PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Watch the video
• View the presentation slides

OVERVIEW

Even though there are tremendous uncertainties in the timing and evolution path of the Autonomous Vehicles (AV) technology, it may become a likely reality within most MPOs' long-range regional transportation plan horizon of twenty years. Yet a recent survey of the largest MPOs in the US indicates only one of them "even mentions driverless, automated, or autonomous vehicles in its most recent RTP". One of the uncertainties in assessing the impacts of AV is their direction: on one hand, self-driving cars could increase VMT by increasing roadway capacity, lowering costs of travel; on the other, they may reduce VMT by enabling more car-sharing, improving access to transit, eliminating the fixed costs of car ownership, and reclaiming parking space. To date, there is no suitable conceptual framework or modeling tools available to MPOs for quantitatively assessing the likely long-term effects of AV or potential policy scenarios.

This project studies the possible impacts on travel and land use of the emerging AV technology and focuses on advancing this innovative mobility option by making sure it serves the greater good of building sustainable and equitable communities in its adoption. It also contributes to smart cities research by examining the likely social, economic, and environmental outcomes of integrating AV in our cities and by starting to consider policies and plans to preempt their potential adverse impacts and to ensure that the AV technology improves access for all people.

THE RESEARCH

This webinar is based on a study funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) and conducted at Portland State University and the University of Arizona. Read more about the research: Land Use and Transportation Policies for a Sustainable Future with Autonomous Vehicles: Scenario Analysis with Simulations.

SPEAKER

Liming Wang, Portland State University

Liming Wang is an assistant professor in PSU's Toulan School of Urban Studies & Planning. He teaches courses in Travel Demand Modeling, Transportation and Land Use, and Data Analysis Methods. His research takes a data-driven approach to address challenging issues in planning, in particular those intersecting land use and transportation. His recent research projects include data integration techniques for transportation and land use modeling, development and evaluation of comprehensive performance measures for transportation and land use systems, and regional strategic planning tools.

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

Photo by Михаил Руденко

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This webinar is hosted by the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. The research was funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), a program of TREC and one of five U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. The NITC program is a Portland State-led partnership with the University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Utah and new partners University of Arizona and University of Texas at Arlington. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Watch the video
• View the presentation slides

OVERVIEW

A “polycentric” region consists of a network of compact developments connected with each other through high-quality transportation options. Rather than continuing the expanse of low-density development radiating from an urban core, investments can be concentrated on central nodes and transit connections. This development pattern is very popular in Europe and is linked to significant benefits. This presentation is aimed at exploring the academic literature and empirical evidence surrounding polycentric development, analyzing more than 120 regional transportation plans to see how they promote polycentric development, defining types of centers in a hierarchy of centers, quantifying the transportation benefits of polycentric development, examining a case study of best practices, and, finally, outlining context-specific strategies for Salt Lake County and the Wasatch Front region.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Regional transportation plans suffer from a lack of consistent indicators to designate centers and guide their developments.
• On average, households living in centers tend to make fewer and shorter automobile trips, take transit more, walk more, and bike less.
• Tours (a sequence of trips that begins and ends at home) associated with centers consist of more sustainable commuting modes than ones that are completely outside the centers.
• The built environment thresholds and relevant tools provided in our presentation (and report) can enable urban and transportation planners to make informed decisions about future growth patterns, set realistic—yet visionary—goals, and improve the overall health of its residents and communities.

THE RESEARCH

This webinar is based on a study funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) and conducted at the University of Utah. Read more about the research: Reducing VMT, Encouraging Walk Trips, and Facilitating Efficient Trip Chains through Polycentric Development.

SPEAKER

Reid Ewing, University of Utah

Reid Ewing is a Distinguished Professor of City and Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah, associate editor of the Journal of the American Planning Association, and columnist for Planning magazine. His 10 books include Pedestrian and Transit-Oriented Design, co-published by the Urban Land Institute and American Planning Association; Growing Cooler: Evidence of Urban Development and Climate Change, published by the Urban Land Institute; and Best Development Practices, listed by the American Planning Association (APA) as one of the 100 “essential” books in planning over the past 100 years. Ewing’s research focuses on the built environment at five different scales and its impacts on quality of life. He has studied the built environment at scales ranging from the individual block and pedestrian activity, to the MXD and internal capture, to the metropolitan region and mode shares.

Sadegh Sabouri, University of Utah

Sadegh Sabouri is a Ph.D. candidate in the Metropolitan Planning, Policy and Design program at the University of Utah. He received his bachelor and master of urban planning from the University of Tehran and currently, he is working as a research analyst at the Metropolitan Research Center (MRC). Sabouri's research focuses on the technologies' impacts on transportation, ride-sourcing services, and advanced data analytics in urban and transportation planning. He has published a dozen of papers in top journals and conferences of urban and transportation planning, such as Cities, JAPA, and Transportation Research Part D. His doctoral study focuses on the impact of built environment on the adoption of ride-sourcing services and the impact of Uber availability on car ownership rates.

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

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Photo by AndreyKrav

This webinar is hosted by the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. The research was funded by the Summit Foundation and the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), a program of TREC and one of five U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. The NITC program is a Portland State-led partnership with the University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Utah and new partners University of Arizona and University of Texas at Arlington. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.

We are committed to making decisions that promote the success and well-being of our campus community. Until further notice, all live events hosted by TREC will be online only.

Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. You can join us online at 11:30 AM.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Watch the video
• View the presentation slides
• TREC Twitter Thread

THE TOPIC

This seminar will discuss how transportation agencies are in a unique position to reduce health disparities in the African American, African Immigrant & Refugee communities through sustainable policy, systems, and environmental changes. These three speakers from the Multnomah County Health Department will present the findings of their recent Crash and Safety report. They will discuss their data and methodology to connect the dots between chronic disease disparities, leading causes of death in communities, and transportation inequities as determinants to health. They will also present policy recommendations and a call to action.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Learn baseline data on transportation safety for the Black/African American and African Immigrant/Refugee populations
• PSE action steps for transportation agencies to consider for consider for sustainable change
• Learn about opportunities to engage in ongoing and future regional transportation efforts

SPEAKERS

Tameka Brazile, Principal Investigator, Multnomah County REACH Program

Tameka has a combination of lived, learned and professional experiences as it relates to the health promotion and well-being of the community.  She holds a Master of Business Administration, with a specialization in Healthcare Administration.  Her work in health care includes 10 years in the private sector with Legacy Health System and 15 years and counting in the public sector with the Multnomah County Health Department.  During her time with MCHD, she's worked in several programs across the life span from the cradle to the cane.  Being born and raised in Portland, Tameka has a love and passion of caring for the community she grew up in and continuously seeks ways to redress our most pressing issues that lead to health equity and social justice.

Brendon Haggerty, Program Coordinator, Multnomah County Climate and Health Program

Brendon Haggerty has worked in public health for ten years focusing on the ways that the built environment and climate change influence health outcomes and disparities. He currently leads the Healthy Homes and Communities team for Multnomah County Health Department and previously served as Epidemiologist for the Oregon Health Authority Climate and Health program. Brendon holds a Master's in Urban and Regional Planning degree from Portland State University.

Charlene McGee, Program Manager, Multnomah County REACH Program

Charlene brings over 15 years of leadership working at the intersection of public health and healthcare systems to confront and change social determinants of health. She holds an executive master’s in public administration from Portland State University, and a Bachelors of Science in public health, health promotion and education with a minor in community health from Oregon State University. As a Liberian-Oregonian, her experience as a survivor of the Liberian civil war and Black immigrant heavily influenced her career in health equity, health policy and program development. She works closely with community partners to elevate lived experience and community wisdom in order to advocate for systems and policy improvements, and culturally appropriate interventions to promote health.

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.

LEARN MORE

Photo by Kirkikis/iStock

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The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Video recordings:
  • Plenary session
  • Breakout session 1: Creating Safe and Welcoming Places That Resist White Supremacy: Cross Cutting Issues of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity with Julius McGee, Assistant Professor, USP, Portland State University
  • Breakout session 2: Creating Places to Gather: Physical Design Considerations for Year-Round, Multi-Purpose Public Spaces with Todd Ferry, Associate Director, Center for Public Interest Design, SOA, PSU
  • Breakout session 3: Creating the Civic Commons: Fostering Connections Between Local Civic and Cultural Assets with C.N.E. Corbin, Assistant Professor, USP, PSU
  • Breakout session 4: Creative Placemaking: The Role of Art and Culture in Planning, Design and Activation of Public Space with Subashini Ganesan, Portland Creative Laureate
  • Breakout session 5: Creative Placekeeping: Alternative Models for Stewardship and Financing of Public Space, with Hau Hagedorn, Associate Director, TREC at PSU
• TREC Twitter Tread

OVERVIEW

Join us for a conversation about how we can help improve and adapt Portland’s public spaces —our streets, plazas, squares, alleys and promenades— to bring our community together and support economic activity as the city recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. How can we weave the pandemic experiments that temporarily transformed streets into places for people into the fabric of our daily lives?

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Portland has joined many cities around the world in an experiment that involved rapidly closing streets to vehicular traffic to serve as public space for people to gather and businesses to reopen safely. With the availability of vaccines bringing us to the cusp of a post-COVID reality, it’s time to plan for our recovery. What lessons can we carry forward from this past year’s experimentation in Portland and elsewhere? How can we modify, transform and manage existing public space infrastructure—notably streets—to allow for a wider range of activities? How can we engage under-represented groups and increase the diversity of voices to co-create more equitable placemaking processes and outcomes?

Join a conversation about these issues with policymakers, practitioners, the private sector, community advocates and faculty and students from Portland State University and the University of Oregon. Help identify issues and opportunities to collaborate on current and potential projects that test new ideas based on lessons learned.

WHAT'S NEXT

We will re-convene in April to conduct hands-on workshops focused on those projects. Findings from both events will be documented and shared at a third gathering in May as part of an ongoing community dialogue. You are not required to participate in the April/May events in order to join us on for this March workshop. And, participation in the March workshop is not a pre-requisite for the April/May events.

THE HOST

We are the Portland Urban Design Collaborative: an emerging network of practitioners and advocates concerned with designing, creating and sustaining healthy communities. You don’t need to be a designer to join us; just be willing to think creatively about a wide range of urban challenges facing the Portland city region.  

MARCH 4th AGENDA

Moderator: Ellen Shoshkes, Adjunct Associate Professor and Coordinator, Urban Design Certificate, PSU

Plenary Session: Lessons from a Year of Experimentation
Art Pearce, Policy, Planning and Projects Group Manager, PBOT; Nick Falbo, Senior Transportation Planner, PBOT

The Portland Bureau of Transportation will share lessons learned from a year of experimentation from PBOT’s Healthy Business permit program for repurposing street space and frame the opportunity for future expansion of these ideas on a broader scale.

Breakout Discussions: Facilitated discussions with attendees to vision opportunities, identify barriers and build partnerships around existing and potential projects:

• Creating Safe and Welcoming Places that resist White supremacy: cross cutting issues of equity, inclusion and diversity (Julius McGee, Assistant Professor, USP, Portland State University)
• Creating Places to Gather: Physical Design Considerations for Year-Round, Multi-Purpose Public Spaces (Todd Ferry, Associate Director, Center for Public Interest Design, SOA, PSU)
• Creating the Civic Commons: Fostering Connections Between Local Civic and Cultural Assets (C.N.E. Corbin, Assistant Professor, USP)
• Creative Placemaking: The role of art and culture in planning, design and activation of public space (Subashini Ganesan, Portland Creative Laureate)
• Creative Placekeeping: Alternative Models for Stewardship and Financing of Public Space (Hau Hagedorn, Associate Director TREC at PSU)

PARTNERS

This event is co-sponsored by the Transportation Research and Education Center at Portland State University (PSU), the PSU College of Urban and Public Affairs and College of the Arts, and the City of Portland's Bureau of Transportation. 

We are committed to making decisions that promote the success and well-being of our campus community. Until further notice, all live events hosted by TREC will be online only.

Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. You can join us online at 11:30 AM.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Watch the video
• View the presentation slides
• Dig deeper into the work of Elevated Chicago and read stories from their communities
• ETOD policy plan
• Community Engagement Principles & Recommendations

THE TOPIC

Racial equity, wealth building, public health and climate resilience goals are only possible through cross sectional engagement that includes city, state, and regional governments, community-based organizations, and private sector partners. Please join us for this jointly sponsored seminar and workshop to learn about models of community engagement for equitable transportation and housing development.

In this seminar, Roberto Requejo, Program Director at Elevated Chicago, will discuss their community organizing and empowerment work to create equitable transit oriented development (eTOD) in Chicago. Their efforts to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion into planning and infrastructure investments center on community-focused benefits such as access to affordable housing and increasing public health outcomes. Mr. Requejo will discuss how this effort focuses on people, place, and process to create more vibrant, prosperous, and resilient neighborhoods and how these lessons can inform community processes in other jurisdictions that include transportation development and beyond.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Understand how a cross-sector coalition works to advance equitable development
• Learn the difference between TOD and ETOD
• Discover how ETOD looks like in different Chicago neighborhoods
• Discuss how ETOD can solve --rather than trigger -- displacement and address post-pandemic challenges

SPEAKER

Roberto Requejo, Program Director, Elevated Chicago

Roberto Requejo is an urban planner specialized in transit-oriented community development with a focus on affordable housing, and a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) learner, leader and practitioner. Since April 2017, Roberto has led Elevated Chicago as its program director by developing the collaborative’s foundational work culture, values and governance; coordinating its strategies and workplan; mobilizing $4M in resources; and developing processes to ensure racial equity and inclusion in grantmaking, capital investment, systems change, knowledge sharing, and community engagement. During the last 18 years, Roberto has helped public, private and nonprofit organizations --including The Chicago Community Trust, the Chicago Fed, Citi Community Capital, or Metropolitan Planning Council-- become more effective, inclusive and equitable.

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.

LEARN MORE

Photo by bukharova/iStock

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The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Video
• Presentation slides

OVERVIEW

This webinar has six elements:

1. Introducing themes related to how transit should affect the location of jobs and people, and how real estate should respond;
2. Creating a research typology of different landscapes served by transit that is also useful in transit planning;
3. Analyzing how transit stations influence shifts in the regional share of jobs, people and housing;
4. Investigating how transit station proximity influences mode choice and household transportation budgets;
5. Estimating the effect of transit station proximity on real estate rents by type of transit system and type of real estate, and the extent to which outcomes are consistent with theory; and
6. Identifying opportunities for transit station planning to unlock the potential to leverage economic benefits of transit to advance social well-being.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• How transit influences the location of jobs by major land use group to aid in economic development planning.
• How transit influences the relocation of people and households in ways that will surprise planners, and challenge them to redouble efforts to increase housing opportunities near stations for a much larger range of households than is done presently.
• How we can use real estate market rent to know if transit station and land use planning has been effective, and what may be needed to improve outcomes.
• How to know when transit station and land use planning may fail to meet their promises, and what can be done about it.

THE RESEARCH

This webinar is based on a study funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) and conducted at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Read more about the research: LRT/BRT/SCT/CRT Development Outcomes.

SPEAKERS

Arthur C. Nelson, University of Arizona

Arthur C. Nelson is Professor of Urban Planning and Real Estate Development at the University of Arizona. He is also Presidential Professor Emeritus of City & Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah. He has also served as full professor of planning at Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, as well as adjunct professor of law at Georgia State. During 2000-2001, Dr. Nelson an expert consultant on smart growth for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. His major teaching and research areas include metropolitan development policy and patterns, smart growth, public facility planning and finance, real estate development, metropolitan governance, and urban infill and redevelopment methods. Dr. Nelson has been PI/Co-PI on more than $50 million on grants and contracts. He has written more than 20 and 300 other works, and has received numerous national and international awards.

Kristina Currans, University of Arizona

Kristina Currans, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Arizona. She studies the intersection between transportation and land use development. Although trained as a civil engineer, Dr. Currans' work bridges the transportation planning and engineering disciplines. Her current research and teaching emphasizes the rethinking and redeveloping new data and methods for applications in practice to help communities plan for the places they want. Recent and on-going research includes: (1) Operationalizing the link between off-site parking supply and vehicle demand impacts for practice; (2) Shared electric scooter programs and how they can be integrated into traveler's behavior choices; (3) How the availability of transportation infrastructure impacts transportation choices (e.g., drive, walk, bike); and (4) The impact of transit investment on real estate values across multiple regions and transit systems.

Robert Hibberd, University of Arizona

Robert Hibberd is a doctoral student in Geography and Development at the University of Arizona whose minor field is planning. His education includes Smart Growth, real estate finance and policy, and planning policy. He has considerable educational and professional experience in spatial database development and analysis, spatial analysis and modeling, and cartography, including 5 years professional experience in the field of GIS, and 4 years teaching related courses at UA. Hibberd has been a research assistant on three NITC grants, is co-author of more than a dozen reports and refereed papers, and has been recognized as an outstanding NITC doctoral student.  

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

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Photo by csfotoimages/iStock

This webinar is hosted by the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. The research was funded by the Summit Foundation and the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), a program of TREC and one of five U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. The NITC program is a Portland State-led partnership with the University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Utah and new partners University of Arizona and University of Texas at Arlington. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.

We are committed to making decisions that promote the success and well-being of our campus community. Until further notice, all live events hosted by TREC will be online only.

Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. You can join us online at 11:30 AM.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Watch video
• View Kimberly Kahn's slides
• View Peter Koonce's slides
• TREC Twitter thread

THE TOPIC

This seminar discusses how pedestrian race and gender can influence drivers’ behavior in interactions with pedestrians at crosswalks. Three speakers will present different lenses to look at this topic.

Kimberly Barsamian Kahn, a researcher at Portland State University, will discuss research exploring how pedestrian race and gender influence drivers’ behavior in interactions with pedestrians at crosswalks. One dangerous potential point of conflict for pedestrians within the transportation system is interactions with drivers at crosswalks, and racial minorities are disproportionately represented in pedestrian fatalities. Research tested the hypothesis that drivers’ would demonstrate unequitable yielding based on pedestrians’ race and gender in three controlled field experiments at an unsignalized crosswalk. Trained and matched confederate pedestrians simulated an individual pedestrian crossing, while observers recorded drivers’ stopping behavior, number of cars passed, and time until a driver yielded. Study 1 included Black and White male pedestrians, while Studies 2 and 3 crossed pedestrian race (Black/White) and gender (male/female).

Results indicated that Black pedestrians were less likely to have a car stop, were passed by more cars, experienced longer wait times, and had cars stop closer. Results suggest implicit bias may impact drivers’ stopping decisions, indicating a subtle way in which discrimination perpetuates. Less safe crossing experiences may dissuade minorities from adopting healthy transportation modes and contribute to disproportionate safety outcomes based on race and gender.

George Stern, Vice President of Deafblind Citizens in Action, will speak on his lived experience as a deafblind, visibly Black male pursuing freedom of movement across diverse landscapes, including four urbanscapes. The narrative will touch on themes of gentrification, transportation culture, and the utility-dependence perception gap.

Peter Koonce of the Portland Bureau of Transportation will offer a traffic engineer's perspective on this topic and address real-world applications.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Mobility of all inhabitants is a crucial consideration in designing physical social spaces.
• Drivers’ yielding behavior at crosswalks is influenced by pedestrians’ race and gender.
• At unmarked crosswalks, stopping rates were very low and few differences emerged based on pedestrian race and gender.
• At marked crosswalks, drivers were less likely to stop for Black and male pedestrians, and when they did stop, they were more likely to stop closer to Black male and Black female pedestrians at a marked crosswalk.
• African American and Black pedestrians discussed how these are stressful interactions that harm their walking trips.

SPEAKER

Kimberly Barsamian Kahn, Associate Professor, Portland State University

Dr. Kimberly Barsamian Kahn is an Associate Professor of Social Psychology at Portland State University, and leads the Gender, Race, and Sexual Prejudice (GRASP) Lab. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Kahn’s research addresses contemporary forms of subtle bias and prejudice. Specifically, she examines hidden forms of bias such as stereotype threat, phenotypic racial stereotypicality bias, masculinity threat, and implicit bias. Her work moves beyond studying broad categorical distinctions between groups to provide a more nuanced and fine-grained analysis of modern prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination. Within transportation contexts, her research focuses on bias in intermodal interactions between drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists.

Peter Koonce, Manager of Signals & Street Lighting Division, Portland Bureau of Transportation

Peter Koonce, P.E., manages the City of Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Signals, Street Lighting, & ITS Division and is responsible for the oversight of an annual budget in excess of $13 Million. He has served as an adjunct professor at Portland State University teaching graduate level courses in transportation engineering. He is a member of the Bicycle Technical Committee of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and is Chair of the Transportation Research Board’s Committee on Traffic Signal Systems. Peter is active with multiple professional societies including Institute of Transportation Engineers, the National Association of City Transportation Officials, and the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals.

George Stern, Vice President, Deafblind Citizens in Action

George is a 29-year-old deafblind food writer, linguist, and disability rights advocate currently residing in Lubbock, Texas who holds a BA in French from Texas Tech University. George has served as President of the Texas Tech Judo and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu club, second and fourth Vice President of Deafblind Citizens in Action, Board Member for the CAT-SI (Collaboration and Assistive Technology for Students with Sensory Impairments) program through TTU’s Sowell center, and is seriously one of the better cooks in the country! Learning is George’s passion and, consequently, language has become his preoccupation.  “I speak; therefore, others know that I am,” is an idea at the center of George’s drive for fluency in as many languages and modalities as possible, both for himself and for others.

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.

LEARN MORE

Photo courtesy of Metro

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The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Watch the video
• View the presentation slides

OVERVIEW

Re-allocating space on streets to accommodate new uses – particularly for walking, biking, and being – is not new. However, COVID-era needs have accelerated the process that many communities use to make such street transitions. Many communities quickly understood that the street is actually a public place and a public good that serves broader public needs more urgent than the free flow or the storage of private vehicles. This seminar describes a new case study book that captures some of these quick changes to city streets in response to societal needs during COVID, with two open questions:

1. what changes will endure post-COVID?; and
2. will communities be more open to street reconfigurations, including quick and inexpensive trials, going forward?

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• To understand the range of street reconfigurations different cities have undertaken during COVID;
• To reflect on why the changes happened, happened quickly, and what that means for future local decisions about streets;
• To think through the role of the street and how to make this vast public resource more responsive and more flexible to short and long-term societal needs.

THE RESEARCH

This webinar is based on a study funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) and conducted at the University of Oregon. Read more about the research: Rethinking Streets for Physical Distancing.

SPEAKER

Clare Haley, University of Oregon

Clare Haley will graduate from the University of Oregon’s Community and Regional Planning program in June 2021. Clare is a 2020-21 Eisenhower Transportation Fellow and is interested in micromobility and mobility justice. Clare serves as co-president of LiveMove, a project-driven active transportation student organization.

John Larson-Friend, University of Oregon

John Larson-Friend is a Graduate Student in Community and Regional Planning at the University of Oregon. He is interested in issues of equity, justice, and technological advancement surrounding transportation. In the Spring of 2020, John created the first national database of U.S. transit agencies’ responses to COVID-19 as part of a NITC scholarship. He is currently the Planning Intern for the City of Cottage Grove, is researching Equity in Shared Mobility with Dr. Anne Brown, and will graduate in June 2021.

Marc Schlossberg, University of Oregon

Marc Schlossberg is a Professor of city and regional planning and co-Director of the Sustainable Cities Institute at the University of Oregon. The focus of his work is on re-designing cities so that more people can use low or no carbon, space efficient transport more of the time.  He is a two time Fulbright Scholar. 

Aliza Whalen, University of Oregon

Aliza Whalen is a Graduate Student in Community and Regional Planning at the University of Oregon. She is a 2020-21 Eisenhower Transportation Fellow and National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) Master’s Student of the Year who is interested in transportation equity and improving mobility outcomes. Aliza will graduate in June 2021. 

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

Photo by RoamingPanda/iStock

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

This webinar is hosted by the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. The research was funded by the Summit Foundation and the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), a program of TREC and one of five U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. The NITC program is a Portland State-led partnership with the University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Utah and new partners University of Arizona and University of Texas at Arlington. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.

We are committed to making decisions that promote the success and well-being of our campus community. Until further notice, all live events hosted by TREC will be online only.

Friday Transportation Seminars at Portland State University have been a tradition since 2000. You can join us online at 11:30 AM.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Video
• Presentation slides
• TREC Twitter thread

THE TOPIC

Perhaps you’ve seen a public meeting about pedestrian safety (or infrastructure projects) deteriorate into speculation about texting pedestrians or drunk drivers. What do the data say?

The Oregon Walks Pedestrian Crash Report reviews police reports and available information for all 48 fatal pedestrian crashes in Portland from 2017-2019. The authors will summarize their most notable findings relating to infrastructure, other systemic factors, equity and the information that the public receives about crashes. Participants may wish to review the report or articles describing it to prepare for a robust discussion:

• You’re Driving Too Damn Fast, Willamette Week, March 17, 2021
• Oregon Walks releases landmark report on fatal pedestrian crashes, BikePortland, March 17, 2021

The authors will welcome participants’ questions and suggestions about how to improve the report, which is in its first release. The complete dataset is available upon request (please email scott[at]forumlawgroup.com).

KEY LEARNING TAKEAWAYS

• Most fatal pedestrian crashes in Portland cannot be attributed to traditional crash factors, such as intoxication or distraction.
• Operation of streets as fast, wide, poorly-lit, multi-lane roads through neighborhoods predictably results in deaths of people walking and using mobility devices.
• Fatal pedestrian crashes occur disproportionately in East Portland, and disproportionately kill Black Portlanders, elders, people experiencing houselessness, and people with ADA disabilities, among others.
• Media and police reports focus on which participant was at fault, and generally ignore the infrastructure and systemic failures that are common to many fatal pedestrian crashes in Portland.

SPEAKERS 

Ashton Simpson, Executive Director, Oregon Walks

Ashton is a community organizer, former U.S. Air Force Civil Engineering Technician, and a graduate of PSU’s Community Development undergraduate program. In his most recent role at The Rosewood Initiative, he served as Community Asset Director, providing planning expertise for under-resourced neighborhoods. As a progressive Black man growing up in Houston, and now living in Portland, he has seen firsthand the unequal development present in our pedestrian infrastructure, and the dangers this presents for vulnerable communities.

Scott Kocher, Board Liaison, Oregon Walks Legislative and Policy Advisory Committee

Scott Kocher was born and raised in Corvallis, and is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College. He worked as an attorney at Oregon's largest law firm from 2001 to 2006. Since 2006 Scott’s law practice has focused on representing people and families after serious and fatal traffic crashes.  Scott has served on policy advisory committees for the Oregon Transportation Safety Action Plan as well as Oregon’s state-wide bicycle advisory committee, and Portland’s pedestrian advisory committee, among others. Scott has volunteered with and served on the board of Oregon Walks since September 2014.

Brandon Summers, Project Staff, Forum Law Group

Brandon Summers spent over 20 years as a professional musician, recording and performing internationally. He recently joined the project staff at Forum Law Group and collaborated on the research and drafting of the Oregon Walks Fatal Pedestrian Crash Report. As a native Portlander who experienced the first two decades of his adult life without owning a car, Brandon is passionate about creating a city where walking, bicycling and public transportation thrive. As the son of an immigrant Indonesian mother, he is dedicated to equitable solutions. And as the father of two daughters, he is focused on ensuring that we do more to make Portland’s streets safe for generations to come.

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.

LEARN MORE

Photo courtesy of Oregon Metro

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The Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University is home to the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), and other transportation programs. TREC produces research and tools for transportation decision makers, develops K-12 curriculum to expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engages students and professionals through education.

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

• Video
• Presentation slides

OVERVIEW

Many transit agencies plan to automate their fare collection and limit the use of cash, with the goals of improving boarding and data collection while lowering operating costs. Yet about 10% of adults in the United States lack a bank account or credit card, and many either rely on restrictive cell-phone data plans or don’t have access to internet or a smartphone. 

This webinar will present part of a larger research project exploring these issues in the cities of Denver, Colorado, and Eugene and Portland–Gresham, Oregon. In this part, we explore the tradeoffs between reducing cash acceptance, ridership and the costs of fare collection systems. How much does it save to reduce cash acceptance, verses ridership and equity impacts?

We will also present a cost-effectiveness framework that combines a qualitative and quantitative analysis and use this model to explore case scenarios in our three cities. The model shows that adding a retail network to facilitate fare payment as well as preserving cash acceptance on board buses through the farebox are highly effective solutions. The model is customizable for any agency and similar analyses can be run for different configurations of fare collection systems.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• The extent and dimensions of digital and banking divide in the US and among transit riders;
• How emerging cash-less fare payment will exclude certain transit riders;
• Equity mitigations available to include transit riders challenged by cash elimination;
• The costs and benefits of such equity mitigations

THE RESEARCH

This webinar is based on a study supported by a pooled-fund grant through the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) and conducted at three universities: Portland State University, the University of Oregon, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In addition to NITC, the funding partners were City of Eugene, OR, City of Gresham, OR, Lane Transit District, Clevor Consulting Group, and RTD Denver. Read more about the research: An Equity Lens on Automated Fare Payments.

SPEAKER

Aaron Golub, Associate Professor and Director of the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University

Dr. Golub is an associate professor and director of the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University. His work focuses on the social equity impacts of current transportation planning practices – how people participate in planning, and who wins and loses from transportation plans and investments. Dr. Golub teaches courses on urban transportation policy, planning research methods, transportation finance and public transportation.

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

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Photo courtesy of TriMet

This webinar is hosted by the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. The research was funded by the Summit Foundation and the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), a program of TREC and one of five U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. The NITC program is a Portland State-led partnership with the University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Utah and new partners University of Arizona and University of Texas at Arlington. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.