Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Transportation System Impacts On Bicyclists' Air Pollution Risks: Considerations For System Design And Use, Alexander Y. Bigazzi, Miguel Figliozzi, James F. Pankow, Wentai Luo

PSU Transportation Seminars

Health risks associated with air pollution uptake while bicycling are often cited as a potential drawback to increased bicycling in cities. This seminar will provide an overview of how roadway and travel characteristics impact bicyclists' uptake of traffic-related air pollution. Specific considerations for planners and designers of urban transportation systems to mitigate risks for travelers will be discussed. In addition, the extent to which bicyclists themselves can unilaterally reduce their pollution uptake will be described. This seminar synthesizes findings from a recently completed doctoral dissertation at Portland State University and from the broader literature.

Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership: An Economic Impact Analysis, Jeff Renfro, Marisol Cáceres, Peter Hulseman

Northwest Economic Research Center Publications and Reports

Large, technology manufacturers tend to dominate the Oregon manufacturing discussion, but as the preceding results show, smaller manufacturers like metalworkers and bakeries can produce large numbers of new jobs, particularly when given technical assistance. The aggregate effect of employment increases from small- and medium-sized firms is large, and contributes to sectors identified as priorities by Oregon’s economic development agencies.

Factors Associated With The Bicycle Commute Use Of Newcomers: Analysis Of The 70 Largest U.S. Cities, Ryan Dann

PSU Transportation Seminars

Bicycling is known to produce benefits for cities, in regards to reducing levels of congestion, generating positive health outcomes, and providing affordable transportation options to low-income families. Conventional analysis of urban bicycle commuting does not currently consider the importance of separating migrant, or “newcomer,” bicycle commute use from pre-existing resident bicycle commute use. The goal of this paper is to provide additional information on individual, social, and environmental factors that influence newcomer bicycle use for commuting purposes. This cross-sectional study used data from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey (5-year Estimates) to analyze the bicycle commute use of newcomers in the …

The Theory Of Travel Decision-Making: A Conceptual Framework Of Active Travel Behavior, Patrick Allen Singleton

PSU Transportation Seminars

We present a unifying conceptual framework of active travel behavior called the theory of travel decision-making. It integrates seminal travel-related concepts from economics, geography, and psychology with active travel behavior theories and empirical research. The framework abstracts an individual’s thought process around short-term travel decisions and explains the roles of activities, built environment factors, socio-demographics, attitudes and perceptions, and habit. Our primary objective is to inform travel behavior research by meeting the need for a theoretical framework capable of guiding studies on active transportation. The framework could also support active transportation planning and analysis methods by informing the development of …

Who Uses Peer-To-Peer Carsharing? Early Exploration, Anaïs Mathez

PSU Transportation Seminars

Peer-to-peer (P2P) carsharing is a system where a facilitating company connects car owners to car renters. Such systems are relatively new in the U.S. This paper aims to understand who is participating in P2P carsharing as a renter (as opposed to as an owner), why they join, whether and how often they rent vehicles, and why. Exploring these questions may provide insight on the potential for P2P carsharing to meet public policy objectives of reducing the impacts of personal vehicle ownership and use and providing mobility options for underserved populations. The analysis is based on 465 study participants who enrolled …

Leveraging Signal Infrastructure For Non-Motorized Counts In A Statewide Program: A Pilot Study, Bryan Philip Blanc

PSU Transportation Seminars

Transportation agencies are beginning to explore and develop non-motorized counting programs. This paper presents the results of a pilot study testing the use of existing signal infrastructure – 2070 signal controllers with advanced software to log pedestrian phase actuations and detections from bicycle lane inductive loops – to count pedestrians and bicycles. The pilot study was conducted at a typical suburban signalized intersection with heavy motorized traffic that was instrumented on all four approaches with pedestrian push buttons and advance inductive loops in the bicycle lane for signal operation. One day (24 hours) of video data were collected as ground …

Influential Vectors In Fuel Consumption By An Urban Bus Operator, João De Abreu E Silva

PSU Transportation Seminars

In an era of reduced government funding, transit operators struggle to reduce operating costs and increase revenues. Energy costs account for an important share of the total costs of urban and suburban bus operators. Using a case study of one operator in Lisbon, Portugal, this talk will expand upon the empirical research on bus transit operation costs and identify the key factors that influence the energy efficiency of the overall bus fleet. Our results of a multivariate analysis find the following dimensions influence transit energy efficiency: vehicle type, commercial speed, road grades and bus routes; and to a lesser extent …

Health Care Reform & Homelessness In Multnomah County, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Sorting Out The Skills Gap: Analyzing The Evidence For A Shortage Of Middle-Skill Workers In The Manufacturing And Healthcare Industries In The Portland Region, Jamin Kimmell, Sheila A. Martin

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

The skills gap has garnered significant attention in popular discourse, research initiatives and public policy, both in the Portland region and across the country. Simultaneously, fewer and fewer people in the Portland region are earning self-sufficient incomes. The manufacturing and healthcare industries are often cited as promising pathways to self-sufficiency due to shortages of workers in middle-skill, middle-wage occupations. But the magnitude and distribution of worker shortages in these industries is far from certain, and alternative factors to explain hiring challenges—such as employer practices—are supported by some of the evidence. Existing skills gap research typically uses a single indicator of …

The Landscape: Carnegie Libraries, Linn Davis

Metroscape

A brief look at the legacy of Carnegie libraries in the Portland Metropolitan Area, with special emphasis on the Oregon City Library and plans for its renovation.

Rock, Water, And Gravity: Alchemy Along The Willamette, Andrée Tremoulet

Metroscape

An exploration of the Willamette Falls Legacy Project, which aims to transform and develop the former 22-acre Blue Heron Paper Company mill site just southwest of downtown Oregon City.

Work With Me People! An Interview With Mike Weatherby, Recently Retired Mayor Of Fairview, Oregon, Sheila A. Martin

Metroscape

Mayor Mike Weatherby was first sworn in as Mayor of Fairview on January 2, 2003. He was re-elected in November of 2006 and 2010. Sheila Martin sat down with him to discuss how the town and the region have changed over hsi twelve years in office and his hopes for the future.

Voters' Choice 11/14, Sheila A. Martin, Meg Merrick, Richard A. Clucas, Carolyn N. Long

Metroscape

A review of the 2014 midterm election in Oregon. This version of the Atlas considers the results if the November 2014 elections for some key races and intiatives in Oregon and, separately, some of the important issues faced by voters in Clark County. The maps show precinct-level results; the circles within each precinct show the distribution of votes within that precinct.

Values & Beliefs, Sheila A. Martin, Carolyn N. Long

Metroscape

hat values are commonn to residents of the metroscape? Sheila Martin and Carlolyn N. Long examine recent survey results on topics ranging from government priorities to economic development.

Methods And Data For Developing Coordinated Population Forecasts, Portland State University. Population Research Center

Publications, Reports and Presentations

This document is to accompany the coordinated population forecasts and their corresponding reports prepared by the Population Research Center (PRC).

Developing long-term coordinated population forecasts for a county and its sub-areas (UGBs and areas outside UGBs are referred to sub-areas in this document), requires these main stages: 1) compiling and evaluating historical and recent data to ascertain demographic characteristics and trends in the study area and to obtain a population base from which the forecasts may be launched; 2) making assumptions about the future and adjusting the data or rates in the forecasting models (calibrating the models) to incorporate predicted …

Comparing Two Common Approaches To Public Transit Service Equity Evaluation, Alex Karner, Aaron Golub

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding the equity effects of transit service changes requires good information about the demographics of transit ridership. Both on-board survey data and census data can be used to estimate equity effects, though there is no clear reason these two sources will result in the same finding of impact. Guidance from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recommends using either of these data sources to estimate equity impacts. This article makes a direct comparison of the two methods for the public transit system in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. The results indicate that, although both sources are acceptable for FTA compliance, the …

The Equity Baseline Report: A Framework For Regional Equity, Jared Franz, Cat Goughnour, Duncan Hwang, Kayse Jama, Meg Merrick, Andre Riley, Gerardo Vergara-Monroy

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

The Equity Baseline Report: A Framework for Regional Equity is an authentic community-led report resulting from a yearlong collaborative effort conducted by six local community based organizations (CBOs). The organizations were selected competitively to work under contract with Metro staff to identify, inventory, classify and recommend quantitative and qualitative evidence-based indicators and corresponding data sets that measure the varying degrees by which people experience equity in our region.

Indicators Of The Metroscape: Self-Sufficiency, Institute Of Portland Metropolitan Studies

Metroscape

Overview of annual median income and self-sufficiency standards for various household types in 2014, for several Oregon counties in Northwestern Oregon.

Workshop Synthesis: Sampling Issues, Data Quality & Data Protection, Jimmy Armoogum, Jennifer Dill

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This workshop discussed various aspect of the mathematical part of survey methodology, as well as archiving and confidentiality issues aimed at improving data quality and its use through time. Participants identified ways to correct or minimize bias by dealing with incomplete sampling frames, using weighing and imputing procedures. We discussed methods to archive and share GPS-based survey data to preserve anonymity. Finally, we debated research needs on these topics for the next following years.

Overcoming Uncertainty And Barriers To Adoption Of Blue-Green Infrastructure For Urban Flood Risk Management, Colin R. Thorne, E. C. Lawson, Connie P. Ozawa, Samantha Hamlin, Leonard A. Smith

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) and Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) are increasingly recognised as vital components of urban flood risk management. However, uncertainty regarding their hydrologic performance and lack of confidence concerning their public acceptability create concerns and challenges that limit their widespread adoption. This paper investigates barriers to implementation of BGI in Portland, Oregon, using the Relevant Dominant Uncertainty (RDU) approach. Two types of RDU are identified: scientific RDUs related to physical processes that affect infrastructure performance and service provision, and socio-political RDUs that reflect a lack of confidence in socio-political structures and public preferences for BGI. We find that socio-political …

Radical Uncertainty: Scenario Planning For Futures, Marisa A. Zapata, Nikhil Kaza

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The use of scenario planning in urban and regional planning practice has grown in the last decade as one way to face uncertainty. However, in adapting scenario planning from its origins in the business sector, planners have eliminated two key components: (1) the use of multiple scenarios, and (2) the inclusion of diverse organizations, people, and interests through deep deliberations. We argue that this shift limits the ability of planners to plan for multiple plausible futures that are shaped by an increasing number of diverse actors. In this paper, we use case-study research to examine how uncertainty was considered in …

Uneven Development Of The Sustainable City: Shifting Capital In Portland, Oregon, Erin Goodling, Jamaal Green, Nathan Mcclintock

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Portland, Oregon is renowned as a paradigmatic "sustainable city". Yet, despite popular conceptions of the city as a progressive ecotopia and the accolades of planners seeking to emulate its innovations, Portland’s sustainability successes are inequitably distributed. Drawing on census data, popular media, newspaper archives, city planning documents, and secondary-source histories, we attempt to elucidate the structural origins of Portland’s "uneven development", exploring how and why the urban core of this paragon of sustainability has become more White and affluent while its outer eastside has become more diverse and poor. We explain how a "sustainability fix" – in this case, green …

Revisiting Rajneeshpuram: Oregon's Largest Utopian Community As Western History, Carl Abbott

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Between 1981 and 1985, the intentional community of Rajneeshpuram near Antelope, Oregon, hosted up to 15,000 followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a spiritual leader from Pune, India. In this essay, Carl Abbott examines the rise and fall of Rajneeshpuram within the context of western history, which “centers on the processes of migration, settlement, displacement, and rearrangement.” Drawing parallels to earlier religious closed communities, such nineteenth century Mormon settlements, Abbott describes how Rajneeshees fit into the “overarching storylines of frontier utopias and the…narrative of settler colonialism.” Unlike Mormon communities, however, Abbott concludes that Rajneeshpuram ultimately failed because its leaders were not …

Office Rent Premiums With Respect To Distance From Light Rail Transit Stations In Dallas And Denver, Arthur C. Nelson, Dejan Eskic, Joanna P. Ganning, Shima Hamidi, Susan J. Petheram, Jenny H. Liu, Reid Ewing

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

It seems an article-of-faith that real estate markets respond more favorably to location within one-half mile of transit stations. Planning and public decision-makers have thus drawn half-mile (or smaller) circles around rail transit stations assuming larger planning areas would not be supported by the evidence. Recent research, however, has shown market-responsiveness well beyond one-half mile. We contribute to this literature by evaluating the distance-decay function of office rents in metropolitan Dallas and Denver with respect to light rail transit (LRT) station distance. Using a quadratic transformation of distance we find office rent premiums extending in the range of two miles …

Transit And Economic Resilience, Arthur C. Nelson, Matt Miller, Joanna P. Ganning, Philip Stoker, Jenny H. Liu, Reid Ewing

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Do fixed-guideway transit systems facilitate resilience with metropolitan areas? There is little literature making this connection theoretically and none testing it empirically. This paper helps close this gap in both respects. In evaluating metropolitan areas with light rail transit systems the authors find evidence that transit corridors on the whole performed better than control corridors during the recovery period of two recessions: that of the early 2000s and the so-called Great Recession. In particular, during the Great Recession transit corridors outperformed control corridors among many economic sectors. Outcomes were more impressive during recoveries from both the recession of the early …

Retail Rent With Respect To Distance From Light Rail Transit Stations In Dallas And Denver, Arthur C. Nelson, Dejan Eskic, Joanna P. Ganning, Shima Hamidi, Susan J. Petheram, Jenny H. Liu, Reid Ewing

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

A growing body of recent research is challenging the assumptions underlying the half-mile-circle in planning for development around transit stations. In this article we review this literature and extend it to include retail land uses. We estimate the rent premium conferred on retail properties in metropolitan Dallas and metropolitan Denver, both of which have extensive light rail transit systems. We find that consistent with half-mile-circle assumptions, retail rent premiums extend only to about 0.30 mile from transit stations with half the premium dissipating after a few hundred feet and three quarters within the first 0.10 mile. We offer implications for …

Commuter Rail Transit And Economic Development, Arthur C. Nelson, Matt Miller, Keuntae Kim, Joanna P. Ganning, Jenny H. Liu, Reid Ewing

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Commuter rail transit (CRT) is a form of rail passenger service connecting downtowns and other major activity centers with suburban commuter towns and beyond. Between 1834 and 1973, only three public CRT systems were built in the U.S. serving New York, Chicago and then Boston. There are now 25 such systems. Modern CRT systems aim to expand economic development in metropolitan areas. But do they? This paper evaluates the economic development performance of five modern CRT systems. The authors find that several economic sectors perform well within 0.50 miles of CRT stations. The authors offer planning and policy implications.

But Do Lower-Wage Jobs Follow? Comparing Wage-Based Outcomes Of Light Rail Transit To Control Corridors, Arthur C. Nelson, Matt Miller, Dejan Eskic, Joanna P. Ganning, Jenny H. Liu, Reid Ewing

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Literature suggests that rail transit improvements should be associated with more jobs and perhaps increasing share of jobs in a metropolitan area. Literature and some research also suggest that such improvements should increase the number of lower-wage jobs accessible to transit. In this paper, we assess both in the context of all 11 light rail transit systems built in metropolitan areas of fewer than eight million residents in the nation since 1981. Using census block-level job data over the period 2002 to 2011, we evaluate change in jobs and change in metropolitan area job share for all jobs, and lower- …