinking Urban Spaces As People Places, Hannah Kapell, Peter Katon, Amy Koski, Jingping Li, Colin Price, Karen Thalhammer

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The Urban Vitality Group (UVG) partnered with the City of Portland, Bureau of Planning to study the effects that food carts have on street vitality and neighborhood livability. The number of food carts within the city seems to be growing, while the City lacks sufficient knowledge about the industry to guide policy. The purpose of the study was to assess the benefits and negative consequences of allowing food carts within the city and to ascertain what economic opportunities may be offered by food carts, especially for low-income and minority entrepreneurs. The findings indicate that food carts have significant community benefits …

Epistemological Pluralism: Reorganizing Interdisciplinary Research, Thaddeus R. Miller, Timothy D. Baird, Caitlin M. Littlefield, Gary Kofinas, F. Stuart Chapin Iii, Charles L. Redman

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite progress in interdisciplinary research, difficulties remain. In this paper, we argue that scholars, educators, and practitioners need to critically rethink the ways in which interdisciplinary research and training are conducted. We present epistemological pluralism as an approach for conducting innovative, collaborative research and study. Epistemological pluralism recognizes that, in any given research context, there may be several valuable ways of knowing, and that accommodating this plurality can lead to more successful integrated study. This approach is particularly useful in the study and management of social–ecological systems. Through resilience theory's adaptive cycle, we demonstrate how a focus on epistemological pluralism …

An Anatomy Of A Community-University Partnership: The Structure Of Community Collaboration, W. Barry Messer, Kevin Kecskes

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Portland State University for the past twelve years has been engaged in a transformation of its general education program and a renewal of its urban mission. A major thrust of this reform has focused on broadening the involvement of students and faculty in community-based learning and scholarship. Curricular and administrative changes have significantly raised the presence of the university in the community and resulted in numerous academic units actively engaging in community collaboration. The collaboration has proven to be an important platform by which the university has expanded its boundaries into the community through actions involving many challenges to the …