Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

The Landscape: Tiny And Very Small Houses, Andrés Oswill

Metroscape

The article describes one of many approaches to creating more affordable housing choices -- tiny and very small houses. The author explains how the current trend returns to an affordable housing approach used much earlier in Portland's history.

Indicators Of The Metroscape: The Young, The Old, And The Single, Elizabeth Morehead

Metroscape

Elizabeth Morehead focuses on the changing demographic of households in the Portland metropolitan region

Periodic Atlas Of The Of The Metroscape: The Geography Of Publicly Subsidized Affordable Housing, Meg Merrick

Metroscape

Meg Merrick maps publicly subsidized affordable housing units across the region, discusses their geography, and describes their location in relation to two important amenities: schools and libraries.

Center For Population Dynamics Quarterly Brief July 2016: Population Loss And Development Trends In Cleveland, Richey Piiparinen, Jim Russell, Charlie Post, Kyle Fee

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

When a place loses population, it’s assumed that’s because people leave. But it’s not that simple. What’s lost in translation is today’s households have fewer people living in them than they did years prior. For instance, 40% of mothers aged 40 to 44 had four or more children in 1976. Today, it’s 14%. Overall, the average American household contracted from 3.14 people in 1970 to 2.54 today. This can explain the apparent paradox of population loss in “shrinking” communities while the number of occupied households grows.

Such was the case in Cuyahoga County. There were 1.72 million residents in the …

Generation Rent Needs Grown-Up Housing Guidelines Now, Lorcan Sirr

Media

The private rented sector in Ireland accommodates 705,000 people in 324,000 tenancies—in properties owned by 172,000 registered landlords. In the past 18 months alone there has been an increase of 12,000 registered landlords.

Civil Society And The Governance Of Urban Food Systems In Sub-Saharan Africa, Daniel N. Warshawsky

Geography Faculty Publications

Rapid urbanization of the planet has placed pressure on humanity to build sustainable, healthy, and socially just cities. In particular, key challenges associated with food access threaten the livability of the urban environment. For this reason, research on urban food systems has increased significantly, as scholars have studied the production, distribution, acquisition, consumption, and waste of food. However, key research gaps persist, as it remains unclear how urban food systems are governed and the roles that different institutions play to ensure that cities are livable. In particular, while food civil society organizations (FCSOs) have emerged as important players in urban …

Singapore: Real State Control, Sock Yong Phang

Research Collection School Of Economics

The author explains how the government of Singapore has taken on the role of land use planner and housing developer to ensure affordable housing. Numerous instruments have been devised by governments to provide affordable housing. These can be classified into four broad categories: taxes and subsidies, land use and market regulations, public-private partnerships, and institutions that supply housing or provide financing.

From The Frontlines Of The Housing Crisis: Two Vulnerable Tenants Discuss Their Experiences In Portland's Increasingly Brutal Housing Market, Thomas Kerr

Metroscape

Homelessness is the most visible face of Portland's affordable housing crisis, but the numbers of street sleepers and tent campers are nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of beleaguered tenants. They may be hidden away in their separate apartments, but they are suffering the effects of crisis all the same. Forty percent of the 900,000 households in the Portland Metro area are tenants, and half are paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent. A quarter pay more than 50 percent, and the percentages go higher as the households get poorer. Besides forcing them to impoverish themselves …

Living On The Edge: The Forgotten Tribulations Of Affordable Housing In The Suburbs, Linn Davis

Metroscape

The article describes how the housing crisis is playing out in the region's suburbs.

Sequential Decision Making For Improving Efficiency In Urban Environments, Pradeep Varakantham

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Rapid "urbanization" (more than 50% of world's population now resides in cities) coupled with the natural lack of coordination in usage of common resources (ex: bikes, ambulances, taxis, traffic personnel, attractions) has a detrimental effect on a wide variety of response (ex: waiting times, response time for emergency needs) and coverage metrics (ex: predictability of traffic/security patrols) in cities of today. Motivated by the need to improve response and coverage metrics in urban environments, my research group is focussed on building intelligent agent systems that make sequential decisions to continuously match available supply of resources to an uncertain demand for …

Coveney Must Grasp The Nettle Of A Flawed Housing Report, Lorcan Sirr

Media

On June 17, the Oireachtas committee on housing and homelessness published its report after convening in April. It interviewed 38 witnesses and received about 82 submissions from the public and various bodies. These reports do not write themselves, so the committee must be commended for its efforts. Indeed, as I suspect many of its members did not appreciate the infinite complexities of housing, apart from the normal personal experiences, what they have read and constituents’ queries. They did well to get their heads around some of the main issues involved. The final report has some good recommendations but it misses …

Responding To Foreclosures In Cuyahoga County 2015 Update: Ninth Annual Report January 1 - December 31, 2015, Kathryn W. Hexter, Molly Schnoke

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs has been the evaluation partner for the Cuyahoga County Foreclosure Prevention Program (CCFPP) since the program was adopted in 2006. This report is an update to the County for 2015. The evaluation provides the County with metrics to track progress and provides feedback about the program that can be used to improve and adapt it to meet the rapidly changing state and national context surrounding foreclosures.

Since consistent tracking began in 2009, the Cuyahoga County foreclosure prevention program has served over 24,000 homeowners at the five participating counseling agencies. In 2015 alone, …

The State Needs To Supply Its Own Housing — To Save Money, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Much debate about housing has centred on proposed solutions such as the Central Bank’s lending limits and a reduction in VAT for developers. The Department of the Environment’s contribution managed to bypass the democratic process, ignore its own civil service rules, then introduce newmandatory smaller apartment sizes, which, it said, would bring down costs and stimulate development. Of course, such a crude move did no such thing—just as reducing VAT for developers and lifting bank lending ratios for lenders will not create an affordable housing system. These “solutions” are like Nero fiddling as Rome burned behind him.

Fellowship Programs: Best Practice Scan, Walter Wright, Kathryn W. Hexter, Joyce Huang

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

Best Practices Of Creating Innovation Exchange Web Portals Across The States, Iryna Lendel, Simon Husted, Luke Seaberg, Serena Alexander

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Since their initial development in the late 1990s, expert web portals have been an evolving tool for universities, systems of higher education, and economic development organizations. The web portals are searchable, web-based databases of university scholars and researchers that feature, at a minimum, information on their expertise, innovation products and publications. Many of the portals are growing to include information on universities’ physical assets and equipment, regional strengths, and additional services such as networking and analytical tools for research.

Although these searchable databases have proven useful in helping economic development leaders, government, research colleagues, and internal university staff, their role …

Pathway 1000 Community Housing Plan, Kaitlin Berger, Anna Dearman, Beth Gilden, Karen Guillén-Chapman, Jasmine Rucker

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Housing prices in the City of Portland have risen dramatically in recent years, and low income and communities of color have been particularly hard hit in the northeast neighborhoods of the city. Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives has embarked on the development of 1000 affordable units over the next 10 years to help meet the needs of displaced residents. The Pathway 1000 Community Housing Plan sets out a strategy for providing those 1000 affordable, stable homes.

This project was conducted under the supervision of Marisa Zapata, Ethan Seltzer, Susam Hartnett, and Lisa Bates.

Westside Community Park: A Vision For Public Space, David Fiske, Nathen Lamb, Will Roberts, Kara Srnka, Grace Stainback, Jeffrey Waldo

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Hood River, both the City and the County, are growing and projected to grow substantially in future years. An opportunity has arisen to consider one of the last well-located and large parcels for development as a new park in a fast-growing area of the community. However, what makes a good park? Would that differ based on who was being asked? How can a wider range of voices join this conversation? This work was undertaken to tell the story of what a westside park could be, and what it would take to make it happen.

his project was conducted under the …

Lents Strong: Community Action Plan For A Livable, Affordable Neighborhood, Adam Brunelle, Drew Devitis, Carson Groecki, Claire Lust, Katie Sellin, John Todoroff

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

This is a community action and advocacy plan, created in consultation with neighborhood organizations and underrepresented communities most at risk for displacement. It focuses on actions where collaboration and community engagement will have the largest impacts. This is a plan for the next five years.

The overarching goals of the plan are to: Ensure the viability of Livable Lents. Livable Lents should remain a transparent, accountable, accessible, and holistic community engagement process that works collaboratively with nonprofits, city agencies, and community members. This plan serves in part as a collaboration strategy which integrates engagement on a wide range of projects …

The Value Of Place: Planning For Walkability In The Tigard Triangle, Wala Abuhejleh, Ray Atkinson, Linn Davis, Curtis Fisher

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The “Tigard Triangle” is bounded by highways and characterized by auto-oriented land uses in an incomplete street grid. It currently presents a challenge to the City of Tigard, whose vision is to be the most walkable community in the Pacific Northwest. The purpose of the Value of Place project is to develop a plan for improving walkability, safety, comfort, and aesthetics in the Tigard Triangle. In addition, this project was developed to test the application of the State of Place analytical tools to the planning and design challenges faced by the city.

This project was conducted under the supervision of …

Parking Space Estimation In The City Of Portland, Ashley Colder, Madison Weakley, J. Robert Zoeller

Student Work

This project is a collaboration with Portland Bureau of Transportation, to study city required parking lots spaces, and allowed on-street parking space in Portland. As the city begins to re-evaluate its transportation systems to encourage more travel by buses, trains, and bikes, we want to explore what is the current parking situation by the city of Portland. To understand better about the parking situation in Portland, and how this might affect the parking policies in the future in Portland.

The scope of this project is limited to East Portland. The group was assigned to the Far-Southeast (Far-SE) area. The Far-SE …

Time To Monitor Airbnb’S Impact On Dublin’S Housing Crisis, Lorcan Sirr

Media

A few weeks ago, I attended the Association for Law, Property and Society conference in Belfast. This event is normally held in America, so neither the US participants nor I knew the city. It was time for an experiment and, at £115 (€148) for a central two-bedroom apartment, Airbnb was cheaper than a hotel.

Forest Grove School District: Enrollment Forecast 2016-17 To 2025-26, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Charles Rynerson, Scott Stewart, Nicholas Chun

School District Enrollment Forecast Reports

This report presents a series of three scenarios of district-wide enrollment forecasts by grade level for the Forest Grove School District (FGSD) for the 10 year period between 2016-17 and 2025-26. Each enrollment forecast scenario is related to population forecasts that incorporate different assumptions about growth within the District, with the primary differences being the contribution of net migration to the District’s population and age distribution. Individual school forecasts consistent with the middle series scenario are also presented for the 10 year period.

St. Helens School District Enrollment Forecasts 2016-17 To 2025-26, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Charles Rynerson, Scott Stewart, Nicholas Chun

School District Enrollment Forecast Reports

This report presents district-wide enrollment forecasts by grade level for the St. Helens School District (SHSD) for the 10 year period between 2016-17 and 2025-26

Washington County Affordable Housing Development Strategy, Mary Heberling, Hayley Mallen, Danelle Peterson, Jill Statz, David Tetrick

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The Washington County Consolidated Housing Plan estimates a need for 14,000 housing units affordable to low and very low-income households. This project was developed to create an initial strategy for meeting that need. It provides 30 specific recommendations for Washington County to enable it to take action in the coming years. As the plan notes, there is no single action that will suffice. The County can make progress towards meeting the challenge posed by its affordable housing crisis by leveraging the proposed recommendations with each other.

Talent On The Move: Migration Patterns Of The Young And College-Educated In Pre And Post-Recession America - Migration Trends Across The 50 Largest U.S. Metros, Jason R. Jurjevich, Greg Schrock, Jihye Kang

Publications, Reports and Presentations

In this brief, we present U.S. Census Bureau data to compare recent migration trends for young and college-educated (YCE) individuals for the largest 50 U.S. metro areas in 2012-2014 relative to the pre-recession (2005-2007) and Great Recession (2008-2010) periods.

Connecting People To Places: Spatiotemporal Analysis Of Transit Supply Using Travel-Time Cubes, Steven Farber

TREC Final Reports

Despite its importance, temporal measures of accessibility are rarely used in transit research or practice. This is primarily due to the inherent difficulty and complexity in computing time-based accessibility metrics. Estimating origin-to-destination travel times that include the “last mile” of travel between the transit network and actual start and endpoints of the trip is technically difficult. Not only do such estimations require multimodal network structures, they also require detailed knowledge of transit schedules and sophisticated algorithms for calculating shortest paths using such inputs. Recently, new standards for sharing transit schedules and geographic data, namely the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) …

Coordinated Population Forecast For Wheeler County, Its Urban Growth Boundaries (Ugb), And Area Outside Ugbs 2016-2066, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Xiaomin Ruan, Risa Proehl, Jason R. Jurjevich, Kevin Rancik, Janai Kessi, David Tetrick, Julia Michel

Oregon Population Forecast Program

Different growth patterns occur in different parts of the County and these local trends within the UGBs and the area outside UGBs collectively influence population growth rates for the county as a whole.

Wheeler County’s total population has declined slowly since 2000, with average annual growth rates of just above negative one percent between 2000 and 2010 (Figure 1); however, some of its sub-areas experienced some population growth during the 2000s. Fossil, the most populous UGB, experienced small growth and Spray posted the highest average annual growth rate at 0.1 and 1.1 percent, respectively, during the 2000 to 2010 period. …

Coordinated Population Forecast For Hood River County, Its Urban Growth Boundaries (Ugb), And Area Outside Ugbs 2016-2066, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Xiaomin Ruan, Risa Proehl, Jason R. Jurjevich, Kevin Rancik, Janai Kessi, David Tetrick, Julia Michel

Oregon Population Forecast Program

Hood River County’s total population has grown steadily since 2000, with an average annual growth rate of about one percent between 2000 and 2010 (Figure 1). The Hood River UGB experienced more rapid population growth during the 2000s, averaging more than one percent per year during the 2000 to 2010 period.

Hood River County’s positive population growth in the 2000s was the result of a steady natural increase and periods of substantial net in-migration (Figure 12). The larger number of births relative to deaths has led to a natural increase (more births than deaths) in every year from 2000 to …

Coordinated Population Forecast For Harney County, Its Urban Growth Boundaries (Ugb), And Area Outside Ugbs 2016-2066, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Xiaomin Ruan, Risa Proehl, Jason R. Jurjevich, Kevin Rancik, Janai Kessi, David Tetrick, Julia Michel

Oregon Population Forecast Program

Different growth patterns occur in different parts of the County and these local trends within the UGBs and the area outside UGBs collectively influence population growth rates for the county as a whole.

Harney County’s total population has slowly declined since 2000, with an average annual rate of negative 0.2 percent between 2000 and 2010 (Figure 1). Burns is accountable for the county’s overall declining population. All other sub-areas experienced very slight population growths during the 2000 to 2010 period, increasing by a total of 32 persons.

Harney County’s population decline in the 2000s was the direct result of frequent …

Coordinated Population Forecast For Baker County, Its Urban Growth Boundaries (Ugb), And Area Outside Ugbs 2016-2066, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Xiaomin Ruan, Risa Proehl, Jason R. Jurjevich, Kevin Rancik, Janai Kessi, David Tetrick, Julia Michel

Oregon Population Forecast Program

Baker County’s population declined between 2000 and 2010, losing on average of just over 60 people per year (Figure 1); however in recent years this pattern has changed and population increase has occurred. Between 2010 and 2015 the county added on average about 20 persons per year (Figure 2).

Baker County’s population decline in the 2000s was the result of natural decrease and periods of substantial net out-migration. The larger number of deaths relative to births has led to natural decrease (more deaths than births) in every year from 2000 to 2015 (Figure 12). While net in-migration fluctuated dramatically during …