Urban Studies Commons^™

Safe Speeds Save Lives: How Portland Is Managing Speeds For Safety, Matt Kelly

PSU Transportation Seminars

Speed is a key factor in how people experience Portland’s streets. Appropriate speeds help prevent crashes, reduce the harmful consequences of crashes, and can help streets become more comfortable and sociable spaces that support a variety of travel modes and uses. The Portland Bureau of Transportation will share information on how the City of Portland is supporting safe travel speeds through its Vision Zero work. Topics will include the left turn calming pilot project, speed safety cameras, speed limit reductions, and road reorganizations. Data on the results of these interventions will be shared, along with discussion of next steps for …

A Leadership Change. A Culture Shift...And A Police Riot: The Story Of How The Highest College Going High School In San Francisco Became The Lowest Graduating School In The District, Emmanuel Padilla

Master's Theses

Thurgood Marshall Academic High School, located in San Francisco’s Bayview, Hunters Point, scored the third lowest in the most recent Academic Performance Index (API) Report. Based on the median household income, the Bayview is a low-income community and according to San Francisco data, is a high crime neighborhood. The odds are against Marshall to provide exceptional service to their students, but it once did. In 2001, Marshall had the highest college-going rate in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). Today, only 20% of its student body would be considered college ready. This study will look into what happened to …

Webinar: Connected Vehicle System Design For Signalized Arterials, Xianfeng Terry Yang

TREC Webinar Series

It can be expected that connected vehicles (CVs) systems will soon go beyond testbed and appear in real-world applications. To accommodate a large number of connected vehicles on the roads, traffic signal control systems on signalized arterials would require supports of various components such as roadside infrastructure, vehicle on-board devices, an effective communication network, and optimal control algorithms. In this project, we aim to establish a real-time and adaptive system for supporting the operations of CV-based traffic signal control functions. The proposed system will prioritize the communication needs of different types of CVs and best utilize the capacity of the …

What Does A "Just" Local Food System Look Like? Views From Worcester In A Changing Climate, Marguerite Cawley

Capstone Collection

Food and climate are closely intertwined, with the high-emissions U.S. industrial food system contributing to climate change, while a changing climate produces new food system vulnerabilities, which will particularly impact those of the least means. This research is premised on the need to transform our food system, and to define what this vision looks like at the local level, while centering questions of power, justice and rights. It explores how groups, organizations and individuals engaged in local food system change envision transformation and understand corresponding social justice concerns, in a changing climate. It looks at opportunities for food and climate …

Can Cities Be Feminist? A Cross-National Analysis Of Factors Affecting Local Female Representation In Latin America, Katie Davis

Honors Theses

Women are underrepresented in mayor’s offices and on city councils across Latin America. In this paper, I examine gender-based differences in individual opinions toward running for office in Argentina and Uruguay, as well as conduct a twenty-six country analysis on factors related to female representation in municipal government. Based on these analyses, I make three main conclusions about female local representation in Latin America. The first conclusion is that women in Latin America are significantly less likely to want to run or feel qualified to run for office. The second conclusion is that cross-national variation in the percentage of female …

Creating And Using A Publicly Available Multimodal Transportation Data Archive, Tammy Lee, Kristin A. Tufte

PSU Transportation Seminars

PORTAL provides a centralized, electronic database that facilitates the collection, archiving, and sharing of data and information for public agencies within the region. The data stored in PORTAL includes 20-second granularity loop detector data from freeways in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region, arterial signal data, travel time data, weather data, incident data, VAS/VMS message data, truck volumes, transit data, and arterial signal data. Many of these data feeds are received by PORTAL in real time or on a daily basis and for most, the retrieval and archiving process is fully automated.

BikePed Portal: Jurisdictions around the country are collecting non-motorized …

When Nature Invades: Resident Perceptions Of The Austerity-Driven "Rewilding" Of An Urban Park In Rock Island, Illinois, Christian S. B. Elliott

Anthropology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

In an era of rapid urbanization, changing climate, and increasing political division, parks represent increasingly important places for urban residents to interact with and feel connected to the natural environment and receive a number of mental and physical health benefits. Unfortunately, in an age of austerity politics, parks and recreation departments in Midwest Rust Belt cities often lack adequate funding to maintain such public spaces. Recently, the business-minded Rock Island, Illinois Department of Parks and Recreation has implemented a creative cost-saving management solution: “naturalizing” sections of its city parks. This interdisciplinary study uses a mixed methods approach to discover how …

Refugee Housing In Worcester: A Neighborhood Case Study Of Bell Hill, Tyler Seth Maren

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper examines refugee resettlement practices at the neighborhood level, asking what neighborhood characteristics are conducive to achieving positive integration and housing stability outcomes. Using data from a quantitative study of refugee resettlement case files from Ascentria Care Alliance as a foundation, this research takes the form of an analysis of the Bell Hill neighborhood in Worcester, MA, a major resettlement destination. Using Ascentria data, secondary data sources such as US Census data and the Worcester Assessor’s Database, and site visits, this paper constructs a profile of Bell Hill along four major dimensions: community characteristics, housing, social infrastructure, and physical …

Redesigning Our Conception Of Local Food Utilizing A Value-Based Approach, Heather Riesenberg

Sustainability and Social Justice

The goal of this study was to design a new method of evaluating and building local food systems which is based on a new conception of how we view local food. Beginning with a review of the current literature on how local food is defined and its apparent goals, I begin to pick apart the dated idea that local needs not be more complex than the 400-mile limit offered by the USDA. Utilizing the literature review, I bring together a host of values that local food seems to (want to) embody and use these to form a pathway toward the …

Mount Mazama Ash Offers Sustainable Solution For Ada Accessibility On Unpaved Trails, Matthew D. Sleep, Damian K. Matzen

TREC Project Briefs

National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) researcher Matthew Sleep of Oregon Tech investigated whether Mazama ash could be used in place of portland cement, as a natural pozzolan. Results indicate that it can—and unpaved trail surfaces made with Mazama ash are actually firmer and more durable than those made with portland cement alone. Such trails can provide a reliable surface for wheeled mobility devices.

Ada Accessible Trail Improvement With Naturally Occurring, Sustainable Materials, Matthew D. Sleep, Damian K. Matzen

TREC Final Reports

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides specific guidelines and requirements that must be met in terms of accessibility. However, in the case of unpaved trails, the requirements are less defined. An ADA trail must be firm, stable and slip resistant. Some compacted aggregate material may meet this definition, but degrade over time and can no longer be ADA compliant. The benefits of using unpaved surfaces for ADA trails include fit to the natural environment, cost, sustainability and environmental benefits such as increased permeability. If an unpaved surface can be improved with the use of an additive, more could be …

What Do 15 Years Of Travel Surveys Tell Us About Tod Residents?, Nathan Mcneil, Jennifer Dill

TREC Project Briefs

Does living in a transit-oriented development (TOD) actually change the way people travel? That’s the fundamental question that 15 years of research in Portland, Oregon seeks to answer. Since 2005, Portland State University has worked with Portland’s Metro regional government to survey occupants of buildings for which developers had received funding from Metro’s Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Program. Metro strategically invests in TODs to help more people live, work and shop in neighborhoods served by high-quality transit.

“Revisiting TODs,” the latest installment in this research, is led by Nathan McNeil, a research associate in PSU’s School of Urban Studies & Planning, …

Geographic Imaginaries Of Urban Spatial Segregation: A Case Study Of The West End Neighborhoods In Louisville, Kentucky., Amber Dock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis is to translate the framework of geographic imaginaries into an urban context in order to capture a narrative of how residents conceptualize and experience segregation. This framework is rooted in an investigation of local discourses as they exist within a specific social, political, and historical context. Institutionalized segregation and structural racism are the foundations on which the American urban context studied here was built upon. This study employs multiple methods, including contextualizing the study area, analyzing discursive content, and visualizing the results. The results of these analyses included empirically connecting concentrations of protected classes to …

Roses From Concrete: A Walkability Plan For The Rosewood Neighborhood, Timothy Martinez, Shreya Jain, Matthew Cramer, Gwynn Mackellan, Sarah Bermudez, Walle Brown

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Roses from Concrete is a walkability plan for Portland Metro’s Rosewood neighborhood, created by Walk & Roll Consulting (W&R). This plan seeks to address the challenges of being a pedestrian - emphasizing youth and older adults, in the historically disinvested Rosewood neighborhood. This is accomplished by providing tools for analyzing existing infrastructural deficiencies, research-based recommendations for contextualized capital improvements, and compiled perspectives from local residents and professionals, in order to catalyze improving the lives of people who live, walk, and roll within the Rosewood neighborhood.

Revisiting Tods: How Subsequent Development Affects The Travel Behavior Of Residents In Existing Transit-Oriented Developments, Nathan Mcneil, Jennifer Dill

TREC Final Reports

Portland State University has worked with the Portland Metro regional government periodically since 2005 to survey occupants of buildings for which developers had received funding from Metro’s Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Program. This research extends upon the prior TOD surveys in Portland by revisiting a set of developments with a second wave of surveys to understand how the travel behavior of TOD residents may change over time, and what factors influence change in travel patterns. The second-wave surveys, coming 8-13 years after the baseline surveys, include five TODs in the west-side Portland suburbs of Hillsboro and Beaverton, two TODs in East …

Political Parties And Demographic Transformation In Nevada, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Demography

This Fact Sheet presents projections of demographic change in Nevada’s political party coalitions using data provided in the report “States of Change: How Demographic Change is Transforming the Republican and Democratic Political Parties.” Using the composition of the two parties’ electorate in the 2016 presidential election as a baseline, researchers explore age, race, and education characteristics of voters in 14 U.S. swing states to predict the demographic makeup of voting groups in future elections. This Fact Sheet makes comparisons to other swing states, but focuses primarily on Nevada data.

And Lettuce Is Nonanimal: Toward A Positive Theory Of Voluntary Action, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Much recent conceptual and theoretical effort to identify and define the kinds of voluntary action that take place outside households, economic markets and governments has a consistent emphasis on negation: It seems to define these matters by what they are not: not for profit, or nonprofit, nongovernmental, unproductive, inefficient, examples of contract failure, market failure, government failure and more. This paper is a beginning effort to shift the emphasis to the positive and the describe and explain what voluntary action is and what it consists of. It proposes the beginnings of an economics of common goods production, and differentiates such …

A No-Crash Course In Vision Zero Data, Anamaria Perez

PSU Transportation Seminars

Vision Zero was adopted unanimously by Portland City Council in 2015 with the goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries on Portland streets in a way that is equitable, accountable, and data-driven. But what does it mean to be data-driven? And should we stop there?

In this presentation, learn how Portland’s Vision Zero Action Plan was developed and how the Vision Zero team is using data to move into a future where all Portlanders can travel safely, regardless of the travel mode they use. Explore the datasets used in Vision Zero implementation and the challenges that come with them. …

A City On The Front Lines Of An Epidemic: The Opioid Crisis In Las Vegas, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Advanced Undergraduate Winner

While addiction to opioids kills more Americans every year, the purpose of this report is to assess the extent of the problem in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, and to propound ways in which local policy can help. A geospatial analysis of opioid demand nationally, regionally, and locally explains how the epidemic is diffusing, where divides exist in terms of access to treatment, and the differential effects of opioids driving this crisis. By tracking opioid-related prescriptions, hospital admissions, and deaths, the results show that opioid demand in the Las Vegas metro has decreased but remains well above …

216— Using Rochester’S Family Public Housing In The “Crescent Of Poverty” As A Catalyst For A Solar Initiative, Christopher Miller

GREAT Day Posters

Both the climate crisis and poverty rates in US cities have increased rapidly, with few solutions. This research examines the relative solar potential in public housing developments in Rochester, NY, specifically in the area of concentrated poverty called the “Crescent of Poverty.” Also examined are societal benefits that an inclusive solar/sustainability movement provides for Rochester. Rochester is a mid-sized, diversely populated city with an overall poverty rate >30% and a childhood poverty rate >50% (Murphy, 2018). These alarming rates have contributed to the creation of the “Crescent of Poverty”, where the majority of family public housing developments are located. Solar …

Nevada’S Secret Killer: Opioid Deaths, Vanessa Marie Booth

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Emerging Scholars Winner

Presented in this study is an analysis of the Nevada opioid crisis and how a viable solution can impact its severity. It does so in a public policy environment while synthesizing outside sources to support the presented claims. The scope of this study is to present a problem, cause, solution scenario on how to solve this policy problem. This study also takes into consideration Nevada’s current economic state amid the coronavirus (COVID-19). In addition, this analysis also addresses the history behind the opioid epidemic across the United States and how it is impacting Nevada in present times. …

The Population Health Outcomes And Information Exchange (Phoenix) Program - A Transformative Approach To Reduce The Burden Of Chronic Disease, Steven J. Korzeniewski, Carla Bezold, Jason T. Carbone, Shooshan Danagoulian, Bethany Foster, Dawn Misra, Maher M. El-Masri, Dongxiao Zhu, Robert Welch, Lauren Meloche, Alex B. Hill, Phillip Levy

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Research Publications

This concept article introduces a transformative vision to reduce the population burden of chronic disease by focusing on data integration, analytics, implementation and community engagement. Known as PHOENIX (The Population Health OutcomEs aNd Information EXchange), the approach leverages a state level health information exchange and multiple other resources to facilitate the integration of clinical and social determinants of health data with a goal of achieving true population health monitoring and management. After reviewing historical context, we describe how multilevel and multimodal data can be used to facilitate core public health services, before discussing the controversies and challenges that lie ahead.

Curb-Sided: How Technology Disrupts The American Transportation Planning Process, Mary Angelica Painter

Dissertations

The disruptive arrival of Uber, Lyft, and other transportation network companies (TNCs) into American cities ignited arguments on how policy-makers should regulate such entities. Policy debates started among policymakers, companies, and existing industries and interests. In attempts to persuade policy, actors adopted a variety of language and used different levels of government to achieve policy goals. In almost all cases, TNCs were able to gain favorable policy through image framing and venue shopping – the key components to Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET). This analysis looks at the policy process of three American cities: Chicago, IL, St. Louis, MO, and Austin, …

Moving Toward Equitable Transit-Oriented Developments By Integrating Transit And Housing, Hongwei Dong

PSU Transportation Seminars

Prior studies show that transit-oriented developments (TODs) increase property values and raise property tax revenue. Property owners reap economic benefit from TODs and public officials use it as evidence to justify the high cost of rail transit. However, renters, who rely on transit more than homeowners, may have to pay higher rent to live in TODs. The location affordability index at the neighborhood level suggests that renters can also benefit from TOD by saving money on transportation costs. Recent studies at the individual level, however, found little evidence that living in TODs reduces transportation expenditure. Using rental data scraped from …

Webinar: Visual Exploration Of Trajectory Data, Nikola Markovic, Mark Franz, Seth Miller

TREC Webinar Series

This webinar will demonstrate the tremendous value of GPS trajectory data in understanding statewide travel patterns and measuring performance. First, Dr. Markovic (U of Utah) will conduct visual exploration of GPS trajectories that capture about 3% of all the trips in Utah. He will briefly discuss the problem of scaling GPS trajectories to the population, and then focus on the use of scaled trajectories in computing origin-destination matrices, vehicle-hours delays, vehicle-miles traveled, and trip-based performance measures. Second, Dr. Franz (CATT Lab) will demonstrate a suite of visual analytics that enables transportation agencies to easily explore terabytes of GPS trajectory data. …

Bus-Bike Designs For The Division Transit Project, Derek Abe, Jesse Stemmier

PSU Transportation Seminars

This seminar is brought to you by the Oregon chapter of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP), with support from TREC at Portland State.

Transit stops and stations are a confluence of complementary and competing activities - pedestrians accessing businesses, passengers boarding and alighting, and bicyclists zipping through to their destinations. People are moving in different directions, at different speeds, and need to be able to navigate this space safely and comfortably. A common point of conflict is the bus/bicycle interaction when a transit stop is adjacent to a bike lane. Designs for integrating pedestrian and bicycle …

Unpacking The Process And Outcomes Of Ethical Markets: A Focus On Certified B Corporations, Renée Bogin Curtis

Dissertations and Theses

The growth in conscious consumption presents an opportunity to 1) better understand the potential outcomes of ethical market practices as a community-advocacy tool and 2) to consider potential policy considerations. The marketplace has increasingly become an arena for social action. This leads to the question of how can markets facilitate ethical business practices and community benefits? The recent rise of social benefit corporations warrants an evaluation of the outcomes of ethically-driven markets. Using a comparative research design and qualitative interview methods, this study examines certified Benefit Corporations (B Corps) in two selected cities: Philadelphia and Portland. Through interviews with B …

Understanding Economic And Business Impacts Of Street Improvements For Bicycle And Pedestrian Mobility, Jenny H. Liu, Wei Shi

TREC Project Briefs

This research explored a systematic framework for evaluating the economic development effects of corridor-level bicycle or pedestrian street improvements across a number of corridors in multiple cities.

It is our hope that the results of our research will encourage the application of similar corridor selection processes, data collection efforts and multimethod analyses in additional corridors and cities around the country, and will provide a solid basis for policymakers, planners and other stakeholders considering street improvement infrastructure for pedestrian and bicycle mobility to make evidence-based investment decisions.

Environmental Justice In Little Village: A Case For Reforming Chicago’S Zoning Law, Charles Isaacs

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Chicago’s Little Village community bears the heavy burden of environmental injustice and racism. The residents are mostly immigrants and people of color who live with low levels of income, limited access to healthcare, and disproportionate levels of dangerous air pollution. Before its retirement, Little Village’s Crawford coal-burning power plant was the lead source of air pollution, contributing to 41 deaths, 550 emergency room visits, and 2,800 asthma attacks per year. After the plant’s retirement, community members wanted a say on the future use of the lot, only to be closed out when a corporation, Hilco Redevelopment Partners, bought the lot …

Screened Out Of Housing: The Impact Of Misleading Tenant Screening Reports And The Potential For Criminal Expungement As A Model For Effectively Sealing Evictions, Katelyn Polk

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Having an eviction record “blacklists” tenants from finding future housing. Even renters with mere eviction filings—not eviction orders—on their records face the harsh collateral consequences of eviction. This Note argues that eviction records should be sealed at filing and only released into the public record if a landlord prevails in court. Juvenile record expungement mechanisms in Illinois serve as a model for one way to protect people with eviction records. Recent updates to the Illinois juvenile expungement process provided for the automatic expungement of certain records and strengthened the confidentiality protections of juvenile records. Illinois protects juvenile records because it …