Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Generation Of 3d Model Of Downtown Sullivan, Jim Speer

2020 Fall Reports (Sullivan)

The City of Sullivan identified the downtown area as an area for improvement and needed a way to depict areas. In ENVI 610, one graduate student was able to address the agreed upon goals of developing a 3D model of the downtown square. Some recommendations for future use of the 3D model were made for land-use planning, drainage systems, elevation, and more.

Webinar: Transportation Benefits Of Polycentric Urban Form, Reid Ewing, Sadegh Sabouri

TREC Webinar Series

A “polycentric” region consists of a network of compact developments connected with each other through high-quality transportation options. Rather than continuing the expanse of low-density development radiating from an urban core, investments can be concentrated on central nodes and transit connections. This development pattern is very popular in Europe and is linked to significant benefits. This presentation is aimed at exploring the academic literature and empirical evidence surrounding polycentric development, analyzing more than 120 regional transportation plans to see how they promote polycentric development, defining types of centers in a hierarchy of centers, quantifying the transportation benefits of polycentric development, …

Pedestrians Under Attack, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

A review of Right Of Way by Angie Schmitt

Applying Data-Driven Multimodal Speed Management Strategies For Safe, Efficient Transportation, Yao-Jan Wu, Xianfeng Yeng, Sirisha Kothuri

TREC Project Briefs

How can we use a variety of data-driven speed management strategies to make transportation safer and more efficient for all modes–whether you’re driving, walking or taking transit? The project was led by Yao Jan Wu, director of the Smart Transportation Lab at the University of Arizona. Co-investigators were Xianfeng Terry Yang of the University of Utah, who researches traffic operations and modeling along with connected automated vehicles, and Sirisha Kothuri of Portland State University, whose research has focused on improving signal timing to better serve pedestrians. “We want to improve mobility for all users, be it pedestrians, vehicle drivers or …

Difference In Travel Behavior Between Immigrants In The U.S. And U.S. Born Residents: The Immigrant Effect For Car-Sharing, Ride-Sharing, And Bike-Sharing Services, Sangwan Lee, Michael J. Smart, Aaron Golub

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding immigrants’ travel behavior is important to transportation planners and policymakers working to implement better transportation planning and public policies to serve those needs. The recent changes to the transportation system, specifically, the recent emergence of shared mobility services, such as car‐sharing, ride‐ sharing, and bike‐sharing, may have resulted in changes in how immigrants travel. Thus, we explored two research questions: (1) whether immigrants in the U.S. are more likely to rely on the three newly emerging transportation modes than US‐born persons, and (2) whether the assimilation theory can be applied to the modes. To answer these questions, we used …

Bringing Judaism Downtown: A Smart Growth Policy For Orthodox Jews, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

Until the late 20th century, the most rigorously traditional Jews, haredi Jews (often referred to as “ultra-Orthodox”) tended to congregate in New York City. But as New York became more expensive and haredi population grew due to high birth rates, some haredi Jews (known collectively as “haredim”) moved to small towns and outer suburbs in search of cheaper land, sometimes creating towns dominated by haredim such as Kiryas Joel, New York and Lakewood, New Jersey. As haredi populations have continued to grow, their households now seek undeveloped land outside these enclaves. But as haredim move deeper into the countryside, zoning …

Data Files: Bi-Objective Optimization For Battery Electric Bus Deployment Considering Cost And Environmental Equity, Xiaoyue Cathy Liu, Yirong Zhou, Ran Wei, Aaron Golub

TREC Datasets and Databases

This data supports the research project Bi-objective Optimization for Battery Electric Bus Deployment Considering Cost and Environmental Equity and a final report published on NITC’s website.

Dataset collected through multiple sources and organized into different formats including CSV format, JSON format, shapefile and code repository.

Context: The research project develops a bi-objective model that aims to help transit agencies to optimally deploy BEB while considering both capital investment and environmental equity. The unique spatio-temporal characteristic of BEB system, charging limitations (on-route and in-depot charging), and operational constraints are also considered and incorporated into the model.

Bio-Spatial Policing In Theory And Practice: Examining Impacts And Resistance Through Mobilities And Children's Everyday Life, Emily Kaufman

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Despite decades of reforms and technological innovations, increasing evidence shows that state securitization disproportionately harms already racially, spatially, and socio-economically marginalized communities. My research investigates uneven impacts of state securitization, from punitive welfare programs to school surveillance to policing. Across sites, I focus on scales, voices and the everyday lived experiences often left out of scholarly discourse and sensational media. In the current climate of growing awareness and scholarship on police violence, my dissertation addresses three less-studied areas: 1) the interplay between racial, gendered, spatial, and technified police practices; 2) how these practices impact the everyday lives of those racially …

Integrating Diverse Perspectives For Managing Neighborhood Trees And Urban Ecosystem Services In Portland, Or (Us), Lorena Nascimento, Vivek Shandas

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Municipalities worldwide are increasingly recognizing the importance of urban green spaces to mitigate climate change’s extreme effects and improve residents’ quality of life. Even with extensive earlier research examining the distribution of tree canopy in cities, we know little about human perceptions of urban forestry and related ecosystem services. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the variations in socioeconomic indicators and public perceptions by asking how neighborhood trees and socioeconomic indicators mediate public perceptions of ecosystem services availability. Using Portland, Oregon (USA) as our case study, we assessed socioeconomic indicators, land cover data, and survey responses about …

Interventions To Slums And Informal Settlements: A Case Study Of The Integrated Housing Development Program In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Nathan Teklemariam

Theses and Dissertations

Rapid urbanization is currently taking place in developing regions that have yet to address already existing and persistent inequities within their urban centers. There is perhaps no urban policy issue more critical for governments of the global South than the elimination of slums and informal settlements, along with the development of equitable access to affordable housing for low-income residents. Ethiopia has taken on this challenge through its Integrated Housing Development Program (IHDP), which incorporates slum clearance and resettlement through a government-led development of condominium housing targeting those displaced and other low and middle-income residents in the city.

Since the launch …

Putting Policy In Its Place: Policy Enactment And Engagement Through A Multiscalar Policy-Shed Framework, Barbara L. Maclennan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The objective of this research is to examine the spatial components integral to policy formation, implementation, and evaluation. The research uses solid waste as a case study to explore a multiscalar GIS policy-shed framework. To this end, the goal of this dissertation is to examine the spatial nature of public policy. The research applies spatial concepts and multiscalar methodological applications embedded within GIS and geovisualization to explore the complex spaces surrounding public policy implementation and evaluation.

Evaluating The N/Ne Preference Policy, Amie Thurber, Lisa K. Bates, Susan Halverson

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

North/Northeast Portland has long been the heart of Portland's Black community. By 2010, the area had lost two-thirds of its Black residents to displacement. In response, the City adopted a Preference Policy that prioritizes displaced affordable rental and homeownership applicants. This report describes findings from the first phase of a study to understand what difference this policy is making in the lives of residents.

Citizen Participation In Times Of Crisis: Understanding Participatory Budget During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Nepal, Thaneshwar Bhusal

ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement

This research assumes that various forms and scales of lockdowns and social distancing measures have limited local decision-makers’ ability to reach out to communities as part of their mandatory annual participatory budgeting processes. Building upon this proposition, this article assesses Nepal’s local budgeting process of 2020 to understand the degree to which it succeeded (or failed) in incorporating citizen’s voices in the annual handbook of local public policies and budgets. The research followed a qualitative case study research methodology. It generated interviews with participants including ordinary people, local politicians, and bureaucrats from 20 different municipalities and a federal ministry in …

A Crisis Within A Crisis: Nyc Landlords Ramp Up Harassment Of Vulnerable Tenants In Wake Of Pandemic, Joseph A. Jungermann Iii

Capstones

Already burdened with more sickness and death during the pandemic than other New Yorkers, low-income tenants and tenants of color are particularly vulnerable to additional harassment by landlords who seek to take advantage of the city's health and financial crisis to force them out. Brooklyn residents Delene Ahye, Dexter Lendor and Sonny Singh tell stories of their landlord, landlord agents and building manager’s harassment, which began during the pandemic’s most dangerous spikes in New York City. These forms of harassment included intimidation, abusive construction, constant buyout offers and biometrics and surveillance technology.

Link to capstone project: https://joseph-jungermann.medium.com/a-crisis-within-a-crisis-nyc-landlords-ramp-up-harassment-of-vulnerable-tenants-in-wake-of-e09d67968208

Diana: Unapologetic And Unafraid, Kirkpatrick B. Cohall

Capstones

Diana: Unapologetic and Unafraid provides a snapshot into the multifaceted, and dynamic world of Assemblywoman Diana C. Richardson. Richardson, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York has a heart for service to her community and will stop at nothing to make sure her voice is heard. Richardson takes us on a journey through her current political responsibilities and how she’s endured opposition on nearly all fronts of her political sphere, including law enforcement, news media, and other elected officials. From police officers pepper-spraying her earlier this summer at a George Floyd protest, to articles digging up dirt to intentionally slight …

Expanding The Boundaries Of Food Policy: The Turn To Equity In New York City, Nevin Cohen, Rositsa Ilieva

Publications and Research

Policymakers acknowledge that the food system is multidimensional and that social determinants affect diet-related health outcomes, yet cities have emphasized programs and policies narrowly connected to food access and nutritional health. Over the past fifteen years, the boundaries of food governance have expanded to include a wider range of issues and domains not previously considered within the purview of food policy, like labor, housing, and education policies. This paper illustrates the processes by which this shift occurs by presenting the case of New York City, which has broadened its food governance to a larger set of issues, requiring cross-sectoral initiatives …

When The City Sells Some Landlords’ Tax Debt Year After Year, It’S The Tenants Who Suffer., Peter Senzamici, Allison Dikanovic

Capstones

New York City’s tax lien sale has been put on hold since last spring, giving homeowners some relief and allowing landlords who are behind to continue to neglect their obligations without consequence. Now, the state’s new eviction and foreclosure moratorium offers protection from the lien sale until May, and City Council is poised to vote on a new bill that would reauthorize the sale for one year. http://petersenzamici.com/liens

Winning The Fight For Better Bus Service, Steven Higashide

PSU Transportation Seminars

The "right to the city" depends on the right to access the city, and U.S. regions are marked by profoundly unequal access. One of the clearest manifestations of this is the state of U.S. bus transit. Bus service is simple to improve and has vast potential to better people's lives, but has been constrained by the racist planning and politics that shape every American city.

How can we fulfill the promise of better buses and create abundant transit networks that expand access to opportunity? In this seminar, Higashide unpacks the elements of effective bus service – and cites examples from …

What Do People Experiencing Homelessness Need?, Marisa Zapata

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

This is an opinion piece about a survey in Portland that reveals profound racial disparities even in basic answers about where people sleep.

Perceptions Of The Built Environment Among Older Adults Who Live In Age-Restricted Communities Compared To Those Who Do Not In Southern Nevada, Sandra Annan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As Americans are living longer, there has been exponential growth in the number of older adults. Growth in the aging population has created unique challenges. As seniors age, they face many changes in their health, financial stability, and lifestyle, making it challenging to remain independent. The inability to remain independent can be a stressful and depressing experience for older adults. Studies show that most seniors prefer to stay in their current living environment as they age, or age in place, rather than move into senior housing or other available housing options designed for aging. This study investigates how perceptions about …

Racial Disparities In Traffic Enforcement, Mike Dolan Fliss

PSU Transportation Seminars

Law enforcement traffic stops are one of the most common entryways to the US justice system, with significant downstream impacts for both individuals and communities. Group-specific rates are typically based on jurisdiction resident populations; these rates, like many justice-system indicators, demonstrate race-ethnicity disparities. Residential-based rates implicitly assume race-ethnicity groups have equal vehicle access, equal driving volume, and that all driving occurs in resident’s jurisdictions. In contrast, surveys suggest Black non-Hispanic and Hispanic households have less access and drive less than white non-Hispanic households. Models incorporating US Census data and race-ethnicity driving factors from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey showed …

Curating Equitable Transportation, Nikotris Perkins

PSU Transportation Seminars

Getting people and goods from here to there is central to the ways we live, work, and play in the United States. The transportation networks we create as planners, engineers, geologists, contractors, consultants, advocates, and citizens involve a multitude of decisions. These decisions have great impact on who can get where, when and how; often connected to our structures of social power. This seminar connects those dots, questions our ability to make change, and calls participants to be actively involved in a transportation system that is curated for those it targets: everyone.

Webinar: Bus Stops: Access And Equity, Keith Bartholomew

TREC Webinar Series

Improving bus stops by providing shelters, seating, signage, and sidewalks is relatively inexpensive and popular among riders and local officials. Making such improvements, however, is not often a priority for U.S. transit providers because of competing demands for capital funds and a perception that amenities are not tied to measurable increases in system effectiveness or efficiency. This webinar focuses on the role that bus stops play as the point of first contact between transit agencies and their potential riders, and how the quality of that contact can influence both ridership and accessibility for riders with mobility-related disabilities. The webinar will …

At The Intersection Of Safety + Race + Transportation, Charlene Mcgee

PSU Transportation Seminars

Transportation policies at the local, regional, state and national levels have a direct impact on urban land use and development patterns. Transportation intersects with multiple areas including public health, education, climate change, physical activity, health outcomes, build environment, violence, safety, social cohesion and the wellness of communities. For the health outcomes influenced by transportation, disparities exist by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status in Multnomah County. Disproportionate exposure to injury, air pollution, and noise contributes to inequitable burdens of injuries and chronic disease among race and ethnic groups. This is exacerbated by lack of access to safe places for active transportation …

Bus Stops Improvements Along Utah Corridor Increase Ridership And Ada Accessibility, Keith Bartholomew

TREC Project Briefs

A bus stop can be anything from a simple signpost stuck in the grass, to a comfortable shelter with seating and paved access to the sidewalk. For many U.S. transit agencies across the country, improving facilities at bus stops is a priority. But how much do these improvements actually affect ridership? A lot, it turns out. A new NITC study, co-funded by the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and led by Keith Bartholomew of the University of Utah, found a 5.9% increase in boardings after improvements were made to a series of bus stops in Salt Lake City - compared to …

Administering A Ranked-Choice Voting Election: Lessons From London, Ontario, Charlotte Kurs

Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance – Publications

To elect its mayor and council in October of 2018, the City of London, Ontario used ranked-choice voting instead of the traditional first-past-the-post system; the first Canadian city in decades to use an alternative electoral system. London’s experience as the first Ontario municipality to implement ranked-choice voting allows it to offer its experience as a lesson to other municipalities that may be considering making changes to their voting systems.

From the Ontario government’s review of the Municipal Elections Act in 2016 through to the implementation of a ranked-ballot election in 2018, this report details the experience of City of London …

Biking While Black: How Planning Contributes To Unjust Policing, Jesus Barajas

PSU Transportation Seminars

Neighborhoods of color tend to be the most dangerous places for cyclists and other road users, a result in part of historic disinvestment and failure to provide basic infrastructure. Safety efforts to reduce crashes, like Vision Zero, have called for both increased investment, a qualified benefit for disenfranchised communities, and increased traffic enforcement, a response that is likely to place people of color in even greater harm based on extensively documented police injustice.

• For more about the problems of policy and planning around 'bicycling while black,' check out a Sept 9, 2020 blog post by Jesus Barajas.

To what …

Webinar: Economic And Business Outcomes Of Bicycle And Pedestrian Improvements, Jenny H. Liu

TREC Webinar Series

The National Street Improvements Study, conducted by PSU in conjunction with PeopleForBikes and consulting firm Bennett Midland, researched the economic effects of bicycle infrastructure on 14 corridors across six cities — Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Memphis, Minneapolis and Indianapolis. The study found that improvements such as bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure had either positive or non-significant impacts on the local economy as measured through sales and employment. In this webinar, lead researcher Jenny Liu will share the results of the investigation and the unique methodology for investigating these economic outcomes.

This webinar is based on a study funded by the …

Data Files: The Role Of Bus Stop Features In Facilitating Accessibility, Keith Batholomew, Ja Young Kim, Divya Chandrasekhar, Reid Ewing, Arlie Adkins, Samuel Jensen

TREC Datasets and Databases

These datasets support a final report published on NITC’s website “The Role of Bus Stop Features in Facilitating Accessibility”: https://nitc.trec.pdx.edu/research/project/1214.

The DOI for the final report is: https://dx.doi.org/10.15760/trec.254.

Regional Transportation Goals: Reducing Sprawl Through Interconnected Centers, Reid Ewing

TREC Project Briefs

A “polycentric” region is a network of compact developments (centers) that are connected with each other through high-quality transportation options. As the antidote to sprawling suburbs, compact centers can encourage all the things that sprawl discourages: public health, environmental sustainability, social cohesion, and economic diversity. But how can metropolitan planning organizations ensure that their regional plans will actually meet these goals? Polycentric development has been advocated by urban and transportation planners for more than a decade. However, effective practice must be backed by solid research, and to date there has been little or no research that quantifies the transportation benefits …