Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Eastern Ohio Shale & Housing Dashboard - October 1, 2016, Iryna Lendel, Kathryn W. Hexter, Charlie Post, Nick Downer, Sydney Martis

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Transit-Oriented Development On Social Capital, Robert B. Noland, Orin T. Puniello, Stephanie Dipetrillo

Mineta Transportation Institute

This paper focuses on the ability of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) to improve social capital and interactions within a community. The expectation is that TOD has a positive impact on the lifestyle and activities of individuals who reside, work, and frequent these locations, and that this can include increases in social capital. Using data from a survey of transit station locations in New Jersey, the authors examine how proximity to the station and various built environment variables are associated with different measures of social capital, derived from responses to survey questions. These questions inquire about respondents’ perceptions of their neighborhood …

Configuring The Urban Smart Grid: Transitions, Experimentation, And Governance, Anthony Michael Levenda

Dissertations and Theses

In the face of challenges of energy security, decarbonization, resilience, and the replacement of aging infrastructure systems, federal, state, and local actors are facilitating the development of smart electricity networks to transition towards a more sustainable electricity system. In the United States, development of "smart grids" is being pursued as a national policy mandate and goal, promising that the deployment of smart grid technologies -- referring in general to digital information and communication technologies that sense, monitor, control and manage the electric grid -- will make electricity systems more environmentally sustainable and reliable, and at the same time, provide opportunities …

Post-Apartheid Citizenship And The Politics Of Evictions In Inner City Johannesburg, Anthony Johnson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, this ethnographic study examines the phenomenon of eviction within the context of the post-apartheid constitutional right to housing and legal protections against evictions. Rather than view evictions as a singular event, evictions are treated as a lived experience intrinsically linked to the historical, political, and economic life of inner city Johannesburg and more broadly South Africa. I address how South Africa’s constitution creates both a platform for housing advocates to contest evictions and also allows property owners to evict tenants. To analyze evictions, I collected data through participant observation, media sources, archives, interviews, and legal …

Integrative Public Transport In A Segmented City: Reflections From Jerusalem, Galit Cohen-Blankshtain

PSU Transportation Seminars

Jerusalem is perhaps an extreme case of residential and travel market segmentation. It is comprised of four different 'cities', which partially overlap in space: The Jewish-Zionist city; the Palestinian city; the Jewish ultra-orthodox city and the global-tourist city. While the specific delineation of these cities is unique, Jerusalem can be seen as representative of other cities where ethnic and religious tensions create highly segmented urban spaces and travel markets.

In recent years particular emphasis has been placed on integrating transport systems, both across modes and with land use, in order to facilitate and encourage the use of public transport. Spatial …

The Future Of Oregon’S Agricultural Land, Christy Anderson Brekken, Lauren Gwin, Megan Horst, Nellie Mcadams, Sheila A. Martin

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

Sixty-four percent of Oregon's farmland is expected to change hands in the next 20 years, yet many Oregon farmers are unprepared for succession. Simultaneously, beginning farmers are finding it harder to start farmers because of dramatically increasing land prices. These distinct but interwined challenges are addressed in a new research report from the Oregon State University Center for Small Farms, Portland State University's Planning Oregon/Institute for Metropolitan Studies, and Rogue Farm Corps. The study examines trends in land tenure and the effects they might have on Oregon's economy, rural communities, and environment. The report was in many ways inspired and …

To Solve Housing Crisis, We Must Get Over Our Problem With Cities, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Housing is a many-headed beast with elements of technology, planning, finance, sociology and of course, politics. At its core, however, it is a simple thing: buildings for people and this is why it’s crucial to keep an eye on our population statistics. Preliminary results fromthe recent census are throwing up some interesting figures, all of which have implications for where we should be focusing our efforts to build housing. The location of our empty houses should have told us by nowthat there’s little point in building homes where there’s no demand for them.

Eroding Planning Powers Leaves Us At The Mercy Of The Market, Lorcan Sirr

Media

There is little evidence to show that the planning system in Ireland hinders the delivery of housing, yet it is regularly blamed for preventing developers from building. Consistent with our political tradition of “anecdote as fact”, no credible evidence is ever presented to prove these allegations that the planning system—and indeed, planners themselves—are a blockage. The elephant in the room is, of course, owners sitting on land with planning permission who won’t build, or who won’t sell if they can’t afford to build. Critics of the planning system are fewin reality, yet they are vocal and influential. Diluting the system …

A Gis Analysis Of Land Cover Effects On Water Systems: Nutrients And Algae In Stormwater Ponds, Nicole Lee Kappel

Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic land conversion is occurring rapidly and has the potential to impact our water quality. This study aims to explore the effect of watershed land characteristics on water quality within stormwater ponds (SWPs). Rapid land conversion is known to affect water quality of receiving water bodies, however not much is known about the effect of urbanization on SWPs. Geographic informational systems (GIS) was used to determine areas of land that drain into ponds. Water samples were collected and analyzed for total phosphorous, dissolved reactive phosphorous, nitrate, and ammonia. Algal pigment and percent cover measurements were taken in the field and …

Eugene 4j School District Population And Enrollment Forcasts 2016‐17 To 2025‐26, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Charles Rynerson, Scott Stewart

School District Enrollment Forecast Reports

The Eugene 4J School District (4J) requested that the Portland State University Population Research Center (PRC) prepare enrollment forecasts for the District and its schools in collaboration with Lane Council of Governments (LCOG). This report presents a range of three scenarios of district‐wide enrollment forecasts by grade level for 4J 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 …

How Failings In Policy Making Give Us Plenty To Worry About, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Journalist Mick Clifford recently questioned the will and ability of any new government to solve the housing crisis. It’s a legitimate question as governments get caught between the needs of the electorate—more and cheaper housing—and those of the economy, and in particular the banks—higher house prices to pass European Central Bank stress tests.

The Economic Boom, Bust And Transport Inequity In Suburban Dublin, Ireland, Sarah Rock, Aoife Ahern, Brian Caulfield

Articles

This paper examines the existence and extent of transport inequity and disadvantage in new suburbs in Dublin, built during the Celtic Tiger period and as experienced during the recession. Findings are presented from a household postal survey from three case study areas built between 2001 and 2008. The case study areas are typical 'middle class' suburbs, and were constructed at a time when Ireland was experiencing unprecedented economic growth. The subsequent recession left many of these areas in significant negative equity, and householders with very limited housing mobility. Results from the survey point to considerable problems that are impacting on …

Promoting Cycling And Health In A Disadvantaged Area Of North East Dublin City, David O'Connor, Odran Reid, Matthias Borscheid, Willy Simon

Conference Papers

Poor health has been identified as an issue for people who live in areas affected by structural disadvantage and social exclusion. One area in the North East of Dublin City has been identified for the development of a project addressing health inequality and promoting a “Healthy Community” by Northside Partnership, a local development company established in 1991 to address social exclusion in designated disadvantaged neighbourhoods. DIT have engaged with Northside Partnership since 2013 in a Students Learning with Communities Initiative to research levels of mobility and the potential for sustainable transportation as a means to promote health within the study …

Cross-Elasticities In Frequencies And Ridership For Urban Local Routes, Joseph Totten, David Levinson

Journal of Public Transportation

Observational data from the Minneapolis-Saint Paul region’s Metro Transit were analyzed to determine the effects of service levels on ridership levels at different intervals. The research compares changes in service levels and ridership in several service intervals and includes elasticities and cross elasticities, or the influence that these service levels have on different service intervals’ ridership. These cross-elasticities were found to have little effect during the week; however, weekend ridership was found to be influenced by rush-hour and overnight frequencies.

Developing High-Resolution Descriptions Of Urban Heat Islands: A Public Health Imperative, Jackson Voelkel, Vivek Shandas, Brendon Haggerty

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Extreme heat events affect the most vulnerable human populations and are a lethal health hazard to urban dwellers globally; in the United States, extreme heat causes more deaths annually than all other weather events and natural hazards combined (1). Previous studies described urban heat islands as isolated, static, monolithic areas of cities. We challenged this contention by hypothesizing that diurnal temperature cycles and diverse landscape features create variation in places that amplify heat (2). A temporal description of urban heat islands would identify populations that are susceptible to heat stress, particularly at night, when most people are asleep and unable …

Stumbling Block Of Social Housing Stalls O’Devaney Gardens, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Last week, Dublin city council (DCC) resolved a dispute with its own councillors over the regeneration of O’Devaney Gardens, a council estate behind Arbour Hill in Dublin. Named after Bishop O’Devaney, who was hanged at Arbour Hill in 1612 as a friend of Tyrone rebel chief Hugh O’Neill, O’Devaney Gardens is a 1950s corporation-built estate of 300 flats in 12 (originally 13) blocks.

European Road Trip Reveals Housing Sectors United By Strife, Lorcan Sirr

Media

I recently undertook a 6,000km road trip that began in Glenties, in Co Donegal, and went as far as Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, before returning home via Trieste in Italy. During the trip the housing similarities and challenges that many European countries face became evident.

Developing A Model For Transit Oriented Development In Latino Immigrant Communities: A National Study Of Equity And Tod, Gerardo Francisco Sandoval

TREC Final Reports

This research project is a continuation of a previous NITC-funded study. The first study compared the MacArthur Park TOD in Los Angeles to the Fruitvale Village TOD in Oakland. The findings from this new study further validate the key findings from the first study. This new comparative case study analyzed the extension of Los Angeles’ Gold Line into Boyle Heights and the revitalization linked to Boyle Heights due to two TODs built in that neighborhood. I conclude from all four cases that TODs can help serve as catalysts for neighborhood revitalization in low-income communities by paying attention and building upon …

Losing Values: Illiquidity, Personhood, And The Return Of Authoritarianism In Skopje, Macedonia, Fabio Mattioli

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

On May 17, 2015, over 50,000 people took to the streets of Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia, protesting against Prime Minister Gruevski and his party, the conservative neoliberal Internal Revolutionary Organization of Macedonia (VMRO). After nine years of authoritarian government, it was the first significant demonstration in which the population demanded accountability for Gruevski's despotic system of rule. This dissertation is the story of how Gruevski's system of power was built and why it lasted for so long. I argue that a series of failing financial processes, which included the use of illiquidity, created the material and …

Trends In Occupational Employment In The Cleveland Msa: 2010 To 2015, Merissa Piazza

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

Midstream Challenges And Downstream Opportunities In The Tri-State Region, Iryna Lendel, Andrew R. Thomas, Bryan Townley

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

To date, much of the work evaluating economic development opportunity resulting from shale has focused primarily on the upstream (exploration and production) side of the oil gas business. However, it has been apparent for some time that regional industries that transmit, process and consume natural gas would benefit greatly from a local source of cheap and abundant natural gas. Moreover, it has also become apparent that certain locations within the Marcellus and Utica shale formations produce gas rich in natural gas liquids (“NGLs”). The result has been the rapid development of a midstream infrastructure in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. …

Clatsop County Latinos: A Demographic And Economic Profile, Marisa Zapata, Amanda Hudson

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Demographic change continues at an unprecedented rate across Oregon. In part driven by Latino population growth, the state’s future will include a population that only recently began to call Oregon home. Clatsop County is one area that is experiencing this population change (See Figure 1). Clatsop County has long remained ethnically homogenous. Yet, the rapid growth of the Latino population coincides at a time where the White population decreases in much of the county. There are few reports, describing the needs of the Latino population in the areas of planning and community. This report details several key demographic and economic …

Rental Sector Reform Must Look At The European Dimension, Lorcan Sirr

Media

One of the key points of interest for me in Rebuilding Ireland, the recently published Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, was how it proposed to deal with reform of security of tenure in the private rental sector. Under the plan, where a landlord proposes to sell 20 or more units within a single scheme, the tenants can remain in situ “other than in exceptional circumstances”. Hopefully, this will be amended in due course; the proposal affects few landlords, offers protection to only a small proportion of tenants, and is riddled with legal holes. I would argue that landlords with …

Leisure Time Physical Activity Preferences, Behaviors, And Hypertension: Evidence From The China Health & Nutrition Survey, 2004-2011, Junmin Zhou

Theses & Dissertations

Background: Physical activity has been continuously declining in China. At the same time, prevalence of hypertension has dramatically increased. The associations between leisure time physical activity preference, behavior, and development of hypertension in Chinese adults remained not fully understood and few studies have examined these associations using longitudinal data.

Objectives: This dissertation examined the interrelationships among leisure time activity preference, behavior, and the incidence of hypertension using longitudinal data from 2004 to 2011 in the China Health and Nutrition Survey. It also assessed the urban-rural disparities.

Methods: A total of 2,687 adults were included in the analysis. Multivariate logistic regressions …

A City Club Report On Measure 99: Dedicated Lottery Funds For Outdoor School, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

A City Club Report On Ip 62: Public Union Fees & Dues, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Cuyahoga Countywide Housing Study: County Planning, Kathryn W. Hexter

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

For many communities in the industrial Midwest, the changing economy has resulted in population loss. Combined with changes in population settlement, housing preferences, and demographics, Cuyahoga County is now faced with an oversupply of housing mismatched to the needs of current and future households. To address this disparity, the County is performing a housing study that will address the full needs of our communities: new construction where warranted, rehabilitation where feasible, and demolition where necessary.

Coastal Louisiana: Adaptive Capacity In The Face Of Climate Change, Tara Lambeth

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Extreme weather events can result in natural disasters, and climate change can cause these weather events to occur more often and with more intensity. Because of social and physical vulnerabilities, climate change and extreme weather often affect coastal communities. As climate change continues to be a factor for many coastal communities, and environmental hazards and vulnerability continue to increase, the need for adaptation may become a reality for many communities. However, very few studies have been done on the effect climate change and mitigation measures implemented in response to climate change have on a community’s adaptive capacity.

This single instrumental …

Surviving In The Land Of Opportunity: Outcomes Of Post-Crisis Urban Redevelopment In The United States, Brianna D. Foster

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

How we develop cities in the twenty-first century remains a subject of contentious debate worldwide. As neoliberal strategies are implemented in redevelopment projects, public safety nets are reduced and low-income communities of color in declining urban neighborhoods become particularly vulnerable. This multiple case study seeks to understand the experiences of post crisis urban redevelopment for low-income communities of color in 5 major U.S. cities. The data I analyzed include 101 short videos from the interactive documentary platform Land of Opportunity, documenting the process of post-crisis urban redevelopment in New Orleans, New York, Chicago, Detroit, and San Francisco. In doing so, …

Cloud-Based Land Change Modeler Application: Summer Internship With Clark Labs, Lei Rong

Sustainability and Social Justice

ABSTRACT

Cloud-based Land Change Modeler Application:

Summer Internship with Clark Labs, Worcester, MA

Lei Rong

This report provides a detailed illustration of my internship experience with Clark Labs in Worcester, MA, during the summer of 2015. The internship is about two Land Change Modeler projects which conducted by Esri. The first one is a cloud-based Land Change Model on ArcGIS online for professional change analysts. Another one is a free cloud-based App for land change analysts and the public to explore land change of 48 states in United State. This work mainly relied on TerrSet skills and Land Change Modeler …