Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Travel Decisions & Their Implications For Urban Transportation: From Campus Transportation To Statewide Modeling, Gulsah Akar

PSU Transportation Seminars

The ability to forecast future transportation patterns under a particular land-use scenario or urban form is key to making informed decisions at the local and regional levels.

Although several researchers have explored the links between the built environment, socio-demographics and travel behavior, a consensus is not reached.

This talk highlights two recent projects. The first project focuses on individuals’ attitudes towards transportation, neighborhood characteristics and their effects on campus commuters’ transit use, and addresses the question whether attitudes, the built environment or a combination of both explains the resulting transit use better.

The second part presents the Regional Land Use …

2014 Transit Oriented Developments Survey, Jennifer Dill, Nathan Mcneil

TREC Final Reports

This report presents results from surveys of residents at several transit-oriented developments (TODs) in Portland, Hillsboro, Tigard, and unincorporated Clackamas County. The research complements our previous survey work for Metro done at eight TODs in 2010 and 11 TODs in 2007.

Comparative Geomatic Analysis Of Historic Development, Trends, And Functions Of Green Space In Kuwait City From 1982-2014, Yousif Abdullah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research assessed green space morphology in Kuwait City, explaining its evolution from 1982 to 2014, through the use of geo-informatics, including remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and cartography. This research examined archival and contemporary satellite images that show the distribution, size, amount, and type of green spaces in Kuwait City, within the framework of its surrounding urban, exurban, and suburban expansion, and landuse change. Through this integrated analysis, it was found that green space growth passed through three main stages: Early Stage, Growth Stage, and Stable Stage.

This study also examined the effective use of public parks and …

Negotiating The Neighborhood: The Role Of Neighborhood Associations In Urban Planning Processes, Lane K. Holden

Sociology Honors Projects

To promote collaborative urban planning, the United States Federal Government requires that city and regional governments consult communities affected by planning processes. Neighborhood associations were originally created to engage community members in local social justice issues in order to meet this mandate. Relying on these organizations raises questions about whether they fulfill their potential: what role do community members play in urban planning? Do neighborhood associations feel like they participate effectively in the urban planning process? How do these associations perceive the extent to which the government uses their input? To address these questions, this study examines perceptions of urban …

Lawn Dissidents: Performing Whiteness Through Sustainability In Urban Residential Yards, Amy Lebowitz

Geography Honors Projects

“Lawn dissidents” are people who violate norms of turfgrass yards often found in suburbia. This thesis uses ethnographic methods to examine how these subjects’ sustainability-oriented lawn alternatives create meaning by manifesting values and performing identities. I argue that such lawn alternatives operate as positional goods that inscribe exclusion into landscapes. “Green” yardscapes yield social and environmental benefits to “dissidents” while burying the ways capitalism codes lawn alternatives, enacting a regime of whiteness no better for equity and inclusion than suburban lawns. Nonetheless, I turn hopefully to sharing economies as tools to expand sustainability initiatives beyond elite, eco-conscious whiteness.

Using Multimodal Performance Measures To Prioritize Improvements On Us 101 In San Luis Obispo County, Jessica Berry

PSU Transportation Seminars

The US 101 Corridor Mobility Master Plan in San Luis Obispo was a two-year planning effort that evaluated the 70 mile corridor on 12 performance measures. This collaborative effort was led by the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG).

Performance based planning is becoming more important for agencies receiving State and Federal funding. Smaller, rural regional agencies will have to find ways to collect, report, and use performance metrics with limited resources. SLOCOG's first performance-based planning effort was the US 101 Corridor Mobility Master Plan, funded through a State grant.

Funding for this project came from a …

Culture Connects 20/20: A Cultural Plan For The Dayton, Ohio Region, Marc Goldring, Richard Stock, Jane Dockery

Community Development

In March of 2014, Culture Works contracted WolfBrown to provide the services of Marc Goldring, Associate Principal, to oversee aspects of developing a 10-year cultural plan for the Dayton Region. The planning team also included Dr. Richard Stock, Director, Business Research Group of the University of Dayton and Jane Dockery, APRI's Associate Director. This project grew out of earlier regional research, beginning in 2011, funded in part by the Dayton Foundation that included comprehensive market research about cultural attendance and a study of economic activity generated by the nonprofit cultural sector.

Where the practices of creativity help our young people …

2014 Annual Population Report Tables (April 22, 2015), Portland State University. Population Research Center

Oregon Population Estimates and Reports

This item contains Oregon population tables. Prepared by Population Research Center, Portland State University, April, 2015.

Annexations and other revisions can be found in the attached supplemental files.

The Effect Of Bike Lanes On Congestion And Ridership In Boise, Stephen Gustafon, Brooke Jardine, Keegan Curry, Jacob Morris, Tyler Rahmann

College of Business and Economics Presentations

This research project examines the effect of adding bike lanes in the downtown area of Boise and the impact it has on congestion as well as ridership. Cycling has become increasingly popular in major U.S metropolitan areas as an alternative form of transportation. The addition of bike lanes in downtown areas has been furiously debated in recent years. We will explore how bike lanes have affected congestion and ridership thus far in Boise, and in other regional cities of comparable size, Spokane, WA and Eugene, OR in hopes of determining the impact that the addition of bike lanes causes. Our …

Learning From Cinara: Exploring The Depths Of Participatory Water Engagement In Cali, Colombia, Zachary T. Strickland

Honors College Theses

Located within the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia, CINARA is an academic institution, comprised of both engineers and social scientists, that has almost three decades of experience regarding participatory approaches to water supply and environmental sanitation. In this paper, I argue that CINARA’s work is important due to its emphasis on meaningful community participation that significantly involves communities in decisions on technical matters that are usually allocated exclusively to “experts.” Furthermore, the valuation of social considerations and non-technical knowledge found amongst CINARA’s engineers stands in distinct contrast to traditional development practices and engineering mindsets. This paper will go on …

Dash: The Portland Region's Next-Generation Activity-Based Model, Richard Walker

PSU Transportation Seminars

DASH is the next generation activity based model being developed by the Metro Research Center. Upon completion, it will be one of the most advanced in the nation. This model will be used extensively in estimating the activity and travel response of individuals to policies and infrastructure investments. Compared to past models, it will include enhanced consideration of the socio-economic roles of individuals, discrete temporal dynamics, and intra-household dependencies.

Consolidation Of The Lake County Fire & Ems Departments Feasibility Study, Bernard Becker Iii

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This is the report of the Consolidation of the Lake County Fire Departments Feasibility Study grant project, which was funded by the State of Ohio Local Government Innovations Fund (LGIF) Program. The project tests the feasibility of consolidation of the fourteen (14) municipal Fire Departments and the two (2) Fire Districts into a single (or up to three (3)) consolidated Fire Districts to improve service at a reduced cost.

Nacogdoches Livability Project: Image Of University Mall, Vanessa Arasin, Quinton Nunn, Cody Ressler

Undergraduate Research Conference

Introduction Our Client, Dr. Forbes, is doing a project to assess livability in Nacogdoches based on three mutually reinforcing areas: economics, environment, and society. He also wanted to know the types of businesses that would make students spend money at the University Mall. Our assignment from our professor was to find out Stephen F. Austin State University students’ image of the University Mall, so the research team decided to try to accomplish both objectives.

Objective The objective of the project was to gain a better understanding of the environment, economics, and Stephen F. Austin State University students’ image of University …

Geometric Design, Speed, And Safety, Richard J. Porter

PSU Transportation Seminars

In this seminar, Dr. Porter will explore the interactions of geometric design decisions, speed, and safety. A performance-based approach to this topic will be considered given the availability of several key documents, including the Highway Safety Manual and TRB's Modeling Operating Speed: Synthesis Report as well as a significant body of published research. A historical look at the design speed concept will show that while the design speed definition has changed on more than one occasion, the same basic but flawed philosophy that relates design speed to a “safe speed” is still reflected in supplemental guidance related to design speed …

Appalachian Festival Proposal, Timothy Rainer, Cassie Grate, Callen Thompson, Amy Gadd

Senior Year Experience Student Projects

A proposal to the city of Columbus to hold an Appalachian Festival in Goodale Park to increase awareness of Appalachian culture in the city.

San Luis Obispo Open Space Survey, William W. Riggs, Megyn Rugh, Camille Jackson, Kelsey Stefen, Lance Knox, Crp 425 Bicycle And Pedestrian Planning

City and Regional Planning Studios and Projects

The City of San Luis Obispo (SLO) has eleven official public open spaces. Managing these places presents a challenge in providing top-tier environmental stewardship, while also accommodating passive recreational use and access, in an era of fiscal limitations and competing priorities. Given that reality and the changing population dynamics in the US, providing equal access to these facilities is of increasing importance, whether by car, bike, on foot or via public transit. These open spaces provide value (environmental, economic and social) primarily to residents, as well as visitors, and gaining a data-driven understanding of that value was a primary goal …

The Sfpark Pilot: Using Data To Make Cities Better, Kathryn Doherty-Chapman

PSU Transportation Seminars

SFpark was a federally-funded pilot program of a new approach to managing parking in San Francisco. It utilized real time data to identify parking availability, and demand-responsive parking pricing to help make parking easier to find. Parking management is an invaluable transportation demand management tool and the SFpark pilot demonstrated how data can help cities make smarter decisions. Come hear about the pilot evaluation results from a former SFpark staffer and PSU alum.

An Intersectional Approach To Criminological Theory: Incorporating The Intersectionality Of Race And Gender Into Agnew's General Strain Theory, Wyatt Brown

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

Mainstream criminological theories often fail to incorporate demographic characteristics (which are robust predictors of criminal behavior). Also, many scholars suggest that theories of criminality need to move beyond sex or race or class etc. and utilize these dynamic characteristics in tandem. This theoretical perspective is often referred to as intersectionality. There is some criminological literature on the individual effects of these demographic characteristics as they represent social status as such they interact to effect experience, agency, and power. This analysis discusses how studying the intersectionality of gender and race may change explanations of criminal behavior. Specifically, how knowledge of gender …

Ulaanbaatar’S Ger District Issues: Changes And Attitudes, David Engel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Several of Ulaanbaatar’s current issues are directly related to Ulaanbaatar’s sprawling Ger District. The Ger District is home to approximately 736,000 residents, 61% of Ulaanbaatar’s population (Galimbyek, 2015). The significant growth in Ulaanbaatar is shown by its 52.8% of residents who were born outside of the city, the majority of migrants moving into the Ger District due to a lack of housing. (Chilkhaasuren & Baasankhuu, 2012). The development of Ulaanbaatar has not kept up with the rapid growth leading to inadequate infrastructure in much of the Ger District. In turn, inadequate infrastructure has lead to high pollution levels, negatively affecting …

Marginalidad Y Oportunidad: El Caso Del Vergel Alto Y Las Políticas Habitacionales En Chile, Ellie Driscoll

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This investigation explores the relative success of Chilean housing policy in addressing and resolving the country’s urban slums. The investigation is grounded in the theory of marginality in Latin America, a theory that argues that the development and industrialization of Latin America in relation to the global north concentrated power in a small but dominant upper class and created social, political and most importantly economic systems that perpetuate the internal and external domination of the region. These relationships result in the permanent conditions of urban underdevelopment and social, political, and economic marginalization present in Chilean slums.

Over the last seventy …

Shelby County V. Holder: Nullification, Racial Entitlement, And The Civil Rights Counterrevolution, Albert L. Samuels

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

- 188 - Shelby County v. Holder: Nullification, Racial Entitlement, and the Civil Rights Counterrevolution Albert L. Samuels Southern University The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Shelby County v. Holder (2013) which invalidated the “coverage formula” of Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 bears an eerie resemblance to the spirit of the Civil Rights Cases (1883). In a tone similar to the one exhibited by the Supreme Court in The Civil Rights Cases, Chief Justice Roberts cited progress achieved in electoral participation and office holding by African Americans as evidence that the special protections that the Voting …

Urban Gardening Practices In Bangalore: Towards A More Localized Food System?, Delfina Grinspan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Localized Food Systems (LFS) have garnered much attention in recent years among civil society, research, and policy circles, among others. Increased attention and efforts to build more localized food systems are principally motivated by the awareness of the pressures exerted by increasing urbanization on food security and access, and concern for the ecological and social costs of the dominant globalized food system. In their varying purpose to address these two issues, LFS tend to be characterized by certain patterns of (localized) land, water, and other resource use; by direct marketing and distribution arrangements; and by the presence of extensive linkages …

The Winding Journey To Justice: An Analysis Of The Voting Rights Act On Disenfranchised Populations And Its Impact In The State Of Georgia, Kristie Roberts-Lewis, Lakerri Mack

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

Today, the American landscape is more racially and ethnically diverse, yet minority populations have been and will likely be disenfranchised in the Post-Section 4 era. Minority voter participation Post-VRA has experienced some gains but achieving equality in terms of access and civic participation may be compromised. Hence, section one of this research will provide an introduction and highlight the conceptual framework that guides it. Section II will first provide a historical analysis of the significance of the VRA and its impact on minority voting rights from 1965 to the present. Section III will outline the methodology and theoretical framework that …

Editors’ Introduction: Exploratory Issues On Section 4 Of The U.S. Voting Rights Act Of 1965, Andrew I.E. Ewoh, Sarita Mccoy Gregory

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

No abstract provided.

Antidiscrimination Versus Nondiscrimination: Competing Perspectives On The Voting Rights Act, David Blanding

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

The Voting Rights Act is perhaps the most successful civil rights law ever. Yet while one set of scholars regards the legislation’s success as evidence that it remains necessary and appropriate, another set of scholars regards that success as a sign that the VRA is obsolete and inappropriate. In this article, I argue that disagreement about the VRA stems from two fundamentally different analytical approaches. The antidiscrimination paradigm focuses on how key indicators of political empowerment have progressed since 1965. The nondiscrimination paradigm focuses on how far those indicators are from what would be observed in the absence of racial …

Redistributing Power In Mississippi: The Reversal Of Section 4 Of The Voting Rights Act, Gloria J. Billingsley, Sylvester Murray

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court declared Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 unconstitutional, essentially defanging preclearance requirements of Section 5 and leaving racial and other previously disenfranchised minorities unprotected. Using social contract theory as the theoretical framework, empirical field study research was used to examine whether the Voting Rights Act has achieved the results in Mississippi that the Supreme Court’s decision to revoke Section 4 has assumed. Data were collected on race-specific voter registration and voting data, measures of vote discrimination, litigations and Mississippi legislative activity regarding voting rights. Findings indicate that the gap between minority and …

The Perpetual Uncertainty Of Civil Society: Case Study Of An Anti-Hunger Organization In South Africa, Daniel N. Warshawsky

Geography Faculty Publications

South Africa has one of the most active civil societies in the world, with more than 85,000 registered civil society organizations (CSOs). However, the growth of CSOs in post-apartheid South Africa does not necessarily imply that the sector is strong. While it is true that the demise of the apartheid regime increased democratic representation within South Africa, CSOs have experienced a series of institutional challenges which have weakened their organizational stability. This has included increased oversight by the state, inefficient and inconsistent funding from government, fickle demands by private donors, and competition from other sectors. Through an in-depth case study …

Community By Design: The Olmsted Firm And The Development Of Brookline, Massachusetts By Keith N. Morgan, Elizabeth Hope Cushing, And Roger G. Reed (Book Review), Carl Abbott

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Carl Abbott, professor emeritus at Portland State University, reviews the book Community by Design: The Olmsted Firm and the Development of Brookline, Massachusetts.

Forest Park Ecosystems Services Inventory: An Exploratory Study, Pablo Barreyro, Jenny Dempsey Stein

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This report presents both qualitative and quantitative survey data concerning resident perceptions of ecosystem services in Portland’s Forest Park. Focus group best practices and ecosystem services in urban parks literature are reviewed. Representative focus groups were conducted to ascertain local awareness and understanding of the urban wilderness area’s ecosystem services, identify concurrent challenges and measure interest in a potential interpretive center. Individual surveys were also administered in order to connect issues with demographics and recreational use information. Regression analyses were conducted to examine related park usage, access and economic trends.

While the study is preliminary, the results reveal opportunities for …

Developer Funding Of Affordable And Work Force Housing Through Impact Fees And Land Value Recapture: A Comparison Of American And Spanish Approaches, Julian C. Juergensmeyer

Faculty Publications By Year

This article explores the differences, similarities, comparative advantages and disadvantages between developer funding requirements for Affordable and Work Force Housing in the United States and Spain. Emphasis is placed on impact fees as a revenue source in the United States and value recapture requirements in Spain and in Catalonia in particular. The author concludes that American impact fees provide a broader base for developer funding requirement but that Spanish land value recapture programs offer greater flexibility to planning officials when they are applicable.