Urban Studies Commons^™

Emerging Technologies And Cities: Assessing The Impacts Of New Mobility On Cities, Rebecca Lewis, Rebecca Steckler

TREC Final Reports

Advances in emerging technologies – such as autonomous vehicles (AVs), e-commerce, and the sharing economy – are having profound effects not only on how we live, move, and spend our time in cities, but also on urban form and development itself. These new technologies are changing how people and goods move around a city and are beginning to have substantial effects on land use, street design, parking, and housing. These changes will have significant implications for city governance, revenues, and budgets.

In partnership with the cities of Gresham and Eugene (the Cities), this project assessed the challenges and opportunities presented …

Environmental Governance For Whom? Examining The Political, Institutional, Fiscal, And Legal Determinants Of State Environmental Agency Budget Policy In The Us, Andrew R. Duggan

Theses and Dissertations

Budgets are a prospective tool of governance, and appropriations are a planning vehicle reflecting: bureaucracies’ values, complex interactions, collective preferences, political influences, and available resources. Research spanning 30 years finds that environmental pollution is a key determinant of environmental budgets in the US, though myriad factors, actors, and subsystems are important to consider. Due to federalism and devolution of responsibilities and authorities, environmental governance falls largely to the states. While the dynamics that shape state environmental budget policy have received scholarly interest, theoretically-driven examinations of environmental appropriations remain limited within the public budgeting and environmental policy literature.

Using panel data …

Home Rule, Local Autonomy, And Municipal Government Behavior, Xin Chen

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

This dissertation focuses on relationships between state and local governments. Of particular interest in this project is how the shift of power from the state to local governments changes local governments’ performance. This dissertation is comprised of four chapters. The first chapter briefly introduces the motivation and organization of the dissertation. The second chapter reviews the three state-imposed fiscal institutions—home rule, debt limitations, and tax and expenditure limitations, across states. While previous studies have looked at specific institutions, few studies have comprehensively reviewed the status of those institutions across states. This chapter attempts to fill this gap by comprehensively scrutinizing …

A Different Look At California’S Commission Of Immigration And Housing In The Early Twentieth Century, Alfonso Casares

Pomona Senior Theses

The Commission of Immigration and Housing (CCIH) was created in the summer of 1913. This essay argues that the need California’s progressive felt to protect and improve Mexican immigrants during the early twentieth century shadowed the expression of agency by Mexican immigrants alongside working-class and non-white immigrants. The commission’s engagement with Mexican immigrants in efforts to “Americanize” them furthered ideas that rejected immigrants from full political participation. Through arguments about improving ‘the standard of living’ and the conditions in labor camp throughout the state, the commission balanced serving immigrant needs while staying away from interfering with California’s agricultural wage-labor system. …

The Next Step: A Guide To Framing And Designing Permanent Supportive Housing For Caritas Housing, Julianne Reno, Ryan Dyar, N. Janine Gates, Joshua Ollinger, Hugo Hamblin-Agosto

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Caritas Housing of Oregon develops affordable housing for persons experiencing homelessness across the state. In January 2020, staff reached out to students in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program seeking planning assistance. Caritas wanted help planning for the needs of future residents and navigating what is frequently an emotionally-fraught and politically-charged development process. Upstream Planning worked with Caritas Housing to create resident-informed development criteria and design a framework for public communication. The Upstream Planning team created two documents, Development Criteria Guide and Public Communication Guide, that work towards the singular goal of helping Caritas develop permanent supportive housing …

Mapping (In)Equity At The Polls, Brianne Gilbert, Max Dunsker

Articles

While provisions of the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act continue to guarantee equal voting rights, a fundamental question remains: do all citizens enjoy equal access to the ballot box? Anecdotally, we know that not everyone has equal access, yet where do these differences exist spatially, are there trends, and how can students make an impact? This overarching lesson plan creates a set of lessons for students to determine a list of vote location characteristics, collect data at the polls, and analyze the data to answer these questions, opening the doors to many more questions as well. Included in the lesson …

Sustainability, Urban Planning And Development: Sustainable And Self-Reliant Urban Development In Post- Pandemic Nepal, Ambika P. Adhikari, Keshav Bhattarai

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

COVID-19 pandemic is affecting many aspects of the society, economy and the way people live. The pandemic is also disrupting the process of physical planning and development in the cities. It will perhaps permanently change the way planners and policy makers think about the city and plan for its development. The residents and visitors will also find the city to be different from the pre-COVID-19 era. The emerging situation would likely require new ways of moving, working and living in the city, and building the different physical components of the city.

Cities around the world are experiencing varieties of unexpected …

Issues And Perspective On The Covid-19 And Nepal: An Introduction, Ambika P. Adhikari, Basu Sharma

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Even though Nepal has relatively fewer Covid-19 cases as of 24 September 2020 (about 70,000 cases and more than 450 deaths), the numbers are on the rise. If this trend continues for a while, the likely consequences of the Pandemic would be no less severe than elsewhere. Further, Nepal’s next-door neighbor India is now experiencing a rapid rise in the virus infection rate and virus-related death toll. In fact, as of 24 September, 2020, India is seeing some about six million total Covid-19 cases, and more than 92,000 deaths. As India and Nepal have open borders, and as India is …

Urban Development In Nepal And The Impacts Of Covid-19, Ambika P. Adhikari, Keshav Bhattarai

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

The Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has created a public health crisis worldwide and is impacting the way we plan and design cities. While much is still being learned about Covid-19, we have seen that the virus spreads quickly and its fatality rate is also significant. The virus has already seriously impacted the global economies and most urban activities.

During pandemics, regular public interactions in the city can be the cause for spread of communicable diseases. In this context, urban planning should include approached to help mitigate the spread of virus. Designs of facilities should help the residents to physically distance themselves …

A Case Study: The Role Of Compassionate Cities, Healthy Cities, And Un Sustainable Development Goals In City Leadership And Planning, Lisa A. Berkley

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This research is a case study examining the relevance of three holistic city frameworks—Compassionate Cities, Healthy Cities, and UN Sustainable Development Goals—to the intentional or tacit thinking of city leaders, community leaders, and activists of Marina, California. Beginning with a discussion of the origin and development of the three frameworks, the study occurred in three phases: Phase I involved interviewing the five elected leaders, city manager, community development leaders, and two planners; Phase II consisted of a survey of appointed city leaders and community organizers and activists; and Phase III was an analysis of relevant public discourse, drawing from local …

Periodic Atlas Of The Metroscape: Counting Oregon, Mac Cunningham, Xi Wei, Randy Morris

Metroscape

Every United States census has challenges ensuring that every person responds and is counted. Individuals who are missed in the census count or “undercounted” for various reasons are often referred to as “hard-to-count” populations. Hard-to-count populations include rural residents, people of color, immigrants, people experiencing homelessness, children under age five, renters, and more.

For the 2010 census, the final mail return rate in Oregon was 76 percent. Census tracts with a mail return response rate of 76 percent or less are highlighted on the map on this page. Response rates closest to the state’s final response rate are light yellow, …

Counting Everyone Because Everyone Counts: The Value Of Census Data For Local Decision Making, Uma Krishnan

Metroscape

Once every ten years the US Census Bureau conducts the decennial United States census, and 2020 is the year. The census is a national effort to count everyone in the United States. Unfortunately, this year the COVID-19 pandemic has captured the nation’s attention even as the 2020 census struggles to claim relevance and broaden its reach. At the same time, census data has emerged as a critical tool for examining stark inequities in the demographics of who is contracting and dying of COVID-19. This year, counting everyone is more important than ever.

Exploring The Relationship Between Gender, Race, And Space, And Toronto Community Housing Policy, Anita Rachel Ewan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation presents the racial-gendered lived experiences of Black women living in Toronto Community Housing (TCH; subsidized housing). This research found that Black women and their families are disproportionately faced with challenges due to barriers caused by housing policy and procedures that also affect the overall development and wellbeing of their children. It also highlights the ways in which Black women continue to thrive and survive in the face of detrimental and derelict living conditions; accomplished through community development and support initiatives, and fostering strong communities.

This is a qualitative research project that includes an art-based method. Utilizing a feminist …

City On The Edge: New York In The Age Of Climate Change, Janelle Little

Capstones

By 2030, 70% of the world’s population will live in cities.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has singled out 2030, too - as a date of no return on climate change.

Our future quality of life in these adopted metropolises will depend on what we do to confront climate change now.

New York has always been a city of reinvention. City on the Edge examines how New York City is restructuring its urban landscape and policies to adapt to the realities of a changing climate and mounting existential threats, from sea level rise to escalating summer …

Opinions And Perceptions Of Residents In New York City Public Housing. Map Evaluation Update Number 4., Sheyla A. Delgado, Jeffrey A. Butts, Gina Moreno

Publications and Research

This is the fourth 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), researchers from John Jay College of Criminal Justice collaborated with survey specialists from NORC at the University of Chicago to collect data from two probability samples of residents in public housing developments in New York City. This first iteration of collecting survey responses will be compared to the next wave of response to get an understanding of the effectiveness of …

A Little-Known Law Moves Money Into America’S Low-Income Neighborhoods — But For Whose Benefit?, Emily S. Lever

Capstones

The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) is a federal financial regulation that was passed as a response to redlining, meaning the systematic denial of investment to poor and working-class communities and communities of color. The legislation rewards banks for making loans in low-income census tracts. But while CRA commitments drive investment to community development projects, it may also reward predatory or speculative investments whose recipients happen to be located in low-income communities.

Webinar: Letting Bike Riders Catch The Green Wave, Stephen Fickas, Marc Schlossberg

TREC Webinar Series

The "Fast Track" project at the University of Oregon focuses on a mode of transportation that is sometimes left out of vehicle-to-infrastructure, or V2I, conversations: Bicycling. NITC researchers developed an app based on a new technology being integrated into modern cars: GLOSA, or Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory. GLOSA allows motorists to set their speed along corridors to maximize their chances of catching a "green wave" so they won't have to stop at red lights.

This project demonstrates how GLOSA can be used by bicyclists in the same way it is used by motorists, with a test site on a …

Pursuing The Anchor Mission In A Fragmented Suburban Setting, Karl Guenther, Todd Swanstrom, Thomas George

Political Science Faculty Works

Increasingly, suburban universities find themselves in communities facing challenges that inner cities have had to deal with for decades, including concentrated poverty, housing vacancy, and underperforming school districts. While the problems are similar, the institutional context is different. Compared to central cities, suburban municipal governments generally lack the resources necessary to sustain robust community economic development initiatives. Further, suburbs often lack the rich landscape of nonprofit organizations that were built up over many decades in central cities. This article reflects on the experience of the University of Missouri‐St. Louis as a case study of a suburban anchor institution. This experience …

Exploring The Transportation And Land Use Impacts Of E-Commerce, Amanda Howell

PSU Transportation Seminars

E-commerce is growing—it is estimated that e-commerce sales now account for more than 10% of total retail sales in the U.S. The continued maturation of the e-commerce market is fueling a significant growth in warehousing, changing the nature of brick-and-mortar retail, and creating a surge in parcel volumes, which means deliveries are up. Way up. The New York Times recently reported that 1.5 million packages are delivered daily in New York City. In order to meet this demand for delivery, businesses are looking for new and creative ways to deliver packages to consumers, including attempting to automate the last mile. …

Key Enhancements To The Wfrc/Mag Four-Step Travel Demand Model, Reid Ewing, Sadegh Sabouri, Keunhyun Park, Torrey Lyons, Guang Tian

TREC Final Reports

In a National Transit Institute course on “Coordinating Land Use and Transportation,” co-taught by Robert Cervero, Uri Avin, and the PI on this project, the analytic tools session began with a hypothetical: assume that all households, jobs, and other trip generators are concentrated in a walkable village rather than segregated by use and spread across a traffic analysis zone in the standard suburban fashion. The instructor then asks: How would the outputs of conventional four-step travel demand models differ between these two future land use scenarios. The answer, to most participants’ surprise, was “Not at all.” Conventional four-step travel demand …

Biking Safely Through The Intersection: Guidance For Protected Bike Lanes, Christopher M. Monsere, Nathan Mcneil

TREC Project Briefs

Protected bike lanes are becoming increasingly common around the United States, yet there is little guidance for how to extend the protected lanes through one of their most dangerous links: the intersection. Lead by Chris Monsere of Portland State University in collaboration with Toole Design Group, the latest report from the National Institute of Transportation and Communities (NITC) offers contextual guidance for designing intersections that are comfortable for cyclists.

New Travel Demand Modeling For Our Evolving Mobility Landscape, Reid Ewing

TREC Project Briefs

Conventional four-step travel demand modeling is overdue for a major update. The latest NITC report from University of Utah offers planners a better predictive accuracy through an improved model, allowing for much greater sensitivity to new variables that affect travel behavior. Specifically, it accounts for varying rates of vehicle ownership, intrazonal travel, and multimodal mode choices. Used by nearly all metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), state departments of transportation, and local planning agencies in the United States, the importance of travel demand modeling for project selection cannot be overstated: They are the basis for forecasting future travel patterns and developing long-range …

Study Group Travel Behaviour Patterns From Large-Scale Smart Card Data, Xiancai Tian, Baihua Zheng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we aim at studying the group travel behaviour (GTB) patterns from large-scale auto fare collection (AFC) data. GTB is defined as two or more commuters intentionally and regularly traveling together from an origin to a destination. We propose a method to identify GTB accurately and efficiently and apply our method to the Singapore AFC dataset to reveal the GTB patterns of Singapore commuters. The case study proves that our method is able to identify GTB patterns more accurately and efficiently than the state-of-the-art.

Memos And Mega Projects: Applying Planners’ Perceptions Of Their Software To A Framework For The Future Of Planning, Richard L. Davis

Master's Projects

Software powers the modern urban planning department. However, the majority of academic attention on software in the planning profession has focused on highly specialized land use models, ignoring the importance of common applications that most planners rely upon throughout their workdays. For example, email’s impact on planning has gone largely undiscussed in the literature despite its role as one of the most commonly used software by planners. This report has a twofold purpose: 1) create a protocol for interviewing planners about the software they use routinely; 2) synthesize needs and expectations of planners gathered during interviews with relevant literature on …

Housing - Las Vegas And The Middle Class, Brookings Mountain West

Brookings Mountain West Special Events

Brookings Mountain West presents an event focusing on housing as part of “Las Vegas and the Middle Class,” a major project exploring public policy initiatives designed to improve the quality of life of the middle class in Las Vegas and to increase the number of people rising to join its ranks. Through independent, non-partisan analysis and policy development, we seek to advance public understanding of the challenges facing the middle class in Las Vegas, as well as barriers to upward mobility.

This event features presentations that examine Las Vegas as a model for understanding issues critical to the growth of …

Webinar: Evaluating Urban Arterial Reliability Performance Metrics, Jason Anderson

TREC Webinar Series

With worsening congestion, travel time reliability is increasingly becoming as critical as average travel times in affecting travel choices. Researchers from Portland State University (PSU) partnered with Washington County, Oregon to offer data-driven strategies in prioritizing funding for travel time reliability improvements on their urban arterials. The vast majority of existing research on travel time reliability has focused exclusively on freeways. Avinash Unnikrishnan, Sirisha Kothuri and Jason C. Anderson leveraged Bluetooth sensors provided and deployed by Bluemac Analytics to identify problem areas in the county. Set up at intersections throughout Washington County, the sensors are able to calculate travel time …

Pdx Next: Redesigning Portland International Airport, Mike Coleman, Sean Loughran

PSU Transportation Seminars

If you like PDX now, wait till you see PDX Next. We’re outgrowing our current digs. In the coming years, we expect our annual passengers to jump from 20 million to 35 million. Over the next five years, a series of transformative projects will bring more Pacific Northwest-inspired architecture, local restaurants and shops, inclusive design, and carbon footprint-reducing technology. We’re rolling out a series of improvements over the next few years so that your trip to and from PDX is easier and speedier. We’re making space for light-rail and bike-path enhancements. A dedicated ride hailing pickup area will streamline the …

Economic And Development Benefits Of Fixed Route Transit Through Denser Housing: A National Assessment, Arthur C. Nelson, Robert Hibberd

TREC Project Briefs

Building upon seven years of research, NITC investigators used economic analysis to determine development outcomes and land use planning implications of different fixed route transit systems (FRT). They have created, analyzed, and shared a nationwide data repository that explores links between transit station proximity and real estate rents, jobs, people, and housing. Earlier research revealed important differences in development outcomes of FRT’s during the 2000’s, but the significantly expanded data repository offers a more representative look at development outcomes after the Great Recession and with 22 new FRT systems added.

The main takeaway from this expanded analysis? Only 5% of …

Data From: Updating And Expanding Lrt/Brt/Sct/Crt Data And Analysis, Robert Hibberd, Arthur C. Nelson, Kristina M. Currans

TREC Datasets and Databases

This data supports the LRT/BRT/SCT/CRT Development Outcomes FINAL PHASE.

The FINAL PHASE will allow us to use factor/cluster analysis to create typologies of station areas to assess the extent to which types of stations (as opposed to transit systems as a whole) make a difference in economic development (based on LEHD data), and people (census data) during the periods before, during and after the Great Recession as appropriate for each system and mode. It will also allow us to refine hedonic regression analysis.

The Link Between Transit Station Proximity And Real Estate Rents, Jobs, People And Housing With Transit And Land Use Planning Implications, Arthur C. Nelson, Robert Hibberd

TREC Final Reports

This report updates and expands prior research in the genre of research that has used economic base analysis (especially shiftshare) and CoStar commercial rent data to estimate the development outcomes to transit. The study period for prior economic base analysis was 2002-2011and census data for 2000 and 2010, as well as CoStar data for 2013. Prior analysis compared development, demographic and housing outcomes associated with those transit systems during the period before the Great Recession (2000 through 2007) and during recession into recovery (2008 through 2011). Though NITC researchers found important differences in outcomes between the study periods of 2000-2007 …