PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

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Small towns and cities outside of national parks and other major natural amenities throughout the western United States are becoming increasingly popular places to visit and live. As a result, many of these gateway and natural amenity region (GNAR) communities—including places such as Jackson, Wyoming, and Moab, Utah—are facing a variety of “big city” issues, such as severe congestion, lack of affordable workforce housing, and concerns about sprawl and density. This webinar will introduce the planning and transportation concerns being experienced by GNAR communities throughout the west. It will then share the tools and resources developed by the University of Utah to train planners to work in these unique communities and to help these communities enhance livability and sustainable transportation options. The webinar will also introduce the University of Utah’s new Gateway and Natural Amenity Region Initiative and ongoing research aimed at better understanding and addressing the planning and transportation issues in GNAR communities. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Many small western communities near major natural amenities, such as national parks, are experiencing “big city” planning and transportation challenges.
• Professional and academic planners need to pay far greater attention to these GNAR communities and to helping them effectively plan for and respond to the planning and transportation challenges they face.
• The University of Utah has developed a range of tools and resources aimed at training planners to work in these communities and assisting these communities in tackling the challenges and opportunities they face. We hope other will use and build on these tools and resources.
• There are considerable opportunities for further research, education, and capacity building efforts aimed at understanding and addressing the transportation and planning needs of GNAR communities.

SPEAKER

Danya Rumore, Ph.D., is the Director of the Environmental Dispute Resolution Program in the Wallace Stegner Center and a Research Assistant Professor in the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. She is also a Research Assistant Professor in the University of Utah Department of City and Metropolitan Planning. She teaches courses in negotiation and dispute resolution and is a research affiliate of the University of Utah Center for Ecological Planning and Design  and Global Change and Sustainability Center. Danya’s work and research focus on supporting collaborative decision-making and stakeholder engagement in the context of science-intensive environmental issues and complex public policy challenges. She is currently developing an initiative to better understand the unique planning challenges facing small communities in gateway and natural amenity regions in the Mountain West, and to provide planning support and capacity building for these regions.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute webinar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We can provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

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Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. With over 450 seminars presented and recorded (access the archive of seminars here), we host both visiting and local scholars to share the latest in research, technology, and implementation in transportation.

EDUCATION LIBRARY ARCHIVE

Missed the seminar or want a look back? 

• Watch the recorded video
• View the presentation slides

OVERVIEW

Knowing where one wants to go and how to get there are essential life skills for all people. Community access and travel skills are not only important rites of passage for youth in becoming adults, they are linked to higher rates of employment and overall health. People who are blind and visually impaired (BVI) face challenges in accessing public transportation, yet studies have shown that with relevant orientation and mobility instruction, technology, and accessible design, vision loss need not preclude community travel.

Join PSU's Amy Parker and Intel's Prateek Dujari on the ways that knowledge from consumers and the field of Orientation and Mobility can positively influence design through participatory conversations. After this presentation, participants will be able to: describe the role of Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Specialists; identify features in the built environment that benefit individuals with visual impairments as well as the broader population; and identify unique needs for travelers with visual impairments in the Pacific Northwest region.

THE SPEAKERS

Amy Parker, Portland State University

Amy Parker, EdD, COMS, is an assistant professor and the coordinator of the Orientation and Mobility Program in the Special Education Department. In 2009 she completed her doctorate in special education, with an emphasis in deafblindness and a certification in orientation and mobility, through a leadership and enrichment fellowship funded by the Office of Special Education. Using participatory methodologies with community stakeholders, she has worked to design accessible multimedia learning modules for national technical assistance and personnel preparation. Her research interests include orientation and mobility for individuals with complex disabilities, communication interventions, participatory action research with people with disabilities and their families, and community-based partnerships to create social change.

Prateek Dujari, Intel

Prateek Dujari is a product reliability engineer for network and data center products at Intel Corporation. He is Intel's only completely blind engineer. He joined Intel as a sighted person in 1999 and lost his sight in 2001 in a sudden unexpected manner while climbing a glaciated Oregon mountain. He has demonstrated an iron will to thrive by re-charting a successful career at Intel and a fulfilling social and recreational life. Prateek has a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, has nine technical publications and holds 16 patents. His proactive advocacy continues to increase accessibility of Intel’s internal computer based environment providing a more even competitive field for disabled employees. Careers and Disabled magazine recognized his accomplishments in 2014 with the Employee of the Year award. He Chaired the Oregon Commission for the Blind from 2015- 2017 and was instrumental in increasing the efficiency and accountability of the Commission by standardizing measurable and quantifiable metrics. Prateek is an avid athlete as an active runner, snowboarder, hiker, climber, tandem biker, kayaker and paddle boarder.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute seminar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

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Photo Credit:  Ben Churchill

Detailed directions for blind or visually impaired visitors:

The Harrison Street entrance to the Karl Miller Center is between 6th and Broadway on the north side of Harrison. Walking west from 6th Avenue, the entrance to the building will be on your right, about ten paces from the edge of the building or about 16 steps from the textured curb cut on the street corner. There are two shallow steps to your right, leading down to the glass double doors.

Once you're inside, you'll be facing a big open lobby area. The floor slopes down slightly, and there's a hand rail on the wall to your right. When you get to the end of the hand rail, keep walking in the same direction it was leading as if it continued in a perfectly straight line, and you should arrive at the opposite wall where there's another hand rail. (The room has two tables and two support columns to navigate around). Once you get to the other side of the lobby, if you come to a set of glass doors instead of a plain wall, then you're too far to the right. You need to follow the wall to your left until you reach the next hand rail. This rail will lead you to the elevators, which are on the same side of the wall as the hand rail. Since you're on the ground floor there's only one button.

On the 4th floor, you'll step out of the elevator and turn right. The room you're facing now is room 470; it's about 12-15 steps directly in front of you. There's usually a round table and chairs sitting by the wall in the hallway on the left side of room 470. Room 465 (where the seminar takes place) is the next room to the left, just past this table and chairs.

Analysis of the Contribution of Transportation and Land Use to Citizen Perceptions of Livability

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Slides are available for this presentation

What is livability? How does the built environment influence resident perceptions of livability? Although livability is a broadly used term and a key goal in land use and transportation plans at the state level, it is unclear whether residents think their neighborhoods are livable and what contributes to their perception of livability. The purpose of the project was to understand how Oregonians, in neighborhoods of varying densities and within Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), perceive livability at the nexus of transportation and land use. We sought to understand how residents define and perceive livability in three different MPOs in the state: Albany, Central Lane, and Rogue Valley. Our survey instrument included questions about livability, satisfaction, housing choice, and preferred and current characteristics of the neighborhood and accessibility. 

We found that perceptions were more influential in describing livability than objective or sociodemographic measures. We found that people tradeoff affordability and livability. When people said that housing affordability was more important in decisions about housing and neighborhood choice, they had more negative perceptions of livability in their neighborhood. But people who prioritize accessibility have a more positive perception of livability. Individuals that reported better access to transportation options across a broad range of measures reported higher ratings of livability. Pedestrian improvements and natural amenities were important to survey respondents. Finally, objective and subjective measures of density negatively impacted perceptions of livability. 

The seminar will discuss the findings of this work and takeaways for planners at the local, regional, and state level. 

THE SPEAKER

Rebecca Lewis, University of Oregon

Rebecca Lewis, PhD., is an Assistant Professor in Planning, Public Policy and Management at the University of Oregon and Research Director for the Sustainable Cities Initiative. She is a faculty affiliate of the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education at the University of Maryland. Her research broadly focuses on land use policy, growth management, state transportation spending, and housing in rural communities. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of the American Planning Association, State and Local Government Review, and the American Journal of Public Health. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, the Department of Land Conservation and Development and the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute seminar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

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Sign up for our newsletter and check the box for "Events" to receive monthly updates.

Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. With over 450 seminars presented and recorded (access the archive of seminars here), we host both visiting and local scholars to share the latest in research, technology, and implementation in transportation.

EDUCATION LIBRARY ARCHIVE

Missed the seminar or want a look back? 

• Watch the recorded video

OVERVIEW

Gresham recently completed its first Active Transportation Plan. With the support of Multnomah County Health Department, the City integrated health and equity into the plan’s development from the earliest stages. The project team used a racial equity framework to guide its process and to evaluate the plan’s milestones; the equity lens influenced the project’s goals, data analysis, how the public process was conducted and how the final project list was prioritized. The session will share how the equity lens was applied and the steps the City took to include health and equity considerations in the plan. We’ll talk about how Liaisons hired from the community were central to community engagement and the training that enhanced their communication and leadership skills. We’ll also review the types of data, including community engagement findings, that were used in plan development and how data supported equitable outcomes in project prioritization.

This presentation was recently given at the Oregon Active Transportation Summit in March 2018. We're excited to bring it to Portland State University students.

THE SPEAKERS

Jay Higgins is a Transportation Planner at City of Gresham and Project Manager for the Active Transportation Plan. Jay’s work in Gresham focuses on long-range transportation planning, walking and biking programs and current planning.

Mike Sellinger is a Transportation Planner at Alta Planning + Design. He works on a range of active transportation projects, from Safe Routes to School programs to bike share planning.

Becky Bodonyi is a Program Specialist with Multnomah County Health Department. An urban planner by training, she found her way to the public health sector where she focuses on how neighborhoods influence community health, particularly through transportation systems and food access.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute seminar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

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Sign up for our newsletter and check the box for "Events" to receive monthly updates.

Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. With over 450 seminars presented and recorded (access the archive of seminars here), we host both visiting and local scholars to share the latest in research, technology, and implementation in transportation.

EDUCATION LIBRARY ARCHIVE

Missed the seminar or want a look back? 

• Watch the recorded video
• View the presentation slides

OVERVIEW

Utrecht is a bustling, bicycle-friendly city in the Netherlands. Every day, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., over 125,000 cyclists ride to their work, school, university, public transport, shops or home through the city centre.

The municipality wants to make cycling even more attractive for these and other cyclists. Consequently, the bicycle is given precedence in the mobility policy of the municipality of Utrecht. We want to be the most bike-friendly city in the world. We want to keep our growing city livable, accessible and economically strong, and we are convinced that the bicycle can and should play a major role in this.

This presentation will give insight in the biking policy, bicycle parking and enforcement, bicycle infrastructure and routes, construction and detours, economics, and safety in Utrecht.

SPEAKER

Martijn Rietbergen, International Visiting Scholar at Portland State University

Martijn Rietbergen is a researcher, lecturer and project leader at the Center Of Expertise for Smart Sustainable Cities (University of Applied Science - Utrecht) in the Netherlands. He is appointed as visiting scholar at PSU in May 2018.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute seminar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

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Sign up for our newsletter and check the box for "Events" to receive monthly updates.

WATCH THE RECORDED VIDEO

PRESENTATION SLIDES

Miss the presentation or want a look back at the slides? You can view them here.

In less than a decade, the ride-hailing industry, led by Uber and Lyft, has dramatically transformed the way we travel in our metro regions. Rider adoption of these on-demand mobility services has proceeded much quicker than our understanding of their impacts to our urban transportation systems. Planning for this transformation in personal mobility, which will have unintended consequences, has been made more difficult by the scarcity in meaningful data made available by these ride-hailing companies. Public agencies responsible for managing congestion and transit services are hindered in their ability to successfully plan for the integration of this emergent travel mode without access to these valuable data.

In response, Boston’s Metropolitan Area Planning Council conducted an intercept survey of nearly 1,000 passengers to understand who uses ride-hailing services, what types of trips are performed using these new mobility options, and how these services impact more established travel modes. Perhaps expectedly, most ride-hailing passengers were under the age of 35, use ride-hailing on a weekly basis, and do not own a car. Remarkably, however, 59-percent of surveyed ride-hailing trips added new vehicles to the region’s already congested roadways, with 42-percent of respondents stating they would have used public transit if ride-hailing was unavailable. These and other important findings provide a window of insight into the extent of ride-hailing utilization in the Boston Region and help to foster a greater dialogue about the need for data provision mandates to guide effective policy decisions.

THE SPEAKER

Steven Gehrke, Metropolitan Area Planning Council

Steve Gehrke is a Senior Research Analyst at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the regional planning agency serving the people who live and work in Metropolitan Boston. Prior to joining MAPC, Steve worked as a research analyst in the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University, as well as a graduate research assistant in the Department Civil and Environmental Engineering. In these roles, he contributed to applied research projects investigating the transportation outcomes of residential location choices, public dissemination of disaggregate travel survey data, trip generation rates at affordable multifamily housing sites, and public transit system performance. He has also served as a graduate research assistant for the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education at the University of Maryland and as a transportation analyst for KFH Group, Inc. in Bethesda, Maryland.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute seminar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

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Sign up for our newsletter and check the box for "Events" to receive monthly updates.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

EDUCATION LIBRARY ARCHIVE

Missed the webinar or want a look back? 

• Watch the recorded video
• View the presentation slides

RESOURCES

Adkins, A., Makarewicz, C., Scanze, M., Ingram, M., & Luhr, G. (2017). Contextualizing Walkability: Do Relationships Between Built Environments and Walking Vary by Socioeconomic Context?. Journal of the American Planning Association, 83(3), 296-314. [open access]

Ingram, M., Adkins, A., Hansen, K., Cascio, V., & Somnez, E. (2017). Sociocultural Perceptions of Walkability in Mexican American Neighborhoods: Implications for Policy and Practice. Journal of Transport & Health, 7. [Paywall unless accessed through a university or library]

Qualitative Pedestrian Environments Database website—Still under construction; sign up to be notified when tools are posted in late 2018 or early 2019: http://qped.org/

OVERVIEW

Walking is a crucial part of living in any urban setting. It facilitates access to the places and things people need to live their lives (employment, services, social networks, transit, etc.). Walking also improves individual and population level health. Walking is the primary source of physical activity for most Americans and is associated with lower rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, and some types of cancer. In many urban areas, however, people must walk in environments that are not supportive. This prevents many people from walking and puts those who do walk in uncomfortable, unpleasant, stressful, and often dangerous situations. This is especially true for low-income and pedestrians of color who, nationally, face higher pedestrian fatality rates. 

In this webinar, we will:

1. Review the evidence-base of the many intersecting characteristics of social and built environments that contribute to the overall walkability of a place;
2. Highlight recent research on differences in conceptions of walkability across neighborhood contexts; and
3. Share a data collection toolkit developed by the Arizona Physical Activity Policy Research Network (PAPRN) that can be used by researchers, practitioners, and community groups to establish more holistic, context-specific walkability metrics and objectives based on the lived experiences of pedestrians. 

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Overview of evidence-base for the importance of walkable neighborhood environments for addressing health and safety disparities
• Overview of various social and built environment contributors to walkability
• Evidence and examples of how environmental contributors to walkability vary across neighborhood contexts in ways that have important equity implications
• Introduction to a data collection toolkit that can help researchers, practitioners, and community groups better understand how to make meaningful and lasting walkability improvements 

SPEAKER

Arlie Adkins, University of Arizona

Arlie Adkins is an assistant professor of urban planning in the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning at the University of Arizona. His research focuses on understanding relationships between transportation, urban design, public health, and social equity. He has a Ph.D. from Portland State University and a master’s degree in city planning from UC Berkeley. He is currently the lead researcher on a multi-year CDC-funded project investigating barriers to active transportation and perceptions of walkability in Latino neighborhoods in Pima County, Arizona. This research is currently being expanded to other cities through a grant from NITC. Other research includes an ongoing national investigation of location efficiency within two of the largest federal affordable housing programs in the U.S. and experimental research on racial bias in driver yielding to pedestrians at crosswalks. Before his academic career Arlie worked for TriMet, the transit agency in Portland, Oregon, and at Flexcar, a pioneer of car sharing in North America.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute webinar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

LEARN MORE

Sign up for our newsletter to get updates on our events.

Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. With over 450 seminars presented and recorded (access the archive of seminars here), we host both visiting and local scholars to share the latest in research, technology, and implementation in transportation.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

Miss the seminar or want a look back?

• WATCH THE RECORDED VIDEO
• View the presentation slides

EVENT OVERVIEW

This research explored driver comprehension and behaviors with respect to right-turn signal displays with a focus on the Flashing Yellow Arrow (FYA) in a driving simulator and a comprehension survey. Flashing yellow arrows are used in place of other turn signals, such as solid green or flashing yellow or red circles, to indicate that drivers may turn after yielding to oncoming traffic. These turns are considered “permissive.” Turns where no conflicting traffic is present, such as those indicated with a green arrow, are “protected” turns. The flashing yellow arrow’s inclusion in the 2009 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices sped up the signal’s adoption to indicate a permissive turn.

Results from a counter-balanced, factorial design were chosen to explore three independent variables separately: signal indication type and active display, length of the right-turn bay, and presence of pedestrians. Driver decision making and visual attention were collected and analyzed.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• An overview of research exploring driver comprehension to various traffic signal displays for permissive right turns
• Guidance for using FYA's at different intersection types
• An understanding of drivers' visual attention at intersections

SPEAKERS

Chris Monsere, Portland State University

Dr. Christopher M. Monsere is Professor and Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science at Portland State University. Dr. Monsere's primary research interests are in design and operation of multimodal transportation facilities including user behavior, comprehension, preferences, and the overall safety effectiveness of transportation improvements. Dr Monsere is a member of ANF20, the Bicycle Transportation Committee, the past co-chair of the Transportation Research Board's Safety Data, Analysis, and Evaluation committee (ANB20) and a past member of the TRB Task Force to develop the Highway Safety Manual (ANB25T). Monsere received his BCE from the University of Detroit Mercy; his MSCE and Ph.D.with an emphasis in transportation from Iowa State University. Dr. Monsere is licensed professional engineer in the state of Oregon.

David Hurwitz, Oregon State University

Dr. David Hurwitz conducts research in the areas of transportation human factors, transportation safety, traffic control devices, and engineering education. In particular, Dr. Hurwitz is interested in the consideration of user behavior in the design, evaluation, and innovation of surface transportation systems. Additionally, his program contributes to advancing the state of the practice in transportation engineering education through the development of research based curricula, assessment tools, and learning theories. Dr. Hurwitz leverages the OSU Driving and Bicycling Simulator Laboratory and a significant array of traffic data collection tools to provide a more detailed understanding of how and why transportation systems perform the way they do.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute seminar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

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Sign up for our newsletter to receive monthly updates.