Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Statistical Inference For Multimodal Travel Time Reliability, Avinash Unnikrishnan, Miguel Figliozzi, Subhash C. Kochar

TREC Final Reports

Travel time reliability is a key metric of interest to practitioners and researchers because it affects travel choice and the economic competitiveness of urban areas. This research focuses on three travel time reliability metrics – buffer index, modified buffer index, and the relative width of travel time distributions. The key novel contributions of this research include using the multivariate delta method to prove that the sampling distributions of the three travel time reliability metrics are asymptotically normal. The asymptotic standard error for the three reliability metrics is derived. The asymptotic normality and the standard error result are used to arrive …

Impacts Of City-Level Parking Cash-Out And Commuter Benefits Ordinances, Gabriella Abou-Zeid, Allen Greenberg

PSU Transportation Seminars

For many workers, the decision to drive to work is an economically rational one that minimizes their commute costs. The vast majority of employers offer free workplace parking, with few in comparison offering benefits for transit, walking, biking, or other means of commuting. In effect, employers are incentivizing a behavior that increases roadway congestion, reduces physical activity, and increases emissions. Moreover, since lower-income households are less likely to own and have access to a private vehicle than moderate and higher-income households, free parking is a financial benefit that many lower-income employees cannot access.

Researchers from ICF and the Federal Highway …

Equity And Exclusion Issues In Cashless Fare Payment Systems For Public Transportation, Aaron Golub, Anne Brown, Candace Brakewood, John Macarthur, Sangwan Lee, Abubakr Ziedan

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many transit agencies in the United States plan to automate their fare collection and limit–or even eliminate–the use of cash fares, with the goals of expediting boarding, collecting data, and lowering costs. Yet about 10% of US adults lack a bank account or credit card, and many rely on restrictive cellphone data plans or do not have access to the internet or a smartphone. These riders will find it difficult to access transit in the future. This paper examines transit users’ experiences with fare technologies using a survey of riders in three cities. Our analysis reveals which riders are most …

Community Transportation Academy: Course Curriculum And Implementation Handbook, Nathan Mcneil, Keith Bartholomew

TREC Final Reports

A Community Transportation Academy (CTA) is a course that harnesses the knowledge, technical expertise and passions of practicing transportation professionals in a city to immerse a cohort of interested and dedicated community members in transportation issues over a two to three month curriculum.

The CTA curriculum was developed by drawing from the Portland Traffic and Transportation (PTT or Portland CTA) course, along with the Wasatch Transportation Academy (WTA or Wasatch CTA, which was inspired by the Portland course). Planning academy courses in cities around the country are also good models to look to for how to structure and operate such …

Reconceiving The Relationship Between The Built Environment And Walking Behavior: Examining The Samples, Scales, And Methods In Travel Behavior Research, Jaime Pablo Orrego-Oñate

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation aims to formulate a mechanism for the relationship between the urban form and walking choice that can be consistent across contexts. The motivation is the lack of concordant results in the magnitude of the environmental influence on walking choice in urban areas found in the literature. The dissertation identifies a series of limitations in previous research that could cause mixed results in the magnitudes of the association. This research elaborates an approach to overcome these limitations by proposing a mechanism of the activity density over walking modal share by controlling for trip distance distribution. The aim is an …

An Analysis Of The Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Tulsa Remote Program, As An Effective Economic Development Strategy, Kristen J. Padilla

Dissertations and Theses

Cities do not exist in a vacuum. They are in constant competition for talented, educated individuals and growing, innovative businesses -even if that competition is not explicit or specific. Traditionally cities have been left with two economic development paths to help diversify their economies: attract talent but without jobs, or attract business but without a strong talent pool. However, due to technological advancements, exacerbated by the pandemic, a new and growing workforce that can work from anywhere has emerged, remote workers. This talent pool shifts traditional economic development attraction strategies from city to industry to city to talent.

Many remote …

Examining Emergency Citizen Response To The Covid-19 Pandemic: Emergent Groups Addressing Food Insecurity In Portland, Oregon, Aliza Ruth Tuttle

Dissertations and Theses

Emergency response agencies commonly focus on how hard infrastructure will interact with extreme climatic and geologic events: bridges during an earthquake and buildings following a tornado, for example. Peoples' actual experience of these extreme events vary, however, based on socially constructed consequences of natural hazard events and their interaction with a depleted or robust social safety net.

Previous research shows people living with depleted social safety nets and who experience a natural hazard event are likely to help where they see disaster. Individuals consistently form groups, called emergent groups, to organize their efforts. This research explored emergent groups that formed …

Congested Sidewalks: The Effects Of The Built Environment On E-Scooter Parking Compliance, Rob Hemphill, John Macarthur, Phil Longenecker, Garima Desai, Lillie Nie, Abbey Ibarra, Jennifer Dill

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

With the proliferation of electric scooters (e-scooters) in cities across the world, concerns continue to arise about their parking spots on sidewalks and other public spaces. Research has looked at e-scooter parking compliance and compared compliance to other mobility devices, but research has not yet examined the impacts of the built environment on parking compliance. Using a field observation dataset in Portland, Oregon, and novel GIS data, we attempt to understand the spatial distribution of e-scooter parking and the impact of built features on parking compliance, offering recommendations for policymakers and future research. The results of our study show that …

Launching The Wasatch Transportation Academy, Nathan Mcneil, Keith Bartholomew, Matthew Ryan

TREC Final Reports

The “Community Transportation Academy” model seeks to break down the barriers for community members to participate in transportation decision-making processes. Since 1991, the Portland Traffic and Transportation Course has held at least one course each year, connecting Portland residents with top planners, engineers, and decision-makers from agencies working on transportation in the region, with the goal of conveying the factors professionals consider, ranging from technical considerations, legal and policy mandates, other tradeoffs, and how the community can engage with and influence decisions. This project sought to implement a transportation academy in the Salt Lake City region inspired by the Portland …

Rideshare Practices In Developing Countries Vs Developed Countries, Francis Wambalaba

PSU Transportation Seminars

This project investigated strategies towards development, marketing and implementation of employer programs for reducing single occupancy vehicles to mitigate traffic congestion. It was guided by the following research questions: which socio-economic factors influence carpooling; how do environmental factors influence carpooling; and what are effective traffic management strategies for enhancing carpooling. The presentation will also strive to introduce the US context for purposes of perspective.

Intermediate Effect Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Prices Of Housing Near Light Rail Transit: A Case Study Of The Portland Metropolitan Area, Sangwan Lee, Liming Wang

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study explored the dynamics of a residential property value premium for proximity to a light rail transit (LRT) station in the intermediate term (roughly two years) since the pandemic. We applied a longitudinal quasi-experimental design using repeat sales data from the Portland Metropolitan Area, Oregon. Our results indicate that the effect of the pandemic on prices of housing near LRT stations differs between single-family and multi-family markets. Since the pandemic outbreak, there has been no statically significant difference in the price appreciation between singlefamily (SF) housing within an LRT service area and otherwise similar SF homes; however, for multi-family …

Public History Is Now, Sarah E. Dougher

Amplify: A Journal of Writing-as-Activism

A walking tour of downtown Portland in August 2021 raises questions for the writer about the purpose of “memory activism,” its relation to writing-as-activism. Drawing on critiques of urbanist Jane Jacobs and interrogating the concept of “reckoning,” the essay explores ways in which the streetscape and people there can deliver meaning and pose questions about systemic racism and unsheltered existence.

Gis Training In Transportation And Environmental Justice For Promoting Student Success In Steam Education, Joowon Im, Alan Klein, Amruta Sakalker

TREC Final Reports

Transportation land uses have a significant impact on vulnerable ecologies, especially in a rapidly urbanizing region like Dallas-Fort Worth. To study this relationship, the research team will develop a pilot ArcGIS lab course to expose high school students to critical regional tools and technology. This course will demonstrate the connections between transportation planning and design and environmental justice. The College of Architecture Planning and Public Affairs at UT Arlington will partner with CityLab high school in the Dallas Independent School District to develop a four-week lab course curriculum in ArcGIS and other emerging regional mapping technologies.

High school students will …

An Introduction To Gis For Dallas, Texas High Schoolers, Joowon Im, Alan Klein, Amruta Sakalker

TREC Project Briefs

A summary of TREC research project NITC-RR-1468,GIS Training in Transportation And Environmental Justice for Promoting Student Success in STEAM Education.

Mobility For The People: Evaluating Equity Requirements In Shared Micromobility Programs, Anne Brown, Amanda Howell, Hana Creger

TREC Final Reports

Technology-enabled shared micromobility services have expanded mobility for some travelers, but significant barriers to use limit their uptake among certain groups. To address these barriers, cities and professional transportation organizations have undertaken two distinct efforts to operationalize equity in shared micromobility services: 1) drafted equity frameworks in an attempt to clearly define equity within the transportation context and to provide guidelines for what cities should consider when designing equity-based mobility programs; and 2) some cities have attempted to ameliorate access disparities by establishing new requirements for shared micromobility programs. Both equity frameworks and program requirements mark important steps to operationalizing …

Regional Water Providers Consortium: Population, Housing Unit, And Household Estimates 2020 And 2021, Charles Rynerson, Christina Wei, Ethan Sharygin

Publications, Reports and Presentations

Water providers have an ongoing need for estimates and forecasts of the total population and the number of housing units and households within their service areas. The Portland State University (PSU) Population Research Center (PRC) has prepared annual population, housing unit, and household estimates each year since 2014 for the water service areas of the municipalities and water districts in the Regional Water Providers Consortium (RWPC), as well as the wholesale customers of the Portland Water Bureau (PWB) that are not Consortium members. Previous estimates used the 2010 Census as a baseline, with boundaries collected in 2013 and updated in …

Transit And Active Transportation Use For Non-Commute Travel Among Portland Transit-Oriented Development Residents, Jennifer L. Dill, Nathan W. Mcneil

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Transit-oriented development (TOD) seeks to promote non-single occupancy vehicle travel by placing dense residential and mixed-use buildings near high-capacity, high-frequency transit. Most research to date on the impact of TODs on travel behavior has focused on commute trips; however, many trips are for non-work purposes, and a sizable portion of the population does not commute to work. This study utilizes a set of surveys, conducted between 2005 and 2019 in the Portland OR region to assess factors associated with whether or not, and how often, TOD residents walk, bike, or take transit for home-based non-work trips. Findings show that about …

Webinar: Scooting To Healthy And Safe Mode Choices, Kristina M. Currans, Nicole Iroz-Elardo, John Macarthur

TREC Webinar Series

Shared electric scooters (e-scooters) are fast becoming a mobility option in cities across the United States. This new micromobility mode has the potential to replace car usage for certain trips, which stands to have a positive impact on public health and sustainability goals. However, many aspects of this emerging mode are not well understood.This webinar explores the findings of three NITC studies examining transportation mode choices, safety, and public health outcomes of electric scooters.

2022 Adult Foster Home Resident And Community Characteristics Report On Adult Foster Homes, Ozcan Tunalilar, Paula C. Carder, Jaclyn Winfree, Sheryl Elliott, Minju Kim, Diana Jacoby, Wafi Albalawi

Institute on Aging Publications

This report describes results from a study of Oregon adult foster homes (AFH), including home and owner characteristics; monthly charges and payment sources; resident characteristics, personal and health-related needs; and owners’ experiences with supports and challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study’s purpose was to collect and report data that can inform and advise policymakers, state and county agency staff, aging advocates and AFH owners about the status of AFHs in Oregon. The report includes information collected between December 2021 and March 2022 and, where possible, compares it to findings from prior years of this study and to other …

Safety Interventions For Houseless Pedestrians, Peter Domine, Sean Doyle, Asif Haque, Angie Martinez Sulvaran, Nick Meusch, Meisha Whyte

PSU Transportation Seminars

Cities across the U.S. are facing alarming increases in traffic fatalities, especially among the number of pedestrians who are struck and killed by drivers. Last year, 70 percent of all pedestrian fatalities in Portland were of people experiencing houselessness. As the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is updating the city's Vision Zero Plan, a team of PSU urban and regional planning masters students have been investigating how to reduce the risk of being hit and killed specifically for unhoused people. During this presentation, the Street Perspective team will explain the situation, review their approach, and then share the recommendations they'll …

Oregon City School District Enrollment Forecasts 2022-23 To 2031-32, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Charles Rynerson, Christina Wei

School District Enrollment Forecast Reports

This report presents the results of a demographic study conducted by the Portland State University Population Research Center (PRC) for the Oregon City School District (OCSD). The study includes analyses of population, housing and enrollment trends affecting the District in recent years, discussion of recent and current housing development, and forecasts of district-wide and individual school enrollments for the 2022-23 to 2031-32 school years. District-wide high, middle, and low forecasts for 2022-23 differ by how many how many of the students who left OCSD schools during the COVID-19 pandemic will return. Longer-run forecasts differ by expected migration levels and kindergarten …

Portland Public Schools Enrollment Forecast 2022-23 To 2036-37, Based On October 2021 Enrollments, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Charles Rynerson, Christina Wei

School District Enrollment Forecast Reports

This report presents the results of a demographic study conducted by the Portland State University Population Research Center (PRC) for Portland Public Schools (PPS). The study includes analysis of population, housing, and enrollment trends affecting the District in recent years, and annual enrollment forecasts for the District overall, for students residing in each of its high school clusters (HSCLs), for students residing in each school attendance area, and for students enrolled at each school. Enrollment forecasts were prepared under high, middle, and low scenarios for the District. Forecasts for HSCLs, attendance areas, and for individual schools are consistent with the …

Exploring Associations Between Multimodality And Built Environment Characteristics In The U.S., Sangwan Lee

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study demonstrated associations between multimodality and built environment characteristics, and proposed policy implications for fostering multimodal travel behaviors. It conducted a U.S. nationwide analysis using ordinary least square regression and gradient boosting decision tree regressor models with American Community Survey 2015–2019 5-year estimates and the United States Environmental Protection Agency Smart Location Database version 3.0. Notable findings were as follows: First, built environment characteristics were found to be statistically significant predictors of multimodality across the U.S. Second, certain features were identified as having considerable importance, specifically including population density, regional accessibility, walkability index, and network density, all of which …

E-Scooters In Tucson, Az: Modeling Placement, Charging, And Rebalancing, Jianqiang Cheng

TREC Project Briefs

Are e-scooters just the first sign of a shared-mobility revolution? If they are, then researchers at the University of Arizona intend to make sure that the emerging transportation system has functional models on par with other modes of transportation. In 2018, approximately 100 U.S. cities had already launched shared e-scooter programs, accounting for 38.5 million trips. However, the models to manage e-scooter sharing are only recently being developed. In a project funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) and led by Dr. Jianqiang Cheng, the research team set out to develop data-driven, decisionmaking models for shared-mobility system …

Data-Driven Optimization For E-Scooter System Design, Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad, Xiaofeng Li, Jianqiang Cheng, Yao-Jan Wu

TREC Final Reports

The objective of this project is to develop data-driven, decision-making models for shared-mobility system design and operation. Specifically, we will use shared e-scooters as a representative system, with the ultimate goal of facilitating an electric shared-mobility revolution that promises a more sustainable future. In the past few years, shared e-scooter systems have gained increased popularity around the world because of their benefits to health, traffic congestion, the environment, and accessibility. As of 2018, approximately 100 U.S. cities have launched shared e-scooter programs, accounting for 38.5 million trips. However, the business model to manage e-scooter sharing remains nascent, with many challenges …

How-To Guide For The Creation Of Villages, Todd Ferry, Greg Townley, Marisa Zapata

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

This How-To Guide for the creation of alternative shelters called villages is the outcome of a multi-year study by Portland State University’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative on the village model, funded by the Meyer Memorial Trust. It is one component of a larger document which and portraits of individuals involved in some aspect of villages. The six Portland-area villages included in this study were Dignity Village (2000), Hazelnut Grove (2015), Kenton Women’s Village (2017/2019), Clackamas County Veterans Village (2018), Agape Village (2019), and the St. Johns Village (2021). The work presented here relies on the direct input from those …

Centering On Bipoc Experiences In Multi-Stakeholder Processes With Marisa Zapata, Marisa A. Zapata

PDXPLORES Podcast

Involving BIPOC experiences and perspectives in multi-stakeholder processes is like making Jazz. In this episode, Associate Professor Marisa Zapata, director of the Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative at PSU discusses how convening a process is like composing jazz music in which stakeholders listen closely to one another and add individual contributions that enhance the whole.

Click on the "Download" button to access the audio transcript.

Why Your City Needs A Car Master Plan, Cathy Tuttle

PSU Transportation Seminars

In 2022, cars are ubiquitous and completely embedded into America’s economy and social fabric. American cities don’t make car plans, but all transportation plans – whether they are for people who walk, bike, take transit, run freight or delivery businesses – are all written in response to cars. Transportation planning is all about cars; supporting cars or constraining cars. How did our cities evolve into places where cars dominate, and where can we go from here? To move to a new paradigm, cities need to acknowledge car dominance and focus on cars with the same rigor they do other modal …

Using E-Bike Incentive Programs To Expand The Market – Trends And Best Practices, John Macarthur, Cameron Bennett

PSU Transportation Seminars

John MacArthur and Cameron Bennett of Portland State University will be presenting the findings and recommendations from their recent white paper "Using E-Bike Incentive Programs to Expand the Market – Trends and Best Practices." This will include a review of the 50+ current, past, and proposed e-bike purchase incentive programs in North America, including summary statistics and details from exemplary programs. Best practice gained from review of the programs and discussion with program managers, industry professionals, and other stakeholders will be shared. A discussion of the benefits of promoting e-bike uptake in regard to mode shift, VMT, emissions, and human …

Evaluation Of Oregon’S Food Waste Recovery And Reintegration Policy Adoption Through Civic Capacity, Jenna N. Stathopoulos

Student Research Symposium

The US Food System is complex and multi-layered, containing many areas for improvement. My research focuses specifically on the issue area of food waste. On a global and national scale mitigating food waste can seem too large to manage. Containing complexity across multiple sectors and with extended timelines for improvements, it is indeed a wicked problem, a problem which in its complexity is almost impossible to fully distinguish or address with one (or even multiple) solutions. (Rittel, 1973). However, when we look to local, place-based solutions we can develop more realistic and actionable plans. The state of Oregon is equipped …