Urban Studies Commons^™

Is Public Transit's 'Green' Reputation Deserved?, Justin Beaudoin

PSU Transportation Seminars

While public transit has a reputation as a potential means to ameliorate the adverse environmental effects of automobile travel, there have been very few empirical studies of the marginal effect of transit supply on air quality. We explore whether any of the substantial improvement in air quality observed in the U.S. from 1991 to 2011 can be attributed to increased public transit supply by developing an equilibrium model of transit and automobile travel volumes as a function of the level of transit supplied. We then empirically analyze the effects of the level of transit supply on observed ambient pollution levels …

Incorporate Emerging Travel Modes In The Regional Strategic Planning Model (Rspm) Tool, Liming Wang, Joseph Broach, Huajie Yang

TREC Final Reports

Performance-based planning helps local and state decision makers to understand the potential impacts of policy decisions, supporting cost-effective investments and policy choices that can help achieve policy goals. In addition, it can enable monitoring of progress and facilitate needed adjustments, help them communicate to the public, and assist them with meeting federal regulations and the intent of MAP21. The Regional Strategic Planning Model (RSPM) is a performance-based planning tool first developed by Oregon State DOT (as GreenSTEP) and later adapted for use by other states in the form of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Emissions Reduction Policy Analysis Tool (EERPAT) …

Where Do Riders Park Dockless, Shared Electric Scooters? Findings From San Jose, California, Kevin Fang, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Jeremy Steele, John Joseph Hunter, Ashley M. Hooper

Mineta Transportation Institute

Dockless, shared, electric kick-scooters started popping up on U.S. city streets without warning in 2017. Reaction to the shared scooters came swiftly and strongly. On the one hand, the scooters have proven popular with riders, attracting investment capital and expanding service to additional cities. But others have been less enthusiastic, with a central complaint being how shared scooters are parked.

This perspective explores the extent to which parked shared scooters pose a problem to others on streets, sidewalks, and public spaces, using empirical evidence documenting where scooters have been parked in downtown San Jose, California.

Modeling For New Modes: Autonomous Vehicles & Shared Rides, Liming Wang, Joseph Broach, Huajie Yang

TREC Project Briefs

Performance-based planning helps local and state decision makers to understand the potential impacts of policy decisions, supporting cost-effective investments and policy choices that can help achieve policy goals. In addition, it can enable monitoring of progress and facilitate needed adjustments, help them communicate to the public, and assist them with meeting federal regulations and the intent of MAP21. The Regional Strategic Planning Model (RSPM) is a performance-based planning tool first developed by Oregon State DOT (as GreenSTEP) and later adapted for use by other states in the form of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Emissions Reduction Policy Analysis Tool (EERPAT) …

Webinar: Addressing Bicycle-Vehicle Conflicts With Alternate Signal Control Strategies, Sirisha Kothuri

TREC Webinar Series

There is nationwide interest in supporting sustainable and active transportation modes such as bicycling and walking due to the many benefits associated with them, including reduced congestion, lower emissions and improved health. Although the number of bicyclists is increasing, safety remains a top concern. In urban areas, a common crash type involving bicycles at intersections is the “right hook” where a right-turning vehicle collides with a through bicyclist. While geometric treatments and pavement markings have been studied, there is a lack of research on signal timing treatments to address right-hook bicycle-vehicle conflicts.

Addressing Bicycle-Vehicle Conflicts with Alternate Signal Control Strategies …

Transportation Behavior Change...Now With Science!, Jessica Roberts

PSU Transportation Seminars

How can we encourage people to make use of the transportation systems in place - to improve transit ridership and, in turn, to improve the health and happiness of our societies?

New findings in behavioral science could unlock new, more effective ways to change transportation behavior...but only if we have a way to find and use that evidence. TransLink (Vancouver BC) undertook a groundbreaking research effort to use cognitive biases to explain why people drive today, and and to identify possible "nudge" strategies to shift those trips to transit and active modes. The resulting report includes brand-new ideas that area …

Oregon Demographic Trends, Charles Rynerson

Publications, Reports and Presentations

This presentation was part of a session called "Demographic Change: Potential Impact in Oregon and the Workplace." Nick Beleiciks, State of Oregon Employment Department Economist, was a co-presenter in the session.

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (Ecmo) Access In The 30 Largest U.S. Metros, Kaylie Pattni, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown

Lincy Institute Reports and Briefs

This Fact Sheet highlights the locations and availability of ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) medical capacity in the 30 largest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). Using the ELSO (Extracorporeal Life Support Organization) registry,1 the Table that follows shows all registered ELSO hospitals in the top 30 MSAs, and their respective type(s) of ECMO access.

Segment: Applicability Of An Existing Segmentation Technique To Tdm Social Marketing Campaigns In The United States, Philip L. Winters, Amy Lester, Minh Pham

TREC Final Reports

Social marketing seeks to develop and integrate marketing concepts with other approaches to influence behaviors that benefit individuals and communities for the greater social good. Social marketing is a useful transportation demand management (TDM) planning approach to promote travel-behavior change. The purpose of this study was to explore a consumer market segmentation technique (SEGMENT) successfully used in Europe for its applicability to social marketing campaigns in the United States. Major contributions of this project are the validation of a successful existing segmentation technique for applicability in the United States, which will maximize the impact of TDM social marketing campaigns on …

Housing Segregation And Resistance In Portland, Oregon, Carmen P. Thompson

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Local researchers Greta Smith, Melissa Cornelius Lang, and Leanne Serbulo gathered at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, Oregon, for a public history roundtable discussion moderated by Carmen P. Thompson, adjunct professor of Black studies and African American History at Portland State University. Inspired by the fiftieth anniversary of the federal Fair Housing Act, these researchers have uncovered and analyzed new sources related to the history of housing segregation — and resistance to that discrimination — in Portland, Oregon. This is a record of that event.

Small Steps On The Long Journey To Equality: A Timeline Of Post-Legislation Civil Rights Struggles In Portland, Leanne Claire Serbulo

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Leanne Serbulo presented a timeline of civil rights struggles in Portland, Oregon, at a public history roundtable at the Oregon Historical Society commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. In this record of her presentation, Serbulo documents milestones in dismantling racial discrimination between 1949 and 1990. For this timeline, Serbulo researched Metropolitan Human Relations Commission (MHRC) records held at the Portland City Archives and traces how the commission navigated the process of improving race relations in the city and Multnomah County. As Serbulo argues, “civil rights legislation was simply the first step in a long and unfinished …

Marginalized Migrants And Urbanization In Southeast Asia, George Wong, George Wong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Asia is now the region with the largest movements of migrants in the world. International migration within Asia accounts for a significant proportion of those mobilities, with Southeast Asia a highly popular destination region. Within this zone, Thailand, Brunei and Malaysia receive the highest levels of migrants. The city-state of Singapore, however, tops the list, with the highest total population of international migrant arrivals, and about 53 per cent of its foreign resident population coming from other parts of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region. Most migrants who move transnationally migrate to engage in low waged dirty, dangerous and …

Examining The Development Effects Of Modern-Era Streetcars: An Assessment Of Portland And Seattle, Jeffrey Brown, Joel Mendez

Mineta Transportation Institute

Most U.S. cities pursuing streetcars are doing so primarily for their purported development effects, as opposed to for their transportation role, yet there is little evidence about the nature or magnitude of these development effects due to a scarcity of rigorous, empirical research. Most available work simply presents descriptive information about development outcomes (typically measured as changes in population, employment, land values, or permit activity) within streetcar corridors as indicators of the streetcar’s development effects. Alternate factors which may have influenced such results are often not considered, placing into question the validity of such measures.

This study examines the development …

Barriers To “New Mobility”: A Community-Informed Approach To Smart Cities Technology, Aaron Golub, Vivian Satterfield

PSU Transportation Seminars

There is an active debate about the potential costs and benefits of emerging “smart mobility” systems, especially in how they will serve communities already facing transportation challenges. This presentation will describe the results of an assessment of these equity impacts in the context of lower-income areas of Portland, Oregon, based on a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research.

Portland, Oregon’s proposal for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge, “Ubiquitous Mobility for Portland,” focuses on developing mobility solutions that would serve traditionally underserved populations (low-income, communities of color, and residents with mobility challenges). This study found that by lowering …

Communicating Livability: Changing Public Behavior, Deboarh Morrison, Autumn Shaffer, Rebecca Lewis, Hannah Lewman

TREC Project Briefs

Livability of place is a central theme in developing concepts about transit ridership. In order to develop strategy for a compelling public communication campaign to increase transit ridership, this project frames the connections between livability and transit and offers a set of public campaign examples. A national survey taken of riders provides possible message strategies. With this information, a creative strategy team was tasked with developing a strategy for messaging and developed the Green Rider profile. Recommendations for creative direction and further study are offered.

Framing Livability: A Strategic And Creative Communication Approach To Improving Support For Public Transportation In Oregon, Deboarh Morrison, Autumn Shaffer, Rebecca Lewis, Hannah Lewman

TREC Final Reports

Livability of place is a central theme in developing concepts about transit ridership. In order to develop strategy for a compelling public communication campaign to increase transit ridership, this project frames the connections between livability and transit and offers a set of public campaign examples. A national survey taken of riders provides possible message strategies. With this information, a creative strategy team was tasked with developing a strategy for messaging and developed the Green Rider profile. Recommendations for creative direction and further study are offered.

Opportunities And Limits For Mayoral–Public Employee Union Collaborations: The Case Of The De Blasio Administration In New York City, 2013–2017, Elizabeth C. Eisenberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation sheds light on how the relations between public employees’ unions and the de Blasio administration shape the design and implementation of local policies in areas of particular concern to public workers. It asks how public sector labor-management relations and public sector employee unions’ political influence affect this mayoral administration’s efforts at policy innovation and administrative practice. In particular, how, if at all, do public employee unions shape the administration’s decisions about the balance between providing public services directly versus contracting them out to nongovernmental organizations? How do these relations affect the direction of institutional reform? This project does …

Trec/Oapa Webinar: Authentic Community Engagement, Eryn Kehe, Wendy Serrano

TREC Webinar Series

This webinar will provide practical tools for designing effective and authentic community engagement for transportation projects. Too often, we can forget to ask ourselves who, what and why for our engagement processes. Authentic community engagement requires us to think through exactly why we need to involve the public, how they can influence project decisions and who the most impacted people may be. This session will walk you through the steps to plan a unique engagement approach for each project and share examples of what can happen when these tools are used correctly and what can go wrong when they are …

Flood Resilience Community Outreach Using The Asert Framework, Michelle Covi, Wie Yusuf, Carol Considine, Gail Nicula, Afi Anuar, Makayla Brown

Presentations, Lectures, Posters, Reports

Report on a program for public engagement meetings using the ASERT (Action-oriented Stakeholder Engagement for a Resilient Tomorrow) framework to solicit resident input into the City of Virginia Beach’s Comprehensive Sea Level Rise and Recurrent Flooding Analysis and Planning Study. A series of community meetings from December 2017-January 2018 took the form of a “Flood Resilience Game Night” with five stations in which residents could participate in activities to earn stamps on a game card.

Activity Pattern Of School/University Tenants And Their Family Members In Metro Manila – Philippines, Simonas Kecorius, Everlyn Gale Tamayo, Maria Cecilia Galvez, Leizel Madueño, Grace Betito, Mylene Gonzaga-Cayetano, Edgar Vallar, Alfred Wiedensohler

Physics Faculty Publications

Existing studies that focus on personal exposure to or the deposition dose of particulate pollution in developing regions are limited. Hence, in this study, as a first step, we present results on how people spend their daily time in Metro Manila, Philippines. This information is critical to assessing personal exposure to and the deposition dose of particulate pollutants. We found that people spend less time at home on workdays than weekends (52% versus 70%), the fraction of time spent at work/school increases with age until retirement, adult males spend less time at home than females (18% versus 28%), and people …

Quasi-Experimental Comparison Design For Evaluating The Mayor’S Action Plan For Neighborhood Safety. Map Evaluation Update Number 1., Sheyla A. Delgado, Wogod Alawlaqi, Richard A. Espinobarros, Laila Alsabahi, Anjelica Camacho, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

This is the first of six updates presenting interim findings from the evaluation of the NYC Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP). As part of an evaluation of the New York City Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP), the John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center created methods to assemble various outcome measures about participating NYCHA MAP developments. The team also utilized statistical procedures to select a matched comparison group of NYCHA housing developments not participating in MAP. Differences in outcomes between the 17 MAP and 17 non-MAP housing developments will serve as the statistical basis for estimating …

Webinar: Meeting & Exceeding Mobility User Expectations With Real-Time Transit Information, Sean J. Barbeau, Derek Fretheim

TREC Webinar Series

Every day transit riders ask the same question: when’s the next one coming? To answer this question, transit agencies are transitioning to providing real-time transit information through smartphones or displayed at transit stops.

The proliferation of transit planning and real time arrival tools that have hit the market over the past decade is staggering. Yet with transit ridership on the decline, agencies can’t afford to ignore the importance of providing accurate, real time information to their customers. Real-time transit information improves the reliability and efficiency of passenger travel, but barriers have prevented some transit agencies from adopting the GTFSrealtime v1.0 …

Toward A Blue Economy : A Pathway For Sustainable Growth In Bangladesh, Pawan G. Patil, John Virdin, Charles Colgan, M Gulam Hussain, Pierre Failler, Amaya Vega

Publications

This report aims to synthesize the current theory and practice of the blue economy concept to govern economic activity linked to the ocean, and to provide a framework for the Government of Bangladesh to analyze its potential. With the peaceful resolution of maritime boundary disputes with its neighbors in 2012 and 2014, the Government has recently defined the ocean space under its jurisdiction and prioritized its use as a key source of future economic growth. The Government has prioritized the use of these spaces as a key source of future growth. However, a number of questions remain in embarking on …

Understanding The Accessibility, Economic And Social Equity Impacts Of Urban Greenway Infrastructure, Jenny Hsing-I Liu, Wei Shi

TREC Final Reports

“City Greenways” is a concept proposed as a part of Portland’s 2035 Comprehensive Plan, which calls for a citywide network of park-like pedestrian and bicycle friendly streets crisscrossing the city at roughly three-mile intervals. This research establishes several approaches to measure the transportation network impact of the “City Greenways” and relate bicycle network measures to economic and social equity outcomes. Expanding upon existing literature, we derived three sets of bicycle accessibility measures (BAMs). They are distance-based BAM, destinationbased BAM, and low-stress network-based BAM, which incorporate different components of a comprehensive bicycle network. The distancebased BAM measures accessibility of the active …

Saying "No" To (The) Oxygen Capital? Amenity Migration, Counter-Territorialization, And Uneven Rural Landscape Change In The Kaz Dağları (Ida Mountains) Of Western Turkey, Patrick T. Hurley, Yılmaz Arı

Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Diverse forms of conservation and development are transforming the material landscapes and related livelihoods of communities in rural places around the world. While many studies focus on changing protected area governance and ecotourism efforts associated with nature protection, other studies focus on residential development in areas experiencing amenity migration. We use a comparative political ecology approach that draws on key insights from the political ecology literature, first, on neoliberal protected area expansion, and, second, on exurbia that highlight the dynamics of competing rural capitalisms and reterritorialization in areas experiencing amenity migration to explore these coupled conservation and development dynamics. Drawing …

Urban Greenway Infrastructure: Economic And Social Impacts, Jenny Hsing-I Liu, Wei Shi

TREC Project Briefs

“City Greenways” is a concept proposed as a part of Portland’s 2035 Comprehensive Plan, which calls for a citywide network of park-like pedestrian and bicycle friendly streets crisscrossing the city at roughly three-mile intervals. This research establishes several approaches to measure the transportation network impact of the “City Greenways” and relate bicycle network measures to economic and social equity outcomes. Expanding upon existing literature, we derived three sets of bicycle accessibility measures (BAMs). They are distance-based BAM, destinationbased BAM, and low-stress network-based BAM, which incorporate different components of a comprehensive bicycle network. The distancebased BAM measures accessibility of the active …

Knappa School District Enrollment Forecast 2018-19 To 2027-28, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Charles Rynerson

School District Enrollment Forecast Reports

This report presents district-wide enrollment forecasts by grade level for the Knappa School District for the 20 year period between 2007-08 and 2027-28. The report also includes the population, housing, social and economic profile Knappa School District 1 as well as the 2000 and 2010 census profile for the school district.

Losing Its Way: The Landmarks Preservation Commission In Eclipse, Jeffrey A. Kroessler

Publications and Research

New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission has an admirable history of protecting the city's historic character. Increasingly in recent years, the commission has backed away from proactively designated sites of historical, architectural, or cultural significance as city landmarks. At the same time, the commission has shown greater deference to the owner of a property when deciding whether to designate, and to the wishes of the owners of designated properties in matters of regulation, notwithstanding that owner consent is nowhere in the landmarks law. At the same time, the commission has introduced new definitions, such as “period of significance,” contributing/non-contributing, and …

Survey Of Owners Of Electric And Hybrid Vehicles In Oregon, John Macarthur, Michael Harpool, Daniel Scheppke

TREC Project Briefs

The market for electric vehicles (EVs) is changing dramatically in the United States. Federal and state policies have been adopted to promote research and development in EV technology and to increase the number of EVs available in order to support increasing rates of EV ownership. The state of Oregon has one of the highest per-capita EV sales markets in the country. However, much is to be done if Oregon is to reach their ambitious goal of complete electrification of the private automobile industry by 2050. The goal of this study is to illuminate some of the current challenges and opportunities …

Portland Public Schools Enrollment Forecasts, 2018-19 To 2032-33: Based On October 2017 Enrollments, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Charles Rynerson, Joshua Ollinger

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, estimates of the number of PPS students by housing type, and annual forecasts of enrollment for a 15 year horizon, from 2018‐19 to 2032‐33. Enrollment forecasts were prepared under high, middle, and low scenarios for the District. Forecasts for attendance areas by place of residence and for individual schools are consistent with the middle district‐wide forecast.