Places for People: A Conversation with CityNerd

Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 7:00pm to 9:00pm PDT

Ann Niles Active Transportation Lecture

Each year, the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State brings a world-class speaker to speak on active transportation with the support of the Ann Niles endowment.

THE LECTURE

Places for People: A Conversation with CityNerd

Ray Delahanty of the popular YouTube channel CityNerd will come to Portland State University for a conversation with Lillian Karabaic, host of OPB's "Weekend Edition."

Join in for a lively discussion with the PSU community about active transportation, urban planning, and all things in between.

Have a question already in mind? Use this form to ask it—We will reserve time for these questions during the lecture!

THE SPEAKERS

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Webinar: Marginalized Populations’ Access to Transit

Wednesday, April 17, 2024, 12:00pm to 1:00pm PDT
 

OVERVIEW

How do people with intersecting marginal identities experience social exclusion as they travel via mass transit?

To answer this question, PSU researchers employed a qualitative method less common in transportation studies: photovoice. Researchers asked participants to describe the factors that shape their travel behavior and provide photographic data of their experiences. Then, they conducted in-depth video interviews to gain further depth and clarity regarding the visual data.

The findings from this study can help transit system designers better understand how experiences of harassment and discrimination across the entire users’ journey affects the riders’ decisions about whether and when to take transit, and the extent to which transit-related infrastructure is related to decisions about where to live or their access to long-term housing.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

  • Specific strategies for enhancing equity in relation to transportation;
  • Clarifying the places and spaces in which our most vulnerable residents experience mobility restrictions;
  • Ways that transportation planners can work with MPOs and homeless service nonprofits to advance understanding about—and action for—historically marginalized populations.

THE RESEARCH

This webinar is based on a study funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communites (NITC) and conducted at Portland State University. Read more...

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Visiting Scholar Presentation: Discourse and Sustainable Urban Mobility

Thursday, May 2, 2024, 2:30pm to 4:30pm PDT

Join us Thursday, May 2 for a seminar with visiting scholar Professor Robin Hickman of University College London.

THE TOPIC 

The transport systems, the shape of the built environment and the use of street spaces in contemporary cities and urban areas are a manifestation of what is regarded as ‘normal’ in different contexts. This reflects what counts as ‘true’ for transport and travel behaviours in particular contexts.

In many cities, it is normalised to consume ever increasing levels of individual mobility, with travel hugely dominated by car, yet for this to be highly problematic in environmental and social terms. Elsewhere, there may be more progressive approaches taken by institutions, or perhaps more critical debate and contestation by the public and other actors. The current order, in transport planning, in terms of the procedures available, the projects developed, and the travel behaviours that result, is simply the sorting of priorities.

This presentation seeks to develop an approach that utilises discourse analysis within transport planning, to help understand the different possibilities that might be on offer for transport strategies and also the reaction to new projects by the public. There are two key stages (Hickman, forthcoming 2024):

  • first, using discourse analysis, there is assessment of concepts such as discursive practice, discursive formation, discursive meaning; history, truth, discontinuity, power and...
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Webinar: Building Capacity in Gateway Communities through the GNAR Academy

Wednesday, June 12, 2024, 10:00am to 11:00am PDT
 

OVERVIEW

Small towns and cities near national parks, public lands, and other natural amenities across the West are experiencing rapid growth and increased tourism. As we have documented via our prior NITC-funded research, this has created a range of big city challenges for these “gateway communities,” particularly in the form of interconnected transportation, land use, and housing issues. Seeking to help gateway communities better prepare for and respond to their transportation and planning challenges, the Gateway and Natural Amenity Region (GNAR) Initiative team translated the findings from our research on planning and development challenges in gateway communities into an online learning program.

This program, the "GNAR Academy Fundamentals: Foundations for Planning and Collaboration in Gateway Communities and Regions" includes seven modules, each of which highlights key skills for addressing transportation and planning issues in gateway communities. This Fundamentals course will be an entry point for the rest of the GNAR Academy, which is currently in development.

In this webinar, we will introduce the GNAR Academy and Fundamentals course, explain how the course was developed, and share how we anticipate the course will result in improved transportation, planning, and development decisions in gateway communities and regions...

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