Everyday cycling for transportation can have positive, population-level health impacts. Significant deterrents to cycling remain, however, particularly for women and minorities.

Narratives of Marginalized Cyclists, a NITC project conducted by Amy Lubitow of Portland State University, explores the experiences of women and minorities biking in Portland, Oregon.

Lubitow interviewed 28 Portlanders who self-identified as a woman or as a racial/ethnic minority (or both), and based on the insights gained from their stories, came up with a set of recommended interventions for planners to mitigate the barriers they experience.

"Institutionalized racism and sexism is hard to fix. These are complicated issues that involve multiple levels of interventions, but at a basic sort of smaller scale, there are things we can do," Lubitow said.

She chose participants who own a bike and ride it at least once a month, but not more than once a week. The primary aim of the project was to collect rich, narrative data regarding obstacles to routine or utilitarian cycling for women and minorities who already see biking as a viable form of transportation, but who make relatively few bike trips.

The interviews yielded a...

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Three Portland State University graduate students in the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning used GIS technology to collect and analyze residents’ thoughts about walkability needs for Portland, Oregon’s northeast Cully neighborhood.

Their report, Engaging Cully, was the final product of a ten-week course called Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS), taught by PSU professor Vivek Shandas.

In PPGIS, community input is used to create GIS-based data and diagnostics maps which can inform planners’ decision-making process. Team members Travis Driessen, Brandi Campbell and Eduardo Montejo worked with community-based organizations and residents to assess the needs of the Cully neighborhood’s pedestrian network using PPGIS methods.

Prior to this project, Driessen, who is working toward a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems at PSU, was already collaborating with David Hampsten, a board member of the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association and member of the East Portland Action Plan, to help Prioritize Portland! – a coalition consisting of multiple organizations including the ...

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The Multnomah Youth Commission, or MYC, held its first Youth Summit on Transit Justice on May 17, 2014 at David Douglas High School.
 
The MYC, a group of young people ages 13-21, plays an advisory role for local government in Multnomah County and the City of Portland.
 
The summit held on Saturday the 17th was an entirely youth-led event, with members of the MYC meeting at David Douglas at 11 a.m. After they spent the morning organizing their materials and preparing their arguments, they opened the doors for adults.
 
PSU professor Lisa Bates, who is studying the transit-dependent population for NITC, was in attendance with her capstone students. As part of a capstone course where students are required to conduct research that leads directly into social equity, Bates’ students worked with the youth of the MYC on transit justice. They applied a social science research foundation to their ideas and assisted them with using some best practices in the field. 
 
At 2:30 p.m., transit policymakers and community leaders began to enter the high school. Following a brief introductory presentation, the young people split up the group into breakout sessions.
 
During the...
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The video begins at 0:20.

Topic: Inaccessible Accessibility: low-income households and barriers to the “new American dream”

In many ways, the resurgence in demand for housing in highly accessible and walkable neighborhoods can be viewed as a triumph of planning and policy efforts to reinvest in walkable urban neighborhoods that support active travel. However, increased demand has resulted in price premiums that can make location-efficient housing choices more difficult for low-income households. This research uses data from a survey of recent movers in six U.S. cities, including Portland, to explore the extent to which households of different economic means are able to choose housing locations that match their accessibility and transportation preferences.

Bio: Arlie Adkins is a PhD candidate and adjunct instructor in the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University. His dissertation research focuses on better understanding how people make decisions about non-work travel behavior in the context of a new home. Arlie holds a master’s degree in city planning from UC Berkeley. He previously worked in TriMet’s project planning department as a community affairs specialist and at Flexcar in Washington, DC.

The video begins at 1:32.

Homelessness is a widespread, messy problem in the US. While transportation agencies are not housing or social service providers, their role as major public land owners thrusts them into the midst of the problem. This talk presents exploratory, descriptive research concerning the extent of homeless encampments on DOT-owned land and profiles three successful, collaborative strategies for addressing the issue. It also presents a case study of a longstanding homeless encampment at the Baldock Rest Area on I-5 near Wilsonville and how it was resolved.

This event was hosted by Portland State University's Research and Strategic PartnershipsSee the schedule for the monthly Research Rounds Speaker Series here.

REVISIT THE LECTURE: VIDEO AND SLIDES

 Miss the lecture or want a look back at the presentation? Watch the video, or view the presentation slides here.


"Naturally Occurring" or "Until Market Speculation Starts":...

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