Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

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.

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.

Estimating The Economic Impacts Of Transportation-Related Supply Chain Disruptions In The Post-Earthquake Environment, Divya Chandrasekhar, Sua Kim, John Downen, Joshua Spolsdoff

TREC Final Reports

Transportation systems play a critical role in maintaining supply chains for effective post-disaster recovery. Modeling the potential economic impact of transportation-related disruptions, therefore, is an important step to promoting pre-event community wide recovery and resilience planning. But existing supply chain and economic impact models are cost prohibitive and overly sophisticated for use by public sector entities with limited resources. There is also limited understanding of how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) adjust to post-disaster transportation disruption and how this experience influences their future preparedness for similar events. This project had two objectives: (1) to analyze the economic impact due to …

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 …

Citizens' Preferences On Green Infrastructure Practices And Their Enhancement In Portland, Oregon, Katsuya Tanaka, Hal T. Nelson, Nicholas Mccullar, Nishant Parulekar

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

Green infrastructure (GI) has been gaining increasing attention due to its efficiency in controlling and purifying urban stormwater runoff, creating environmental amenities, and biodiversity conservation. Nevertheless, the existing knowledge of people's preferences for GI is not yet sufficient for evidence-based policymaking for enhancing GI. This study analyzes citizens' perceptions of the relative importance of six GI practices and estimates their willingness to pay (WTP) to enhance them. To this end, the study applies two types of stated preference methods (best-worst scaling and contingent valuation) to citizen survey data collected in Portland, Oregon. We found that GI practices that are more …

A Community-Informed Exploration Of Immigrants' Pandemic Experiences With Pronoy Rai, Pronoy Rai

PDXPLORES Podcast

During the pandemic, many of the region's frontline workers were, and continue to be, members of immigrant communities. Assistant Professor Pronoy Rai has partnered with members of these communities and community-serving non-profit organizations to gain a better understanding of the immigrant experience of the pandemic and pandemic recovery. A human geographer, Professor Rai's research aims to improve policy and policy outcomes. Rai's work is supported by PSU's Metropolitan Engaged Research Initiative and Community-Engaged Research Academy.

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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 …

Transportation Mode Choice Behavior In The Era Of Autonomous Vehicles: The Application Of Discrete Choice Modeling And Machine Learning, Sangwan Lee

Dissertations and Theses

New mobility technologies, such as shared mobility services (e.g., car-sharing) and, more importantly, autonomous vehicles (AVs), continue to evolve. The supply-side advancement will likely disrupt and transform transportation mode choice behaviors, and create a new paradigm since they are emerging and becoming increasingly feasible alternatives to the existing modes of transportation. Accordingly, this dissertation employs discrete choice modeling (DCM) and machine learning (ML) using a U.S. nationwide stated choice experiment to understand how travelers adopt new transportation modes or continue to use conventional modes of transportation.

This dissertation consists of three papers. The first examines future market shares of each …

A Walk In The Park: A Spatial Analysis Of Crime And Portland Parks, Cheyenne Pamela Hodgen

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis presents two individual research papers that examine the relationship between greenspaces and crime in Portland, Oregon. The two papers use an adapted street network buffer to better measure crime concentration around discrete locations. This methodological development allows for an improved measure of crime concentration around discrete locations.

The first contribution, explores the relationship between different greenspace types and crime, breaking down different crime types into discrete categories. The results of this study suggest that overall, Portland greenspaces do not experience a concentration of crime, however, different patterns emerge as greenspace and crime types are disaggregated. Only one greenspace …

Masthead: Spring 2022, Tyler Wolfe

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

No abstract provided.

Message From The Editor, Tyler Wolfe

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

No abstract provided.

Foreword To The Hatfield Graduate Journal Of Public Affairs: Volume 6 Issue 1, Rohan Khanvilkar

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

No abstract provided.

Regional Decision-Making In Oregon’S Area Commissions On Transportation, Cole P. Grisham

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

Long after other areas of Oregon had already done so, the local agencies in the Portland region served by the Oregon Department of Transportation decided to form a regional Area Commission on Transportation. Why they decided to do so and what caused local agencies to delay forming one until long after other regions was not immediately clear. In this article, I examine the policy documents around the formation of the Region 1 ACT and how its policy history represents wider historical trends on regional transportation decision making nationally. To do so, I describe Oregon’s regional policy making structure followed by …

Oregon's Senate Joint Resolution 12: Understanding The Implications Of A Constitutional Right To Healthcare, Anna Starr, Mpp

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

Problems persist throughout the U.S. healthcare system including exorbitant costs, poor health scores, high rates of uninsured, and lack of access to services among marginalized groups. Among many proposed solutions is a constitutional provision to healthcare. Largely based in ethics, healthcare as a right is also expected by many to improve health outcomes. However, while constitutional provisions for healthcare are found in countries around the world, empirical research results are limited and mixed at best. In the wake of social justice movements and resurgence of vibrant conversations about human rights, and with international pressure mounting for the U.S. to follow …

Governmental Persuasion Strategies On Social Media During Covid-19: A Comparative Study Of The Us And China, Fan Wang

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

This study compared persuasive strategies of the governments of the U.S. and China during a public health crisis using social media messages. Collecting data with R and Python from two national public health sectors' official accounts on Twitter (N = 1,630) and Sina Weibo (N = 3,554), the researcher investigated how the organizations' messages reflected Cialdini's seven principles of persuasion and whether other emergent messaging patterns occurred. According to the different phases that the two countries had gone through during the pandemic, the researcher also conducted a pooled times series analysis to investigate the relationship between the frequency of daily …

Accounting's Problematic Relationship To Legitimacy: A Review Of The Critical Literature, David Maddox

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

Accounting is the practice of measuring, documenting, and reporting on the economic dimensions of an organization, institution, or activity. Traditional views of accounting see it as a value-free technique to provide information for decision-making, and as such, compliance with standard accounting practices bestows legitimacy. In the 1970s and 1980s, critiques of the view of accounting as a neutral tool for rational decision-making emerged. These critical studies of accounting identified ways in which accounting was constitutive of reality rather than reflective, submerged conflicts and depoliticized internal relationships under a unitary image of the entity, provided tools of visibility that contributed to …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Prioritizing Transit In Portland: Checking In On The Rose Lanes Project, Nathan Mcneil, April Bertelsen, Jaime Jeffrey, Jaime Snook

PSU Transportation Seminars

Transit priority lanes restrict access to certain lanes, prioritizing transit movement, while sometimes allowing for other users or specific actions - for example shared bus and bike lanes, or shared bus and right-turn lanes. Red coloring is sometimes used to reinforce the transit priority with the goal of improving the reliability, safety and compliance with the lane restrictions. The City of Portland and TriMet have been working with partners to use these tools to improve mobility and transit access under the Enhanced Transit Corridors Plan and Rose Lanes Project. This presentation will report back on early lessons learned as …

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 …

The Rise Of Neo-Fascist Populism And Islamophobia In The West, Mohamed Tawfiq Said Tabib

Dissertations and Theses

Trumpism can be defined as racist right-wing neo-fascist populism and nativism combined with a cult of personality. There is very little distinction between neo-fascists, the alt-right, and far-right groups. All can be identified by their socio-political philosophy and vehement beliefs of racial supremacy, ultranationalism, populism, xenophobia, nativism, and anti-immigrant sentiment, as well as being opposed to liberal Western democracy and its values. This thesis explores why there has been a popular international resurgence of far-right neo-fascist movements throughout the European Union and the United States and examines the impact on inter-group social and political relations with those of different racial …

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 …

Farmworker Voices: Contesting & Renegotiating Essential Status During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jennifer Martinez

Student Research Symposium

This study draws on a subset of thirty individuals that took part in the community-driven Oregon COVID-19 Farmworker Study to analyze how farmworkers interpreted the contradictory label essential worker. Using discourse analysis, this article examines how these peasant workers drew on their embodied experiences working throughout the pandemic to give meaning to their essential designation. The data suggest that farmworkers were tacitly aware of the contradictions between their labeling as indispensable and their disposable treatment on the ground. Farmworkers generally felt unrecognized, underpaid, and felt exposed to COVID-19 infection in addition to everyday workplace hazards. While the essential title was …

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 …