Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

Snap At The Community Scale: How Neighborhood Characteristics Affect Participation And Food Access, Nevin Cohen

Publications and Research

Cities are spatially diverse, with enclaves of particular demo- graphic groups, clusters of businesses, and pockets of low-income individuals living amid affluence.

This essay presents data from New York City to illustrate the importance of measuring and addressing neighborhood characteristics that affect Sup- plemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation and the purchasing power of SNAP benefits: pockets of “eligible-but-not-enrolled” in- dividuals, proximity between SNAP participants and jobs, and variations in food prices across neighborhoods.

It concludes with 5 exam- ples of how addressing these community-scale issues can increase SNAP participation and food access.

Fast Track: Allowing Bikes To Participate In A Smart-Transportation System, Stephen Fickas, Marc Schlossberg

TREC Final Reports

This project focuses on a mode of transportation that is currently left out of V2X (vehicle-to-everything) conversations: bicycling. The project demonstrates how university researchers, city traffic engineers, and signal-controller manufacturers can come together to give bicyclists the same technology appearing on modern vehicles: Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory (GLOSA). GLOSA allows motorists to set their speed along corridors to maximize their chances of catching a “green wave” (i.e., not being forced to stop as they travel through the corridor). This project demonstrates how GLOSA can be used by bicyclists in the same way it is used by motorists on a …

Riding The Green Wave: Researchers Test “Green Light Optimized Speed” App For Bicyclists, Stephen Fickas, Marc Schlossberg

TREC Project Briefs

No abstract provided.

The Housing Crisis And The Rise Of The Real Estate State, Samuel Stein

Publications and Research

This article — an excerpt from my book, Capital City, with elaborations on a number of key points — argues that the housing crises endemic to contemporary capitalism must be understood as a result of the concentration of global capital into real estate and the the re-orientation of state planning capacities around the demands of the real estate industry. The first half of the article explains the dimensions of the crisis in the US and the rise of "the real estate state." The second half explores policy alternatives to contemporary urban neoliberalism and the kinds of movements necessary to …

La Sostenibilidad De La Reconstrucción 2014-2019 Tras El Gran Incendio En Valparaíso: Una Mirada Desde La Habitabilidad, Resiliencia Y Preparación En La Gestión De Desastres, Dana Kulma

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The beautiful port city of Valparaíso, Chile is home to 42 colorful hills that overlook the Pacific Ocean. This unique city, however, is also home to multiple disasters, including urban and forest fires, tsunamis, landslides and earthquakes. This descriptive study explores the case of the 2014 “mega-fire” that destroyed 3,000 homes and affected the lives of 11,000 residents. Through five semi-structured interviews and the review of several academic and official documents, the present study analyzes the process of post-disaster reconstruction, seeking to understand the habitability and the resiliency of the reconstructed houses and neighborhoods. In order to understand the challenges …

Believe Our Stories & Listen: Portland Street Response Survey Report, Greg Townley, Kaia Sand, Thea Kindschuh

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many advocates, local officials, and people experiencing homelessness agree that Portland needs a better way to respond to low-priority calls for service involving those experiencing homelessness and behavioral health crises. This report examines efforts to address homelessness in Portland through the development of a plan to dispatch the Portland Street Response unit rather than police.

A team of community partners spread out across the city July 16 and 18 to interview people experiencing homelessness to help inform the design of the Portland Street Response pilot project (PSR). An additional team went out on Sept. 6.

Members of Street Roots, Sisters …

Fiscal Year 2019 Report, Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative fiscal year 2019 annual report.

A Comprehensive Examination Of Electronic Wayfinding Technology For Visually Impaired Travelers In An Urban Environment, Martin Swobodzinski, Amy T. Parker

TREC Final Reports

In this project, we distilled an inventory of smartphone-based electronic travel aid technology for the wayfinding of visually impaired travelers in an urban environment based on a thorough review of software marketplaces and the academic literature. Subsequently, we solicited structured input from domain experts and visually impaired individuals on their experiences and evaluations pertaining to personal telecommunication technology for safe and efficient wayfinding. The insights gained from this project are instrumental for the conceptualization and development of integrated route planning and guidance application that address the distinct information needs and expectations of individuals with a vision-related functional impairment. The very …

Electronic Wayfinding For Visually Impaired Travelers: Limitations And Opportunities, Martin Swobodzinski, Amy T. Parker

TREC Project Briefs

In this project, we distilled an inventory of smartphone-based electronic travel aid technology for the wayfinding of visually impaired travelers in an urban environment based on a thorough review of software marketplaces and the academic literature. Subsequently, we solicited structured input from domain experts and visually impaired individuals on their experiences and evaluations pertaining to personal telecommunication technology for safe and efficient wayfinding. The insights gained from this project are instrumental for the conceptualization and development of integrated route planning and guidance application that address the distinct information needs and expectations of individuals with a vision-related functional impairment. The very …

Social-Transportation Analytic Toolbox (Stat) For Transit Networks, Xiaoyue Cathy Liu, Qian Zuo, Shenruoyang Na, Ran Wei, Aaron Golub, Liming Wang, Jake Davis

TREC Final Reports

This project builds an open-source, socio-transportation analytic (STAT) toolbox for public transit system planning in an effort to integrate social media and general transit feed specification (GTFS) data for transit agencies in evaluating and enhancing the performance of public transit systems. This toolbox is novel and essential to transit agencies in two aspects. First, it enables the integration, analysis and visualization of two major, new open transportation data, social media and GTFS data, to support transit decision-making. Second, it allows transit agencies to evaluate service network efficiency and access equity of transit systems in a cohesive manner, and identify areas …

Bicycle Planning Gis Tool, Joseph Broach

TREC Final Reports

Although currently only about one percent of US trips are done by bicycle, there is significant geographic variation. Differences across communities, along with much higher cycling rates observed in other places around the world, indicates large potential bicycling demand for daily travel in the US. In response, many communities are developing and implementing bicycle master plans that include a range of bikeway infrastructure aimed at making riding more appealing, including separated paths, protected (or separated) bike lanes, striped bike lanes, bicycle boulevards, sharrows, route signage, and intersection crossing aids. Given limited resources, planners and engineers need tools to estimate the …

National Scan Of Bike Share Equity Programs: Approaches And Best Practices For Promoting Equity In Bike Share, Nathan Mcneil, John Macarthur, Joseph Broach, Austin Cummings, Rae-Leigh Stark, Rebecca Sanders, Adrian Witte

TREC Final Reports

As bike share systems around the United States have grown in number and size in recent years, there has been an increasing effort to ensure that those systems are accessible to all residents, particularly those who have the fewest resources or have been underserved in the past. The mobility landscape in 2019 is rapidly changing, with scooter and e-bike systems along with ride-hailing and ride-sharing companies contributing to a new and uncharted urban transportation scene. Meanwhile, bike share is still relatively new and changing quickly. In order to compete and excel in this changing landscape, particularly with regard to providing …

Leveraging Twitter And Machine Learning For Real-Time Transit Network Evaluation, Xiaoyue Cathy Liu, Qian Zuo, Shenruoyang Na, Ran Wei, Aaron Golub, Liming Wang, Jake Davis

TREC Project Briefs

With today’s profusion of open data sources and real-time feeds, transit agencies have an unparalleled opportunity to leverage large amounts of data to improve transit service. Thanks to NITC researchers, there is now an open-source tool for that.

The new Social-Transportation Analytic Toolbox (STAT) for Transit Networks, developed by researchers at the University of Utah and Portland State University, is a dynamic platform that combines Twitter, general transit feed specification (GTFS), and census transportation planning products (CTPP)—in this case, job density data—to help agencies evaluate overall system performance and identify connectivity gaps. It can also act as a decision support …

Characterizing The Trip Generation Profiles Of Multifamily Housing, Kelly Clifton, Kristina M. Currans

TREC Final Reports

Cities are increasingly wanting to assess the impacts new development has on all modes in the transportation system. Many communities are requiring site-level transportation impact analysis to examine travel outcomes. The historical focus on developing data and methods exclusively for the automobile, such as the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Handbook, has left planners with little guidance for these new challenges. This study aims to examine the limitations in the dominant approaches to understand how they may misguide the planning process for multifamily housing development. Specifically, we aim to examine the vehicle and person trip generation rates associated …

Pathways To Planning: A Field Guide For Long Range Planning, Sally Bernstein, Adrienne Chaille, Jake Davis, Theresa Huang, Rhey Haggerty, Emily Scott

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

In 2017, the City of Monroe Planning Commission decided to update its Comprehensive Plan, last amended in 1986 and sought technical support. In addition to developing a Buildable Lands Inventory, Housing Needs Analysis, and Economic Assessment to support the comprehensive plan update process, Constellation Planning created a Field Guide as an interactive resource to be used for long range planning processes in Monroe, recognizing an opportunity to increase planning capacity.

The Field Guide includes educational appendices and usable worksheets that are intended for a diverse audience, including community members, commissioners, elected officials, city staff, planning partners, and consultants. Using a …

Planning In Gateway And Natural Amenity Region Communities: Understanding The Unique Challenges Associated With Transportation, Mobility, And Livability, Danya Rumore, Philip Stoker, Zacharia Levine, Lindsey Romaniello

TREC Final Reports

Communities outside of major public lands and other natural amenities throughout the western United States face a variety of transportation and planning-related concerns associated with rapid growth and increases in tourism. Surprisingly, while the unique transportation and planning-related challenges of these western gateway and amenity region (GNAR) communities have, to some extent, been documented in recreation and tourism research, these concerns have largely been overlooked in planning scholarship. To begin to address this gap, this report presents key descriptive findings from a study aimed at examining the unique transportation, mobility, and access to opportunity-related challenges being experienced by GNAR communities …

Small Towns With Big City Problems: Mobility Challenges And Solutions In Our Natural Areas, Danya Rumore, Philip Stoker, Zacharia Levine, Lindsey Romaniello

TREC Project Briefs

Western North America boasts an abundance of scenic mountains, ski areas, stunning desert landscapes and national parks. Living near these natural amenities are small communities, many of which are becoming increasingly popular places to live and visit. The influx of visitors creates unique transportation and mobility challenges for these small towns and cities, such as seasonal spikes in severe roadway congestion and a desire for e-bike share programs in communities of less than 1,000 people. These challenges often in turn affect community character and wellbeing.

Given their proximity to these impacted communities, NITC researchers Danya Rumore of the University of …

Life-Space Mobility: How Transportation And Policy Can Support Aging In Place For Older Adults, Ivis Garcia Zambrana, Alan Kenneth Delatorre

TREC Project Briefs

Research on older adults frequently explores the notion of "aging in place"—providing older adults the opportunity to continue to live in their own homes and communities. However one’s ability to stay or leave, particularly in old age, often depends on the built environment. An accessible neighborhood that prioritizes mobility affords the ability to meet basic needs like goods, services, and social activities.

This life-space mobility is rarely applied in the field of urban planning and architecture. A NITC project led by Ivis Garcia Zambrana of the University of Utah and Alan DeLaTorre of Portland State University sought to operationalize this …

Defining And Measuring Equitable Access To Washington Park In Portland, Oregon, Marisa Zapata, Joseph Broach, Kara Boden, Qingyang Xie

TREC Final Reports

Explore Washington Park (EWP) is a 501c3 non-profit that serves as the Transportation Management Association for Washington Park. At 410 acres, Washington Park receives over 3 million visitors each year and is home to some of Portland’s most popular attractions including the International Rose Test Garden, Portland Japanese Garden, Oregon Zoo, Portland Children’s Museum, World Forestry, and Hoyt Arboretum. EWP, in partnership with Portland Parks & Recreation, provides transportation management and guest services to the park and its cultural institutions with the goal of decreasing the number of vehicle trips to the park. Since beginning its work in 2014, transit …

Life-Space Mobility And Aging In Place, Ivis Garcia Zambrana, Alan Kenneth Delatorre, Ja Young Kim, Julianne Reno, Keith Diaz Moore, Jordan Pieper, Jason Wheeler, Nicole Zinnanti, Brenda Jose

TREC Final Reports

Research on older adults explores the notion of “aging in place”—providing older adults the opportunity to continue to occupy familiar surroundings, to live in their own homes and communities. But oftentimes one’s ability to stay or leave, particularly in old age, depends on the built environment. Mobility is the ability to meet the basic needs to access goods, activities, services, and social interactions as they relate to quality of life. Thus, mobility is essential to older adults due to their limited, or gradually reducing, physical and cognitive abilities. In transportation research, mobility is often regarded in terms of travel behavior …

Preparing Cities For An Automated Future, Benjamin Y. Clark

TREC Project Briefs

This report is an examination of parking, curb zones, and government service changes in the context of AVs. Given that there are very few actual AVs on the road, the analysis in this report is an attempt to project what we might see, using the current phenomenon as starting points. The report uses a mix of econometric modeling, cost accounting, and case studies to illustrate these projections. The first section of this report looks at the effects of transportation network companies (TNCs)—Uber and Lyft in particular—on parking revenue in the city of Seattle. The results of the study indicate that …

Value Capture To Fund Public Transportation: The Impact Of Warm Springs Bart Station On The Value Of Neighboring Residential Properties In Fremont, Ca, Shishir Mathur

Mineta Transportation Institute

This study estimates households’ willingness to pay for single-family houses and condominiums/townhouses located within 2 miles of Warm Springs (WS) BART Station in Fremont, CA. The study finds that, compared to the houses sold in the referent category (2 to 5 miles away and sold during the pre-project-announcement period of 2000-2001), an average-priced single-family house within two miles of the WS BART Station was higher in price by 9% to 15%. The total property value increment for the single-family houses is large enough to fund the $802 million Warm Springs BART Extension Project cost five times over.

How Will Autonomous Vehicles Change Local Government Budgeting And Finance? Case Studies Of On-Street Parking, Curb Management, And Solid Waste Collection, Benjamin Y. Clark

TREC Final Reports

This report is an examination of parking, curb zones, and government service changes in the context of AVs. Given that there are very few actual AVs on the road, the analysis in this report is an attempt to project what we might see, using the current phenomenon as starting points. The report uses a mix of econometric modeling, cost accounting, and case studies to illustrate these projections. The first section of this report looks at the effects of transportation network companies (TNCs)—Uber and Lyft in particular—on parking revenue in the city of Seattle. The results of the study indicate that …