THINK.urban
Portland
Carless Urban Design
Along with the recent discussions on developments without parking spaces, it was news this week that Los Angeles has approved a plan for a district without any mandatory parking requirements (you can read the full Streetsblog.org report here). Other auto-related news has surfaced recently regarding the heart of the matter – not only the space … Continue reading
New Project: PDX Street Art Advocacy
We’ve started up a new project here at THINK.urban we’re calling PDX Street Art Advocacy. Spurred on by Tiffany Conklin, a recent Portland State University graduate in Urban Studies, and her master’s thesis on street art in Portland neighborhoods, we’re hoping to help people with the process of murals, conduct more research on street art … Continue reading
Bicycle Commuter Stats Maps
A simple graduated symbol map from Governing.com shows the range of commuter rates for cities – with a roll-over for specific cities to show more detail. The map for Bike Commuters shows a comparison of commuters to total workers – so each is proportional. The high margin of error in the data (which in the notes … Continue reading
An Occupied Anniversary: Public Space One Year Later
September 20th recently brought the first year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street protests in Zucotti Park, New York City. This time last year brought the Occupy movement to Portland’s doorstep in the form of a massive march through downtown, numbering over 10,000 strong, and filling Pioneer Courthouse Square before ending at Chapman and Lownsdale … Continue reading
It's All About Choice
Here’s a lovely write-up and video about Portland’s transportation options in USA Today. It’s always nice to see people like Professor Dill of Portland State University and Rob Sadowsky of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance featured in this editorial. While “cars vs. bikes” is brought up, it’s fairly accurate in representing the situation here without adding … Continue reading
The Visitor's Perspective
There’s a lot of talk lately about parking, whether it’s new no-parking developments on SE Division St. as we mentioned recently, occupying parking spaces with the newly debuted “street seats”, or claims that the car is the “most dangerous invention in the world”. Whatever your personal opinion it is a fact that we have to … Continue reading
To Park or Not to Park
One of those age-old dilemmas of urban infill development is coming to bear on a particular area of Portland, which has always seemed immune to the inane “development must have parking” issues. Guess not, as there has been a multitude of backlash related to a series of projects along SE Division Street. Some of these … Continue reading
A Hybrid Solution to Unpaved Streets?
Those whom get alerts from Portland’s Mayor Sam Adams received a strange email last week, with the following text: “Live on a gravel or dirt street? Portland’s new Out of the Mud (and Dust) initiative aims to help. Your feedback is wanted.” There are over 65 miles of gravel or unimproved roads in Portland, and … Continue reading
Annotated Bibliography – 07.30.12
There a lot of information out there related to aspects of urbanism in its many facets, so in the spirit of academia, a feature here at THINK.urban will be to regularly compile and summarize some recent articles, posts, and other resources. These are brief elements that don’t get their own post, but are interesting reading … Continue reading
Going Native
Some humor from Oregonian cartoonist Jack Ohman… on Obama’s recent trip to Portland and the president ‘Going Native’.
