Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Do Tods Make A Difference? Ns Streetcar Line Portland, Oregon, Jenny H. Liu, Zakari Mumuni, Matt Berggren, Matt Miller, Arthur C. Nelson, Reid Ewing

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This analysis was intended to help answer the following policy questions:

Q1: Are TODs attractive to certain NAICS sectors?
Q2: Do TODs generate more jobs in certain NAICS sectors?
Q3: Are firms in TODs more resilient to economic downturns?
Q4: Do TODs create more affordable housing measured as H+T?
Q5: Do TODs improve job accessibility for those living in or near them?

The first question investigates which types of industries are actually transit oriented. Best planning practices call for a mix of uses focused around housing and retail, but analysis provides some surprises. The second question tests the economic development …

Underrepresented: Descriptive Representation And Political Interest Of African Americans And Women In The 2008 Election, Kristine K. Coulter, Jennifer R. Garcia, Christopher Stout

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

- 83 - Representing the Underrepresented: Descriptive Representation and Political Interest of African Americans and Women in the 2008 Election Kristine Coulter University of California, Irvine Jennifer R. Garcia University of California, Irvine Christopher T. Stout Southern Illinois University, Carbondale In this article, we examine the effect of the presidential candidacies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and the vice presidential candidacy of Sarah Palin on change in political interest among African Americans and women over the course of the 2008 election. We also examine the effects of these candidacies on intra-group characteristics in these marginalized groups. Consistent with the …

What We Should Have Known About The Black Vote: A Comprehensive Analysis Of Voter Turnout In Presidential Elections, Zulema T. Blair Phd

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

A historic increase in African American voter turnout in the 2008 presidential elections has also contributed to the overall increase in voter turnout in presidential elections, which steadily declined from 1960 through 2000. Using a logistic regression analysis for presidential years 1980 through 2000, this article re-examines why voter turnout in presidential election years take place. The traditional and well-established explanations of socioeconomic status (SES), demographics, group consciousness, mobilization, psychological orientations, and economic displacement, were regressed onto voter turnout where race is deemed insignificant. However, in a closer analysis where income was used to separate the voting age population by …

About Face: A Perspective On Civilian Military Relations Through The Lens Of The Principal-Agent Theory, Randall Swain

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

- 55 - About Face: A Perspective of Civil-Military Relations through the Lens of Principal-Agent Theory Randall D. Swain Eastern Kentucky University This essay uses the principal-agent theory to offer a framework for explaining shirking tendencies by the U.S. military in civil-military relations. Through the lens of the framework presented here, the principal-agent theory explains why shirking tendencies by the U.S. military is more likely to occur when a Republican occupies the White House, than when it is occupied by a Democrat. Besides providing a framework for conceptualizing civil-military relations, the importance of this work lies in the manner in …

What Happened To The 9/11 Commission? What A Century Of Riot Commissions Teaches Us About America’S Dependence On Independent Commissions, Lindsey Lupo

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

In August of 2004, the bipartisan 9/11 Commission released its report to much media buzz. However, when all ten commissioners reconvened in late 2005 to issue a report card on progress made on the recommendations of the Commission, they issued five Fs, twelve Ds, nine Cs, and one A minus. This article looks at independent commissions in the United States and the role they play as flak-catchers—stopgaps that assuage public fears while giving the appearance of decisive government action. It uses historical and comparative case-study analysis to portray how the 9/11 Commission operated in a manner similar to U.S. race …

The Impact Of Politicized Churches And Party Contact On African American Voter Turnout, Randolph Burnside, Stephanie A. Pink-Harper

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

- 3 - The Impact of Politicized Churches and Party Contact on African American Voter Turnout Randolph Burnside Southern Illinois University Carbondale Stephanie A. Pink-Harper Southern Illinois University Carbondale The African American community has faced a myriad of challenges regarding their quest for social equity and social justice in America. Among the challenges is the fight for their right to vote. Researchers document numerous factors that have impacted the voting behavior of African Americans. Underexplored, however, is the historical role and impact that the African American church has had on this process. This article examines the impact of politicized churches …

Issues On Voter Participation Among African Americans And Bureaucratic Behavior, Andrew I. E. Ewoh, Maruice Mangum

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

No abstract provided.

Seminar #294: Transforming Transportation Through Connectivity, Robert L. Bertini

PSU Transportation Seminars

The transportation system is the backbone of the United States' economy, and transportation is an essential part of everyday life for American citizens. It is essential that the transportation system continue to provide accessibility and connectivity to an ever-evolving global economy. A key way to do so is to embrace, develop and implement new technologies. One of the newest and most promising facets of transportation-related technology is in the field of connected mobility. The vision behind connected mobility is of a transportation system where vehicles, travelers, and infrastructure are all wirelessly connected with one another and able to transmit real-time …

Continuous Data Integration For Land Use And Transportation Planning And Modeling, Liming Wang, Kihong Kim

TREC Final Reports

There is an urgent need for improved models that address the interdependencies between land use and transportation, and considerable new work is underway to develop such models in Oregon and elsewhere. These models and planning practices to integrate land use into the process, however, require the integration of massive amounts of land use data that is messy and incomplete. There have been considerable advances in the treatment of such data problems in other domains, drawing on data mining and machine-learning techniques to address issues in various domains. To date, however, little systematic effort has applied these technological advances to the …

Overtime Traffic Enforcement Evaluation: A Methodology For Selecting Agencies And Enforcement Periods, Dario Enrique Romero Santana

Masters Theses

Multiple studies have stated the advantages of police traffic enforcement on crash reduction (Zaidel, February 2002). It is very important to identify locations and time periods where police enforcement produces the greatest crash reductions. The objectives of this study were to: (1) determine the impact of overtime traffic enforcement on crash occurrence; (2) develop procedures to identify police agencies with potential to reduce targeted crashes; and (3) develop procedures to identify additional time periods in which enforcement activities should be conducted. In order to accomplish these objectives, many methodologies were explored. The study used crash and enforcement data collected by …

Tigard Walks (A Plan For Walkable Neighborhoods In Tigard), Chase Ballew, Mark Bernard, Jeremy Dalton, Laura Goodrich, Szilvia Hosser-Cox, Steven Mcatee

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The Walkable Neighborhoods Plan for Tigard outlines a set of strategies to help Tigard’s residents, businesses, and leaders build their city into a more walkable place. These five strategies are based on three core values gleaned from StepUP Studio’s outreach efforts to the people living and working in and for the city of Tigard.

This project was conducted under the supervision of Sy Adler, Marisa A. Zapata and Gil Kelley

Downtown Portland Waterfront Activation Strategy, Rachel Cotton, Janai Kessi, Eve Nilenders, Lauren Russell, Andrew Yaden, Jeremy Young

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Despite longstanding ambitions and multiple planning efforts, Portland’s goal of embracing and enhancing the Willamette River as the heart of the central city has only been partially fulfilled. The removal of an expressway and the creation of Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park in the 1970s and the river’s recently improved environmental quality represent major successes. However, few opportunities exist for park visitors to use the river for recreation, and Portland’s downtown waterfront lacks vibrancy, largely as the result of difficult or unclear connections to the downtown business district, surrounding neighborhoods, and the eastside. Additionally, public use of the park, a …

Allen Boulevard Corridor Plan, Anna Wendt, Samantha Petty, Jp Mcneil, Taren Evans, August Benzow, Art Graves

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The Allen Boulevard corridor, home to diverse populations and a vibrant commercial district, is a community in transition and a community with potential. While Allen Boulevard possesses unique assets in its present state, it has seen little in the way of localized planning or City programs tailored to the area’s needs. As such, the City of Beaverton partnered with the Portland State University Master of Urban and Regional Planning program to produce a detailed corridor study and planning guide for the area. From that partnership, six graduate students formed a consulting group, InSite Planning, to produce this plan.

This project …

Gresham Opportunity Framework Plan, Belinda Judelman, Carlos Gonzalez, Hayley Pickus, Lori Parks, Mike Simpson, Pamela N. Phan

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The Map Gresham project was a five-month long planning process led by Camassia Community Planning (CCP) to create “opportunity maps” and an Opportunity Framework Plan for the City of Gresham, OR. Opportunity mapping is a relatively new planning method for analyzing the spatial distribution of indicators linked to opportunity and determining which populations have access to these factors.

The overarching objective of the Framework Plan is to improve equitable access to opportunities for Gresham’s neighborhoods and diverse populations. We created the plan by putting community at the center and collaborating with local organizations, technical advisors, and City staff. It includes …

Washougal Waterfront (A Community Connected), Shannon Jamison, Sravya Garladenne, Michael Armstrong, Irene Kim, Julia Metz, Victor Caesar

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The purpose of the Waterfront Vision Plan is to develop a community vision for the Waterfront that connects and complements the Downtown, supporting the creation of a local and regional identity for the City of Washougal.

Building on past outreach and planning by the Port of Camas-Washougal (Port) and City of Washougal (City), a team of Portland State University graduate students worked with the Port, City, and the community to craft the Waterfront
Vision Plan.

This project was conducted under the supervision of Sy Adler, Marisa A. Zapata, Gil Kelley, Matthew Gebhardt and Gregory Schrock.

Salem-Keizer Transit Flexible Service Plan, Darwin Moosavi, Brenda Martin, Cj Doxsee, Mike Sellinger, Lauren Wirtis, Matt Berggren

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Capturing the Ride is an exploration of flexible transportation options for low-density communities in Salem and Keizer. The current transit system does not serve Keizer, South Salem, and West Salem well; each of these communities has areas with limited or no access to current bus routes. The project intends to provide a service that will better meet the communities’ transit needs than the current system. Over a five-month planning process, Paradigm Planning conducted extensive research and reached out to the public in Keizer, South Salem, and West Salem (herein referred to as the study areas) to determine what kind of …

Lessons From The Green Lanes: Evaluating Protected Bike Lanes In The U.S., Christopher Monsere, Jennifer Dill, Nathan Mcneil, Kelly J. Clifton, Nick Foster, Tara Goddard, Mathew Berkow, Joe Gilpin, Kim Voros, Drusilla Van Hengel, Jamie Parks

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report presents finding from research evaluating U.S. protected bicycle lanes (cycle tracks) in terms of their use, perception, benefits, and impacts. This research examines protected bicycle lanes in five cities: Austin, TX; Chicago, IL; Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; and Washington, D.C., using video, surveys of intercepted bicyclists and nearby residents, and count data. A total of 168 hours were analyzed in this report where 16,393 bicyclists and 19,724 turning and merging vehicles were observed. These data were analyzed to assess actual behavior of bicyclists and motor vehicle drivers to determine how well each user type understands the design …

Effect Of Light-Rail Transit On Traffic In A Travel Corridor, Reid Ewing, Guang Tian, Allison Spain

TREC Final Reports

This study seeks to quantify the effect of the University TRAX light-rail line on traffic near the University of Utah, providing quantitative data that can be used to shape future transportation policies aimed at reducing traffic congestion, energy consumption, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and parking costs. Travel demand models have long been used to estimate and evaluate the effects of transportation improvements, like LRT investments, on network travel flows and times as part of long-range planning studies, using four-step models or more sophisticated urban simulation studies. However, these are usually ex ante studies. Few ex post evaluations have been …

Street Portals: Urban User Interface 'Test Bed' Prototype For Bike Shares, Jason Germany, Philip Speranza

TREC Final Reports

The objective of this research project is to develop a user interface “test bed” to measure the role of touchscreen kiosks with community connectivity. This interface test bed will apply the knowledge of interface design to the domain of public transit kiosks, with a particular focus on bike share stations. The value of this research is the ability to generate user feedback between community members using urban experiences. Safety, effectiveness and community connectivity of public transit is enhanced with this information interface.

This report explains the test bed kiosk’s design, physical build, and hardware and software testing. User interaction studies …

The Development Of Low-/No-Emission Electric Vehicle Infrastructure In The Portland Metro Region: A Roadmap, John Macarthur, Peter Murchie, George Beard

TREC Final Reports

The shift from combustion engines to low- and no-emission electric vehicles is underway and gaining momentum. During the last year, Oregon has become an active player in the electric vehicle arena, with a number of promising relationships and activities in the early stages of formalization. With additional thought, effort and strategy Oregon can seize the opportunity to become the national leader in the adoption and incorporation of new vehicle platforms and mobility strategies into the fabric of urban life and the built environment. Oregon is currently actively engaged in relationships with international automotive companies and local businesses and utilities interested …

In Harm's Way: How Philadelphia's Urban Renewal Practices Steered Marginal People To Marginal Land, Katera Ya'shea Moore

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The dumping of locally unwanted land uses (LULUs) on marginal communities has been well documented, however environmental justice scholars have rarely written about how marginal groups have come to occupy their landscapes, particularly when natural hazards lie beneath.

This dissertation research focuses on a broad definition of the environment that includes the built, social, and physical. I am interested in extending Logan and Molotch's Growth Machine theory to consider how the political and economic elite guided the urban renewal process to place particular communities on particular landscapes, despite the presence of a flooding hazard. To understand this issue, I examined …

Gis Tools For Bicycle Network Analysis And Planning, Mike Lowry

PSU Transportation Seminars

This presentation is a showcase of various GIS tools developed for bicycle network analysis and planning. The showcase includes a tool for assessing community-wide bikeability, a tool for forecasting bicycle volumes based on street topology, and a tool for evaluating different bicycle improvement plans in terms of exposure to danger situations for bicyclists. The tools will be demonstrated with case study data. The presentation will include a review of the Highway Capacity Manual Bicycle Level of Service and a discussion about using bicycle and pedestrian data collected through citizen-volunteer count programs.

Cultivating Portlandia: A Mixed-Method Study Of Residential Urban Agriculture In Portland, Oregon, Nathan Mcclintock, Mike Simpson, Dillon Mahmoudi, Jacinto Pereira Santos

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research Question:

• What is the scale and scope of residential urban agriculture (UA) in metro Portland?
• How does the practice of UA vary spatially?
• How do gardeners' motivations and practices vary along socioeconomic lines?

The “Community Entertainment District” Designation As A Tool For Urban Redevelopment In Cincinnati, Ohio, Whitney Mcintyre Miller, Julie Cencula Olberding

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Many urban neighborhoods in the United States have experienced an exodus of businesses. Their Main Streets—once consisting of bustling restaurants and stores—are now marked by “for rent” signs and boarded windows. Some community leaders have given up, but others are actively trying to bring businesses back. In Cincinnati, Ohio, several neighborhoods are starting to use the community entertainment district (CED) designation to attract entertainment and arts establishments. This paper presents an evaluation of the implementation and early impacts of the CED in one neighborhood, which may be insightful to leaders in other urban areas in Ohio and beyond.

Capturing The Ride: Exploring Low-Density Flexible Transit Alternatives In Salem-Keizer, Darwin Moosavi

PSU Transportation Seminars

Current fixed-route transit service provided by Salem-Keizer Transit is inefficient in the low-density neighborhoods of West Salem, South Salem, and Keizer. The lack of sidewalks, non-gridded circuitous streets, and large single-family residential lots all contribute to a lack of ridership. As a result, traditional fixed-route transit service is not cost-effective in these areas. Through a five month planning process, a group of Portland State University graduate students, better known as Paradigm Planning, tackled the task of addressing this problem in each of the three study areas. Paradigm’s planning process explored mode and route options in order to produce a plan …

Feasibility Study Of Consolidating Public Safety Answering Points In Highland Heights, Lyndhurst, Mayfield Heights, Mayfield Village And Richmond Heights, Ohio, Daila Shimek, Kyle Johnson, Eugene Kramer, Charles Post

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This study found that – based on certain configurations of communities and cost considerations – it is economically viable to consolidate public safety answering points (PSAPs) in Highland Heights, Lyndhurst, Mayfield Heights, Mayfield Village and Richmond Heights, Ohio. When comparing 2012 staffing and noncapital costs to estimated staffing and noncapital costs for a consolidated PSAP, the consolidated PSAP would provide an estimated collective reduction in staffing and noncapital costs of ranging from $775,400 to $1.19 million. When comparing 2012 staffing and noncapital costs to estimated staffing and noncapital costs for a consolidated PSAP – plus costs for additional staff to …

Connecting Urban Residents To Their Watershed With Green Stormwater Infrastructure: A Case Study Of Thornton Creek In Seattle, Washington, Lisa A. Beem

Scripps Senior Theses

Connecting Urban Residents to Their Watersheds with Green Stormwater Infrastructure: A case study of Thornton Creek in Seattle, Washington.

Pedestrian Safety And Culture Change, Ron Van Houten

PSU Transportation Seminars

This session will describe the process and results of a NHTSA study that showed a change in driver culture of yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks on a citywide basis. The research won the Pat Waller award from the National Academy of Sciences, Transportation Research Board in January of this year. The approach to changing road user behavior focused on an integrated approach that include Enforcement, Engineering, and Educational efforts that were designed to be dovetailed together and that included a social norming component. Additional information will be provided on engineering solutions that can facilitate changes in pedestrian level of service …

Analytical Efficiencies Through The Integration Of Modeling And Simulation Tools, Steve Perone

PSU Transportation Seminars

Linking planning and operations is vital to improving transportation decision making and the overall effectiveness of transportation systems. In this seminar Steve will discuss data and modeling methods supported by the PTV Vision software suite to facilitate integrated planning for operations.

Highlights From The Green Lane: A Comprehensive Evaluation Of Protected Cycling Facilities, Christopher Monsere, Jennifer Dill

PSU Transportation Seminars

Cycling is on the rise across the U.S. and its popularity has grown beyond the usual leaders - Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, Davis, CA, Minneapolis, MN and Boulder, CO. New York City, NY Chicago, IL and Washington, DC are among those cities making significant investments in bike infrastructure in recent years and have realized substantial growth in people taking to the streets on two wheels. This presentation will summarize some results from our comprehensive assessment of the safety, operations, economic impacts, user experience, and perceptions of new protected bikeways in 5 cities U.S. cities (Austin, TX; Chicago, IL; Portland, OR; …