Objective: This is a policy course that is appropriate for graduate students interested in transportation and/or land use planning and policy. It is recommended that students identifying transportation and/or land use as one of their fields take this course. The class will examine the transportation and land use policy process in the Pacific Northwest, with a focus on Oregon. We will look at intergovernmental relationships involving the federal government, the state LCDC, DOT, Metro, and local jurisdictions such as the Portland DOT. Specific policies and plans – from TEA-21 to the State’s Land Use Law and its Transportation Planning Rule (TPR) to Metro’s Region 2040 to the City Comprehensive Transportation Management Plan (CCTMP) – will be examined. A key focus will be on how and why transportation and land use decision-making proceeds in the Northwest in the manner in which it does.

In general, it is assumed that students will have had USP 456/556: Urban Transportation: Problems and Policies prior to this class; thus, we will not review any basic concepts related to mode, policy trends, pricing issues, terms and definitions, etc.

The course will be structured in a seminar format and will feature guest speakers from key transportation and land-use decision-making agencies, as well as student presentations.

Course Requirements:

• All students in this course must join an electronic discussion list created for this class.  The primary purpose of this list will be the sharing of "discussion questions" based on the readings.  Secondarily, the list will be used for class announcements regarding guest speakers, etc.
• At least three times per term, each student must submit to the listserv a series of discussion questions (approximately four or five) based on the readings for the week during which the student submits the questions.  All students will have the opportunity to think about the questions in advance.  The questions submitted by students will be synthesized into "discussion points" for the next class meeting.
• Students will also be given the responsibility of updating and taking the lead on discussing the Matrix of Transportation Decision-Making in the Portland, Oregon, Metropolitan Region.
• Students must write two reflective essays drawn from the readings, guest lectures, class discussion, or their analysis of the matrix.
• A main project in this class will be for us to form a workteam that takes on a mock project to rewrite (update) the FTA document "Review of the Transportation Planning Process in the Portland Metro Area" at http://www.fta.dot.gov/fta/library/planning/TPP/portland.html
• Students also must subscribe to the discussion list SD_DIALOG to read, and engage in thought and/or discussion on the topic of sustainable development insofar as it relates to our land use policy and its intersection with our transportation policy. See http://lists.fsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/sd_dialog for further information. Note that this list is for comments and reactions during the period April 1 to April 15, 2000. A class project based on this engagement may evolve during the course of this term.

Grading:

Class participation (including attendance)    10%
Discussion questions    10%
Reflective essays    20%
Work on Matrix    20%
Participation on Mock FTA Project    20%
Participation on Sustainability Project    20%

Readings:

A class packet of readings is available from the bookstore.  It is also on reserve at the library.
There are also web documents, which may be read on-line.  These are also on reserve at the library for photocopying.  Please do not print these documents (some of which are fairly long) in the UPA computer lab.

Note: Because we hope to have guest speakers and general flexibility with respect to discussion of topics, the following outline is tentative.
 

Week	Topic and Readings
3/39/00	Introduction Overview of the Policy Process  Techniques of Policy Analysis
4/6/00	Policy Process and Techniques of Policy Analysis (cont’d) Readings Mazmanian, D., and P. Sabatier, Implementation and Public Policy(Univ. Press of America, 1989), pp. 1-48.
4/13/00	The Transportation-Land Use Connection Readings Moore, Terry, and Paul Thorsnes, "A Process for Integrated Land-Use and Transportation Planning," Chapter 6, and "Creating Coordinated Land-Use and Transportation Policy," Chapter 7, in The Transportation/Land Use Connection: A Framework for Practical Policy (Chicago: The American Planning Association, 1994).
4/20/00	Overview of the Oregon Context  Readings Knapp, Gerrit, "Land Use Politics in Oregon," in Abbott, C., Howe, D., and Adler, S., Planning the Oregon Way: A Twenty-Year Evaluation (Oregon State Univ. Press, 1994), pp. 3-23. Abbott, C., "The Oregon Planning Style," in Abbott, C., Howe, D., and Adler, S., pp. 205-226. "How Planning Works in Oregon" at http://www.lcd.state.or.us/planwork/planwork.htm "The Oregon System of Land Use Planning" at http://www.lcd.state.or.us/backinfo/planore.htm, and subpages linking to Goals and Rules
4/27/00	Federal Transportation Policy   Readings Adler, S. "The Evolution of Federal Transit Policy," Journal of Policy History, Vo. 5, No. 1, 1993: 69-99. "A Guide to Metropolitan Transportation Planning Under ISTEA - How the Pieces Fit Together" - U.S.D.O.T., at http://www.fta.dot.gov/fta/library/planning/MTPISTEA/ 424MTP.html "The FTA-FHWA MPO Reviews - Planning Practice Under the ISTEA and the CAAA" at http://www.fta.dot.gov/fta/library/planning/ftafhwa/fta.html Tea-21 Users Guide at http://www.tea21.org/guide/guideonline.htm Carlson, D. At Road's End: Transportation and Land Use Choices for Communities (Island Press, 1995), pp. 3-19; 61-70; 135-152.
5/4/00	State Transportation and Land Use Policy  Readings Adler, S., "The Oregon Approach to Integrating Transportation and Land Use Planning," in Abbott, C., Howe, D., and Adler, S., pp. 121-146 Bianco, M. and S. Adler, "The Politics of Implementation: The Corporatist Paradigm Applied to the Implementaion of Oregon's Statewide Transportation Planning Rule," working paper, 1999.
5/11/00	Regional Transportation and Land Use Policy Metro and other MPOs Readings "Review of the Transportation Planning Process in the Portland Metro Area" at http://www.fta.dot.gov/fta/library/planning/TPP/portland.html Adler, S., and Edner, S., "Challenges Confronting Metropolitan Portland's Transportation Decision System," Transportation Research Record 1364: 193-197. 1000 Friends of Oregon, "Making Land Use Transportation Air Quality Connections -- The Pedestrian Environment," Volume 4,  1993, at http://ntl.bts.gov/ntl/DOCS/tped.html
5/18/00	Regional Transportation and Land Use Policy Tri-Met and Other Transit District Providers Readings Adler, S., and Edner, S., "Governing and Managing Multimodal Regional Transit Agencies in a Multicentric Era," in Guess, G., ed., Public Policy and Transit System Management (Greenwood Press, 1990), pp. 89-112.
5/25/00	County and City Transportation and Land Use Policy
6/1/00	Topical Discussions
6/8/00	Wrap-Up

Discussion Questions

Three times during the term, each student must post a set of approximately four discussion questions to the class listserv.
The purpose of the questions is to serve as a basis for class discussion during the weekly class meeting.  Any questions submitted for a given week must be sent to the listserv by Tuesday of the week during which the questions are to be discussed.  Question should not be questions of simple fact (e.g., "Define 'pedestrian environment factor'") but should rather be questions that can stimulate interesting class discussion.  The student writing the question should take a stab at suggesting provocative issues and potential insights (e.g., "Some say that the concept of transit-oriented design is tantamount to 'social engineering,' while others say it provides choice and is therefore enlightened visioning.  What do you think?").

You may send out your questions at any time during the term, but you must send three sets of questions and you must send them by the Tuesday of the week you wish them to be discussed.  You should send out questions that pertain to that week's readings, not future or past readings.

All students should print out the discussion questions sent out to the list during a given week and think about the answers.  During class, we will discuss the salient points raised by the questions.

Reflective Essays

Each student must write two reflective essays about any topic(s) in the readings, class discussion, or guest presentations.  The essays must be at least four pages long, double-spaced, typed.  They should contain no grammar, punctuation, spelling, or typographical errors.  In general, essays will be enhanced by the inclusion of illustrative quotes from the readings or citation of relevant materials.  In this case, proper citation format must be observed and a reference list, however short, must be included.  The purpose of the essays is for the student to have the opportunity to verbalize, in written form, reflections about the subject matter.  The exercise is meant to be scholarly, yet informal.  These papers will be graded on presentation (punctuation, spelling, etc.), thorough and thoughtful discussion, originality of ideas, and style (proper citation format, etc.).  The bulk of the grade is assigned to the thoroughness, thoughtfulness, and originality of the discussion.

The Listserv

Subscription to the listserv is required.  To subscribe, please send an e-mail message to

    MAJORDOMO@LISTS.PDX.EDU

with no subject or signature material, and the message:

     SUBSCRIBE URBTRANS-L