Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Understanding Social Class In Place: Responding To Supergentrification In Aspen, Colorado, Jenny Stuber, Krista E. Paulsen

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Existing research portrays elite places as prone to exclusion, welcoming of upscaling, and focused on protecting their economic self-interests. This paper provides nuance to this research by exploring how stakeholders understand and respond to supergentrification. During the fall of 2016, a group of citizen activists in the exclusive community of Aspen, Colorado, initiated an ordinance seeking to limit the expansion of luxury chain stores. Drawing on qualitative data related to this case, we show that how communities respond to supergentrification depends on locally specific understandings of place and social class, and how class interests have been institutionalized in local policies. …

Evictions In Idaho: Statewide Data For 2021, Benjamin Larsen, Mcallister Hall, Lantz Mcginnis-Brown

Idaho Policy Institute Reports

For the third consecutive year, IPI collected all court case data in Idaho. Data were obtained from the Idaho Supreme Court. In 2021, 1, 975 (about 1.0%) of Idaho’s renting households had an eviction filing and 1,107 (0.6%) were formally evicted.

Overall, eviction court filings rose by 11% from 2020 to 2021. However, the number of households with formal evictions decreased by 1.7%. For much of 2021, Idaho residents still had access to emergency rental assistance funds and federal eviction moratoria were still in place. This could explain the lower numbers of formal evictions despite an increase in filings. It …

Ada County Highway District Public Opinion Survey 2022, Vanessa Fry, Gabe Osterhout, Cheong Kim

Idaho Policy Institute Reports

The Ada County Highway District (ACHD) public opinion survey, developed in partnership with Idaho Policy Institute (IPI), was conducted April 28 through May 5, 2022 and surveyed 600 adults who live in Ada County, Idaho. The sample is representative of the county’s population both geographically and demographically. Survey responses were collected by cell phone (50%), landline phone (33%) and online via email (17%). The survey addressed a variety of issues including road safety, road quality, traffic congestion, and spending priorities. Respondents were selected via a simple random sampling method with a margin of error of +/- 4%. The survey was …

Universities As Arts And Cultural Anchors: Moving Beyond Bricks And Mortar To Entrepreneurship, Workforce, And Community Development Approaches, Amanda Ashley, Leslie Durham

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Economic developers refer to universities as anchor institutions because they are rooted regional economic drivers that are sites for development, incubation, entrepreneurship, workforce training, and knowledge transfer. Most anchor research speaks generally about the university or focuses on STEM. Our study asks: to what extent are public universities arts and cultural anchors? Through a comparative case analysis supplemented with interviews of field innovators and a translation of transdisciplinary literature, we deepen the anchor concept, and we propose a conceptual assessment tool. Our applied research helps universities move from being an arts patron to an arts entrepreneur, investor, innovator, and catalyst.

Generating Efficient Rebalancing Routes For Bikeshare Programs Using A Genetic Algorithm, James R. Kroes, Andrew S. Manikas, Thomas F. Gattiker

IT and Supply Chain Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Growth in urban areas often leads to problems such as increased traffic congestion and poor air quality. To help alleviate these issues, shared mobility networks have been launched in hundreds of cities worldwide to provide citizens with alternatives to personal autos and to other less sustainable methods of transport (Fishman, 2016; Zhang et al., 2015). Shared mobility includes carsharing, ridesharing, scooter sharing and bikesharing (SAE, 2018). Bikeshare programs allow users to pick up bicycles (often at hub locations), utilize the bicycle for a journey, and return it to a location within the system (DeMaio, 2009). While bicycle sharing has been …

Second‐Order Devolution Or Local Activism?: Local Air Agencies Revisited, Luke Fowler, Bryant Jones

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

In response to calls from previous scholarship for further bottom-up examination of local government roles in environmental policy, the authors revisit local air agencies to examine two separate phenomena occurring in environmental federalism: one from the top-down (second- order devolution) and one from the bottom-up (local activism). Using survey data from local air agencies on devolved authorities to set air quality standards and to enforce federal and/or state standards, the authors identify three different types of local agencies: state administrative sub- units (only enforcement authority), fully devolved agencies (authority to both set and enforce standards), and activist agencies (neither authority). …

Metropolitan Planning Organizations And Climate Change Action, Susan G. Mason, Michail Fragkias

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) sit at a unique nexus of government arrangements and missions that could be effective for addressing issues of climate change. Using survey and secondary data this study investigates the potential of metropolitan planning organizations to play a formative role in climate change action and policy. We examine factors that promote MPOs involvement in climate change issues by bridging two types of literatures in a quantitative modeling framework: the institutional responses to environmental change, driven by conceptualization of urban systems as social-ecological systems, and the public policy, regional planning and local politics literature. We find robust MPOs, …

Exploring Patterns Of Tax Increment Financing Use And Structural Explanations In Missouri’S Major Metropolitan Regions, Susan G. Mason, Kenneth P. Thomas

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article examines tax increment financing (TIF) in Kansas City and St. Louis, two heavy users of the tool under the same statutory authority. Based on a complete database of TIF projects through 2013 (2012 for Kansas City) and numerous interviews with local government officials in both metropolitan areas, we explore the TIF use of these two cities, which have different structural aspects and have gone through sharp policy changes, to examine if central cities that use different strategies beget different outcomes in their suburban areas. We document distinctly different patterns of use in the two central cities. When St. …

Regional Industry Analysis: An Approach For Economies Large And Smaller, Susan G. Mason, Pengyu Zhu, Jon Van Dyke

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Interest in cluster analysis for economic development in regions has been significant over the years. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of a community’s industry clusters or economic agglomerations can provide regions with resilience to economic changes. Large and smaller economies that are able to identify their industry clusters and know their competitive strengths and weaknesses may be more adaptable and able to thwart the negative effects of economic change. One example of the value of knowing about the strengths and weaknesses of an economy and the potential to shift to new areas of production and service in a local economy …

An Experiment-Based Methodology To Understand The Dynamics Of Group Decision Making, Susan G. Mason, Don Holley, Aaron Wells, Amit Jain, Thomas Wuerzer, Alark Joshi

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this paper, we present an experiment-based design to examine the dynamics of group decision making. The experiment-based design on group decision making that we put forth provides a path for understanding collective decision making. Understanding more about the dynamics of collective decision making will benefit public policy making and design of roundtable discussions, which can enhance communication and cooperation on important issues such as the design and placement of transportation infrastructure, hospitals facilities, and housing for the homeless, and many others.

Strategic Planning For Arts, Culture, And Entertainment Districts, Amanda J. Ashley

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Art, Cultural, and Entertainment (ACE) districts are an increasingly popular policy tool, marketing strategy, and targeted cultural investment for neighborhoods, cities, and regions in the United States. Public agencies, private groups, quasi-governmental bodies, and community-based organizations experiment with different types of ACE districts, typically with the intent of economic and community development. Districts are created by a variety of different types of people, from individual entrepreneurs and artists to more formal public/private partnerships.

Decision Making At The State And Local Level: Does Science Matter?, Susan G. Mason

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Science is believed to be an important part of public policy decision making because of its inherent characteristics of measurability, rigor, objectivity, replication, and peer review. The purpose of this research was to explore the linkage of science to public policy decision making. The research explores what state and local public offi cials know about science and how much they actually use science in their decision making. Interview results with public offi cials in the State of Idaho demonstrate that policy makers ultimately see science as only one element in the mix. Findings suggest that equal attention and debate should …

Cycling Willingness: Investigating Distance As A Dependent Variable In Cycling Behavior Among College Students, Thomas Wuerzer, Susan G. Mason

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present a novel approach to understanding distance as a barrier to cycling and its use as a dependent variable in multinomial logistic regression. In doing so, this study explores distances in relation to spatially and relevant human factors such as gender and propensity to cycle among college students. College students (N = 949) participated in a health survey and stated possible predictors of cycling based on their cycle usage and preferences in the previous 30 days. While utilizing GIS in a bicycle-friendly network, we created geo-statistical GIS-groupings and performed multinomial logistic regression analysis. We examined college students to discover …

The Effect Of Bike Lanes On Congestion And Ridership In Boise, Stephen Gustafon, Brooke Jardine, Keegan Curry, Jacob Morris, Tyler Rahmann

College of Business and Economics Presentations

This research project examines the effect of adding bike lanes in the downtown area of Boise and the impact it has on congestion as well as ridership. Cycling has become increasingly popular in major U.S metropolitan areas as an alternative form of transportation. The addition of bike lanes in downtown areas has been furiously debated in recent years. We will explore how bike lanes have affected congestion and ridership thus far in Boise, and in other regional cities of comparable size, Spokane, WA and Eugene, OR in hopes of determining the impact that the addition of bike lanes causes. Our …

Smart Growth In Two Contrastive Metropolitan Areas: A Comparison Between Portland And Los Angeles, Hongwei Dong, Pengyu Zhu

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study compares urban landscapes in the Portland and Los Angeles metropolitan areas at the neighbourhood level by operationalising six smart growth indices and mapping their spatial distribution patterns and time trends. Analysis results show that the two metropolitan areas have both strengths and weaknesses in different aspects of smart growth. Most neighbourhoods in both regions do not excel in all six smart growth measures: they are at the high ends of some smart growth indices but at the low ends of others. Some smart growth features such as mixed land use and mixed housing are already pervasive in suburban …

The Impact Of Telecommuting On Personal Vehicle Usage And Environmental Sustainability, Pengyu Zhu, Susan G. Mason

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

To understand whether telecommuting could be part of the policy solutions for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction in the transportation sector, this study uses instrumental variable Tobit models and data from 2001 and 2009 National Household Travel Surveys to explore whether telecommuting reduces or increases the daily work and non-work vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Our findings suggest telecommuters have more VMT for both daily work and non-work trips than non-telecommuters. Adding the findings that telecommuting has no impact on other non-working household member’s daily total (non-work) trips, we can possibly argue that households with telecommuter(s) tend to have higher daily total …

Does Residence In An Ethnic Community Help Immigrants In A Recession?, Pengyu Zhu, Cathy Yang Liu, Gary Painter

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research on how the residential segregation of immigrant populations has impacted their labor market outcomes presents many challenges because of the fact that immigrants often choose to locate near co-ethnics to share resources and cultural amenities. Because not all immigrants choose to live in these ethnic communities, identification of a causal effect on living in an ethnic community is problematic. The estimation of the effect of living in these ethnic communities is also difficult because it is ambiguous whether such residence will help or harm the labor market outcomes of immigrants. This study implements a number of approaches to help …

Making Time In Boise: Embracing The Befuddling City, Jaap Vos

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Boise has a penchant for being listed. In 2011, CNN Money listed Boise as the third-best retirement city. Last year, Forbes ranked Boise as the second-best city in the United States in which to raise a family. In July, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article stating that Boise was the seventh safest city in the U.S. According to the city’s economic development team, since 2008, Boise has made it onto more than 50 top-10 lists. While some of these lists are just plain silly, others are an indication of the qualities that make Boise a remarkable city. And although …

Predictors Of Cycling In College Students, Lynda B. Ransdell, Susan G. Mason, Thomas Wuerzer, Ka Man Leung

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objectives: To (1) assess cycling-related questions that have been added to the electronic version of the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment II (ACHA-NCHA), (2) examine cycling prevalence, and (3) identify predictors of cycling in college students. Participants: Predominately female (69%), undergraduate (89%), and white (85%) students (N = 949) from a large, urban, northwestern, bicycle-friendly university completed the electronic version of the ACHA-NCHA II. Methods: Thirty cycling-related questions were added to the ACHA-NCHA II and a subsample of questions was analyzed. Results: Cycling questions added to the ACHA-NCHA II scale were reliable …

Boise City-Nampa Msa Employment And Industry Analysis, Susan Mason, John Van Dyke, Pengyu Zhu, Debbie Kaylor, Phil Gardner

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report is the first component of a four-part study on skills alignment of Boise State University graduates and Boise City-Nampa Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) employers. This report frames the local economic and social environment through a demographic and socio-economic comparative analysis of the Boise City -Nampa MSA and 20 peer MSAs across the western United States. An employment analysis of the Boise City-Nampa MSA at the industry sector and industry sub-sector is also provided, identifying how the industry composition has changed following the Great Recession, which industries show area competitiveness through resilience to employment loss, if not growth, as …

Regional Influences On Political Identity: Canadian And U.S. Urban Comparisons, Susan Mason

Susan G. Mason

Scholars have expanded the academic literature to understand the way culture may influence politics but much less work has considered the influence of region on cities and individuals. The article uses existing data to examine whether liberalism is influenced by the region where individuals and cities are located. The study uses the boolean method and Hierarchical Linear Modeling to control for both individual and city level effects in 8 Canadian cities and 46 U.S. cities. The findings support the supposition that place still matters even in an era when globalization threatens to standardize much of what makes up our communities.

Regional Influences On Political Identity: Canadian And U.S. Urban Comparisons, Susan Mason

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Scholars have expanded the academic literature to understand the way culture may influence politics but much less work has considered the influence of region on cities and individuals. The article uses existing data to examine whether liberalism is influenced by the region where individuals and cities are located. The study uses the boolean method and Hierarchical Linear Modeling to control for both individual and city level effects in 8 Canadian cities and 46 U.S. cities. The findings support the supposition that place still matters even in an era when globalization threatens to standardize much of what makes up our communities.

Wayfinding In Boise, Thomas Wuerzer, Cherilyn Blender, Bradley Clark, Breland Draper, Paul Morrow, Andrew Mitzel, Alisha Peña

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

This document reviews the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of wayfinding within the Boise and downtown areas. This project was done in coordination with the City of Boise Parks & Recreation (Boise P&R) Department as an in-class Service Learning component of the Community and Regional Planning course “CRP 503 Plan Making and Implementation” at Boise State University.

The purpose of this project is to develop a quality set of findings and recommendations that adhere to accepted planning processes and sound methodology. The goal from the onset is to develop content that is broad-based, all-inclusive, and will be helpful to Boise …

Boise Bike Share Location Analysis, Thomas Wuerzer, Susan Mason, Riley Youngerman

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

In consultation with the Central District Health Department, the Community and Regional Planning program conducted a bike share analysis that locates and optimizes the number of bikes and bike share stations for a 2.25-mile radius in the Downtown Boise area. After examining several bike share projects in other cities and studies of their methodologies two analyses from Seattle, Washington and Los Angeles County, California proved helpful in developing the Boise Bike Share Location Analysis. Using GIS optimization analysis to determine the optimal number of bikes and bike stations resulted in 140 bikes and 14 stations as the optimal finding.

A Meta-Analysis Of Global Urban Land Expansion, Karen C. Seto, Michail Fragkias, Burak Güneralp, Michael K. Reilly

Michail Fragkias

The conversion of Earth's land surface to urban uses is one of the most irreversible human impacts on the global biosphere. It drives the loss of farmland, affects local climate, fragments habitats, and threatens biodiversity. Here we present a meta-analysis of 326 studies that have used remotely sensed images to map urban land conversion. We report a worldwide observed increase in urban land area of 58,000 km2 from 1970 to 2000. India, China, and Africa have experienced the highest rates of urban land expansion, and the largest change in total urban extent has occurred in North America. Across all regions …

Growing Closer : Density And Sprawl In The Boise Valley, Todd Shallat (Editor), Brandi Burns (Editor), Larry Burke (Editor)

Faculty & Staff Authored Books

How might we build modern cities as good as the neighborly places lost to suburbia's sprawl? Growing Closer surveys the housing patterns and trends. Sponsored by Boise State University, the anthology was written and produced by graduate and undergraduate students in the 2010 "Investigate Boise" field school on urban affairs.

Making Livable Places: Transportation, Preservation, And The Limits Of Growth, Todd Shallat, David Eberle, Larry Burke

Faculty & Staff Authored Books

Making Livable Places presents ten research essays on political and historical issues that shape metropolitan growth. Sponsored by Boise State University, the anthology was written and produced by graduate and undergraduate student researchers in the 2009 "Investigate Boise" field school on urban affairs.

"Social Science is civic engagement. Making Livable Places showcases a university's commitment to the pragmatic concerns of municipal government." Dean Melissa Lavitt, Boise State University College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs.

Minneapolis Zoning Code: Artist Live/Work Recommendations, Amanda G. Johnson

Amanda Johnson Ashley

In June 2005, the City of Minneapolis approved the Minneapolis Plan for Arts & Culture, led by the direction of the Minneapolis Arts Commission. It is a ten year strategic plan that “defines the role of the City of Minneapolis in supporting arts and culture, and the role of arts and culture in accomplishing the City's broader goals.” The City of Minneapolis, in the Planning Division of the Department of Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED), is undertaking a study of other cities’ practices to provide assistance to artists in different forms, through regulations and provision of assistance, services, and …