Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

What Drives Housing Choices Of Refugees And Immigrants?, Diane Mitschke, Anne Nordberg, Stephen Mattingly, Katherine Kitchens, Yasmin Al-Zubi, Farah Naz

TREC Project Briefs

When newcomers to the US initially settle, if their chosen location does not meet their expectations or needs, that often propels them to relocate. To determine what helps drive those transition decisions, the researchers interviewed people if they fulfilled one of these requirements:

• They were members of the Dallas County community who were planning to move in the next five years.

• They had recently (within the past five years) moved from their initial residence following their arrival in Dallas County.
• They also had to be immigrants to or refugees in the US who were at least eighteen years old. Out …

Housing Choice, Transportation Equity, And Access To Opportunities In Refugee And Immigrant Communities, Diane Mitschke, Anne Nordberg, Stephen Mattingly, Katherine Kitchens

TREC Final Reports

Mobility directly impacts access to opportunities for all protected classes; however, transportation planning and public transit agencies and housing authorities rarely coordinate affordable housing and the transportation system planning decisions. This lack of coordination often leads to mismatches between access to opportunities and affordable housing. Safe access to employment, quality schools, and healthcare represent a few of the many factors that may influence housing choice. For most households with budget constraints, all of these factors may not be achievable. While existing research documents the mismatch between affordable housing and access to opportunities, the role that mobility plays in residential selection …

App-Based Data Collection To Characterize Latent Transportation Demand Within Marginalized And Underserved Populations, Noelle L. Fields, Courtney Cronley, Stephen Mattingly, Nicole Iroz-Elardo, David Levine, Nithisha Gudipati, Cristine Highfill, Mary Kris Stringfelllow, Anna O'Dell, Rebecca Cole, Melody Huslage

TREC Final Reports

Our interdisciplinary team refined an app prototype, MyAmble, to gather data related to quantity of transportation disadvantage and latent demand, and to identify psycho-social-economic corollaries. MyAmble utilizes a traditional travel diary format but expands the type of trips measured to include 1) completed trips, 2) missed trips, and 3) latent travel demand. The app also measures the real-time perceived impact of transportation behaviors (realized and latent) on participants’ physical health, mental health, social engagement, and employment/academics. Finally, the app has a text-messaging feature, Travel Buddy, that is used to increase participant engagement and retention over longitudinal data collection. The project …

Alternative Shelter Evaluation Report, Jacen Greene, Todd Ferry, Emily Leickly, Franklin Holcomb Spurbeck

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

This report summarizes research by Portland State University’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative for the Joint Office of Homeless Services on the cost, participant experiences, and client outcomes in village-style and motel shelters as compared to each other and to traditional, congregate shelters.

Key Points In Preparation For Oregon Legislative Session (2024): Examining The Multifaceted Impacts Of Drug Decriminalization On Public Safety, Law Enforcement, And Prosecutorial Discretion, Kelsey S. Henderson, Christopher Campbell, Brian Renauer

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

These findings are part of a 3-year study to examine the impacts of possession of PCS law changes on: (1) law enforcement discretion, (2) prosecutorial decision-making, (3) courts/sentencing, and (4) public safety. The key findings, unless noted, represent statewide trends and impacts. Prior to M110, other statewide changes in policy, law, and historical events such as the COVID-19 lockdown/court backlog and public defense crisis also had important impacts on enforcement, prosecution/sentencing, and public safety outcomes. As such, data collected during the early implementation of M110 is not likely a reliable predictor of its ultimate impact. The data reported on below …

Understanding Connections Between Mobility, Transportation, And Quality Of Life In Refugee Communities In Tucson, Arizona, Orhon Myadar, Arlie Adkins, Maia Ingram, Nicole Iroz-Elardo

TREC Final Reports

In this multidisciplinary research project we aimed to study mobility challenges that refugees in Tucson, AZ, experience after their resettlement. Using qualitative and quantitative data collected from interviews and survey data, we argue that mobility shapes the ways refugees foster social connections, attain employment and access educational opportunities. Accordingly, barriers to mobility negatively impact refugees’ perception of well-being in post resettlement. However, these challenges are not experienced evenly. Nor are refugees passive subjects who lack agency in overcoming various barriers they experience. The study reveals the resilience of the refugee community in navigating the intersectional challenges they confront related to …

Extreme Heat Vulnerability Among Older Adults: A Multi-Level Risk Index For Portland, Oregon, Jacklyn N. Kohon, Katsuya Tanaka, Dani Himes, Paula Carder, Eiji Toda, Bryant Carlson

Institute on Aging Publications

Background and Objectives

Extreme heat is an environmental health equity concern disproportionately impacting low-income older adults and people of color. Exposure factors, such as living in rental housing and lack of air conditioning, and sensitivity factors, such as chronic disease and social isolation, increase mortality risk among older adults. Older persons face multiple barriers to adaptive heat mitigation, particularly for those living in historically temperate climates. This study measures two heat vulnerability indices to identify areas and individuals most vulnerable to extreme heat and discusses opportunities to mitigate vulnerability among older adults.

Research Design and Methods

We constructed two heat …

Psu Student Housing Insecurity Interim Report, Jacen Greene, Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative, Portland State University

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Project Background

This study on student housing insecurity and homelessness was funded as part of a HUD FY2023 Community Project Funding Opportunity awarded to Portland State University. Phase 1 of the study, which led to this report by PSU’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative (HRAC), includes a literature review; a summary of PSU student survey results; a description of PSU programs based on interviews with staff and administrators; an analysis of programs at other institutions; and a set of recommendations for better addressing student housing needs. Phase 2 of the study will include the results of a comprehensive …

82nd Avenue Tree Canopy Development, Amber Shackelford, Alvin Dimalanta, Caleb Susuras, Darby O'Brien, Eiji Toda

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The 82nd Avenue Tree Canopy Development project envisions a climate resilient corridor with abundant tree canopy on 82nd Avenue that contributes to a more sustainable Portland. It aims to develop a community-centered tree canopy plan to mitigate negative impacts caused by the current treeless streetscape. An evidence-based analysis will guide a tree planting framework along 82nd Avenue from I-84 to Foster-Powell. The final report will include policies supporting tree canopy development, strengthening the coalition's Portland Clean Energy Fund application, fostering collaboration between landowners and government agencies, and promoting tree preservation strategies.

Transportation Behavior Among Older Vietnamese Immigrants In The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex: Well-Being, Geospatial Mobility, And Potential Indicators For Ride Providers’ Geospatial Burden, Rebecca L. Mauldin, Stephen Mattingly, Mahshid Haque, John P. Connolly, Latisha Thomas, Zachary Tarbet, Farzana Chowdhury, Rupal Parekh

TREC Final Reports

Nearly 4.6 million immigrants aged 65 and older live in the United States. This population is expected to more than triple in size by 2050. A lack of culturally appropriate transportation solutions for older immigrants creates disparities in access to services for older immigrant populations, increasing their risk of social isolation and reduced physical and mental health. A growing number of older immigrants live in low-density urban environments, which are characterized by high automobile dependency and limited public transportation. In these environments, older immigrants are likely to depend on others to provide private transportation. Negative aspects of this reliance on …

Sustaining Multimodal Choices: Examining Travel Behavior For Non-Work Trips Beyond Covid-19, Yizhao Yang, Rebecca Lewis

TREC Final Reports

Increasing the usage of sustainable travel modes requires changes in both environmental and psychological dimensions. A knowledge gap exists concerning the mechanism via which various factors interact to shape travel decision. Gaining such knowledge requires our ability to examine people’s behavioral adjustment in reaction to environmental and psychological changes or interventions.

This project uses COVID-19 as a natural experiment, treating the significant disruption induced by the pandemic as an intervention to study changes in travel behaviors and adoption of different travel choices following the COVID pandemic. This project builds upon a 2020 study conducted by the PI’s. It adopts a …

Climate Change Policies And Older Adults: An Analysis Of States’ Climate Adaptation Plans, Bryant Carlson, Jacklyn N. Kohon, Paula Carder, Dani Himes, Eiji Toda, Katsuya Tanaka

Institute on Aging Publications

Background and Objectives

As climate change drives more frequent and intense weather events, older adults face disproportionate impacts, including having the highest mortality rates from storms, wildfires, flooding, and heat waves. State governments are critical in deploying local resources to help address climate change impacts. This policy study analyzes states’ climate adaptation plans to assess the methods through which they address the impact of climate change on older adults.

Research Design and Methods

This study uses content analysis to analyze available climate change adaptation plans for all U.S. states for strategies designed to increase resilience of older adults to impacts …

Pedestrian Behavior Study To Advance Pedestrian Safety In Smart Transportation Systems Using Innovative Lidar Sensors, Taylor Li, Sirisha M. Kothuri, Katherine L. Keeling, Xianfeng Terry Yang, Farzana R. Chowdhury

TREC Final Reports

Pedestrian safety is critical to improving walkability in cities. Although walking trips have increased in the last decade, pedestrian safety remains a top concern. In 2020, 6,516 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes, representing the most deaths since 1990 (NHTSA, 2020). Approximately 15% of these occurred at signalized intersections where a variety of modes converge, leading to the increased propensity of conflicts. Current signal timing and detection technologies are heavily biased towards vehicular traffic, often leading to higher delays and insufficient walk times for pedestrians, which could result in risky behaviors such as noncompliance. Current detection systems for pedestrians at …

Rural Gentrification And The Spillover Effect: Integrated Transportation, Housing, And Land Use Challenges And Strategies In Gateway Communities, Danya Rumore, Philip Stoker

TREC Final Reports

Small towns and cities near national parks, public lands, and other natural amenities throughout the West are experiencing rapid growth and increased visitation. These “gateway communities” comprise a significant portion of the rural West, constituting about 31% of all communities and more than 60% of those under 25,000 people. Our prior NITC-funded research shows that growth and increased tourism create a range of “big city challenges” for gateway communities, particularly a significant increase in housing prices, which pushes the local workforce to outlying areas and other rural communities. As a result, despite being small towns, many developed gateway communities have …

Network Effects Of Disruptive Traffic Events, Juan Medina, Xiaoyue Cathy Liu

TREC Final Reports

Current traffic management strategies are based on expected conditions caused by recurring congestion (e.g., by time of day, day of week), and can be very effective when provisions are also given for reasonable variations from such expectations. However, traffic variations due to non-recurrent events (e.g., crashes) can be much larger and difficult to predict, making also challenging efforts to identify, measure, and forecast their disruptive effects. This project explores a proactive approach to deploy a tool for managing non-recurrent congestion by identifying and quantifying the effects of disruptive traffic events at a microscopic level using a comprehensive set of data …

New Lidar System Pinpoints Pedestrian Behavior To Improve Eficiency And Safety At Intersections, Taylor Li, Sirisha M. Kothuri, Xianfeng Terry Yang

TREC Project Briefs

Pedestrian safety is critical to improving walkability in cities. To that end, NITC researchers have developed a system for collecting pedestrian behavior data using LiDAR sensors. Tested at two intersections in Texas and soon to be tested at another in Salt Lake City, Utah, the new software created by a multi-university research team is able to reliably observe pedestrian behavior and can help reduce conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles at signalized intersections. The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is already working on implementing this new LiDAR system to improve data collection at intersections.

Impacts Of Successive Drug Legislation Shifts: Qualitative Observations From Oregon Law Enforcement [Interim Report: Year One], Kelsey S. Henderson, Christopher M. Campbell, Brian Renauer

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report provides the initial findings of Year 1 of a multi year project to understand the effects of successive drug policy efforts in Oregon, with special focus given to Ballot Measure 110 (M110).

Related Report:
Key Points in Preparation for Oregon Legislative Session (2024): Examining the Multifaceted Impacts of Drug Decriminalization on Public Safety, Law Enforcement, and Prosecutorial Discretion (December 2023)

Enabling Decision-Making In Battery Electric Bus Deployment Through Interactive Visualization, Xiaoyue Cathy Liu, Gabrielius Kudirka, Biao Kuang, Yirong Zhou, Jianlin Chen

TREC Final Reports

The transit industry is rapidly transitioning to battery-electric fleets because of the direct environmental and financial benefits they could offer, such as zero emissions, less noise, and lower maintenance costs. Yet the unique spatiotemporal characteristics associated with transit system charging requirements, as well as various objectives when prioritizing the fleet electrification, requires the system operators and/or decision-makers to fully understand the status of the transit system and energy/power system in order to make informed deployment decisions. A recently completed NITC project, No. 1222 titled An Electric Bus Deployment Framework for Improved Air Quality and Transit Operational Efficiency, developed a bi-objective …

Resurfacing A Trail In Oregon Using Volcanic Ash, Charles Riley, Ashton Greer

TREC Project Briefs

In the latest instance of taking research to practice, researchers at Oregon Tech have completed a pilot section of trail using a NITC-developed sustainable paving method. A quarter-mile section of the Klamath Geo Trail, just east and up the hill from the Oregon Tech Klamath Falls campus, has been successfully resurfaced using volcanic ash from Mount Mazama.

Applying A Mt. Mazama Volcanic Ash Treatment As A Trail Accessibility Improvement, Charles Riley, Ashton Greer, Matthew D. Sleep

TREC Final Reports

A procedure has been developed for implementing a topically applied Mt. Mazama volcanic ash trail surface amendment for improving trail firmness and stability. This project involved implementation of previously conducted Mt. Mazama volcanic research by applying a Mazama Ash and Portland Cement solution over a 0.2-mile section of the Geo Trail at the Oregon Institute of Technology Klamath Falls campus. Testing was performed to verify ideal Ash-to-Cement-to-Water ratios. A procedure was developed and applied for batching and mixing the dry materials on-site, spreading and integrating the dry material with the existing trail surface, and wetting and compacting the surface. After …

Pedestrian Wayfinding Under Consideration Of Visual Impairment, Blindness, And Deafblindness: A Mixed-Method Investigation Into Individual Experiences And Supporting Elements, Martin Swobodzinski, Amy T. Parker, Elizabeth Schaller, Denise Snow

TREC Final Reports

In this report we discuss to-date findings of a project that aimed at assessing individual and environmental affordances in the context of human pedestrian wayfinding of visually impaired, blind, and deafblind travelers in public spaces. Our project afforded collaboration, co-design, and co-creation of knowledge between the investigators, partners at the American Printing House of the Blind and GoodMaps, the Portland State University Digital City Testbed Center, and members of the disability community. The objective of the project was to better understand how different wayfinding aids, that is, wayfinding apps, tactile maps, and verbal route descriptions, are employed by visually impaired, …

Accessing Opportunities For Household Provisioning Post-Covid-19, Kelly Clifton, Amanda Howell, Kristina M. Currans, Gabriella Abou-Zeid, Max Nonnamaker, Paula C. Carder

TREC Final Reports

In this project, we used a mixed-methods study to collect critical information to evaluate the extent to which people modified their shopping behavior, either by choice or necessity, to meet their provisioning needs during the COVID-19 crisis and the following recovery. First, four waves of a cross-sectional survey were administered online to a representative sample of households in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington. This longitudinal, comparative study responded directly to a critical research gap and advanced behavioral science by providing a rich survey dataset to support and test theories of behavioral change and technology adoption. Second, focus groups were …

Portland State And The Downtown Portland Plan - 50 Years Later With Ethan Seltzer, Ethan Seltzer

PDXPLORES Podcast

Fifty years ago, the City of Portland developed a plan for the downtown corridor with a radical vision of what a central city could be. The downtown we know today is the result of that plan. In this episode of PDXPLORES, Professor Emeritus Ethan Seltzer discusses the 1972 downtown plan and how Portland State evolved into an urban-serving university alongside the downtown corridor.

Click on the "Download" button to access the accompanying article Portland, Portland State, and the Urban University Idea.

Transcript for audio below as additional file.

Link to city archive documents

https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/oscdl_cityarchives/

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …