Drawing on the concept of sexual geography, this study examines the social and political meanings of sexualized spaces in the urban geography of Portland, Oregon between 1970 and 2010. This includes an examination of the sexual geography of urban spaces as a deliberate construct resulting from official and unofficial public policy and urban planning decisions. Sexual geographies, the collective and individual constructions of sexuality, are not static. Nor are definitions of deviant sexual practices fixed in the collective consciousness. Both are continuously being reshaped and reconstructed in response to changing economic structures and beliefs about sex, race and class. Primary documents are used to build a conceptual geography of sexualized spaces in Portland at points between 1970 and 2010 with an emphasis on the policy and urban planning decisions that inform the physical designations and social meanings of sexualized spaces including prostitution zones, pornography districts and gay entertainment areas.

Large organizations such as Portland State University (PSU) play an important role in the environmental impact and sustainability of a city, EcoDistrict and region. Through their resource use and operations, such organizations can assist in mitigating environmental damage, as well as educate their members and community. PSU does not currently have any formal policies that support sustainable operations, and there is room to improve the sustainability of campus operations. Feedback from PSU employees was solicited through two surveys, and these data were qualitatively analyzed to identify salient organizational issues that may serve to inhibit implementation of sustainable operations at PSU. Findings revealed the following: lack of collaboration, connectivity, and information sharing between departments and levels of the organization's hierarchy, and a perceived lack of top-down support in the form of operational sustainability guidance, policies, and resources. The PSU Green Team program and Climate Action Plan Implementation Team (CAP-IT) may offer opportunities to address these shortcomings, and if supported and well-utilized, these existing structures have the potential to promote sustainable operations and EcoDistrict development at PSU.

In this interpretive phenomenological research study, making meaning of teachers and children's experiences of Reggio-inspired documentation takes center stage. Reggio-inspired documentation is a way of visually stabilizing and bringing meaning to experiences, ideas, thoughts and the daily interactions of children and adults (Bonilauri & Rubizzi, 2010; Filippini, Trancossi & Vecchi, 2009; Guidici et al, 2001; Rinaldi, 2006). Collecting research in The School of Inspiration elementary program brings to light the many experiences and possible meanings of Reggio-inspired documentation. The study's participants consist of 2 teachers, 45 children, and me, as a participant researcher, all developing the meaning over time. Utilizing observations, photographs, field notes, journal writing and interviews, I documented this research study over a number of months. During this time, I spent hours in the environment listening, observing and taking photographs and then reflecting back on the experiences. The many experiences developed into three essential themes, transformation and growth, noble lives, and connections. The documentation experiences and the beautiful representations of learning and relationships built layers and moments that scaffold upon each other. A deeper look inside these experiences revealed how each child and teacher fostered a relationship with documentation carefully considering their daily reflection. Reflection led to implications for possible futures in elementary education such as maintaining intentional reflection, developing an academic journey and designing and fostering group identity.

Highly reflective roofing systems have been analyzed over several decades to evaluate their ability to meet sustainability goals, including reducing building energy consumption and mitigating the urban heat island. Studies have isolated and evaluated the effects of climate, surface reflectivity, and roof insulation on energy savings, thermal load mitigation and also ameliorating the urban heat island. Other sustainable roofing systems, like green-roofs and solar panels have been similarly evaluated. The motivation for the present study is twofold: the first goal is to present a method for simultaneous evaluation and inter-comparison of multiple roofing systems, and the second goal is to quantitatively evaluate the realized heating and cooling energy savings associated with a white roof system compared to the reduction in roof-top heat flux. To address the first research goal a field experiment was conducted at the International Harvester Building located in Portland, OR. Thermal data was collected for a white roof, vegetated roof, and a solar panel shaded vegetated roof, and the heat flux through these roofing systems was compared against a control patch of conventional dark roof membrane. The second research goal was accomplished using a building energy simulation program to determine the impact of roof area and roof insulation on the savings from a white roof, in both Portland and Phoenix. The ratio of cooling energy savings to roof heat flux reduction from replacing a dark roof with a white roof was 1:4 for the month of July, and 1:5 annually in Portland. The COP of the associated chillers ranges from 2.8-4.2, indicating that the ratio of cooling energy savings to heat flux reduction is not accounted for solely by the COP of the chillers. The results of the building simulation indicate that based on energy savings alone, white roofs are not an optimal choice for Portland. The benefits associated with cooling energy savings relative to a black roof are offset by the winter-time penalty, and the net benefit from adopting white roof technology in Portland is small. That said, there are other potential benefits of white roofing such as impact on urban heat islands and roof life that must also be considered.

Coyote (Canis latrans) numbers are increasing in urban areas, leading to more frequent human-coyote interactions. Rarely, and particularly when coyotes have become habituated to humans, conflicts occur. Effective education about urban coyotes and how to prevent habituation reduces conflict. Citizen science, in the form of online education, can be used to engage and educate city dwellers about urban coyotes. In this research, I explore Portland Metropolitan Area (PMA) residents' baseline experiences with, and attitudes toward, urban coyotes. Next, I investigate citizen science as a tool for education. Using the Portland Urban Coyote Project (PUCP), a citizen science project, as a case study, I investigate people's experiences with citizen science and evaluate whether attitudes and knowledge about coyotes changes after an interactive online educational tool. Most participants had seen a coyote at least once, were generally positive about coyotes, and were well-informed about basic facts. Participants who completed a tutorial that provided basic information about coyotes and dispelled common myths, showed higher knowledge scores and more positive, research-based attitudes. These results suggest that educational tools in citizen science projects can be effective for providing information and shaping attitudes about urban coyotes. Increased public access to education about how to live safely with coyotes is an important tool for proactive management. Online educational tools associated with citizen science projects are a viable option for efficient, inexpensive management of urban coyote populations.

Transportation availability and land use intensity demonstrate a strong relationship, with intense development concentrated near significant transportation investment. Transportation networks evolved in response to emergent transportation technologies and changing urban land uses. The irregular distribution of transportation systems reinforced patterns of land use development, shaping urban form. Understanding the relationships between transportation and the intensity of land uses allows urban geographers and city planners to explain the urbanization processes, as well as to identify areas historically susceptible to future development. The goal of this research is to develop a quantitative framework for the analysis of the development of urban form and its relationship to urban transportation systems. This research focuses on transportation accessibility, building density, and the structural massing as the basic metrics in the categorization of urban form. Portland, Oregon serves as the case study environment, while the research methodology examines the spatial and statistical relationship between these metrics for much of the city's urban area. Applying geographic information systems (GIS) and k-means cluster analysis, urban form metrics are compared within the ADaM (Accessibility, Density, and Massing) cube, a model demonstrating comparative relationships, as well as the geographic distribution and patterns of urban form in Portland, Oregon's neighborhoods. A finalized urban form catalog describes existing urban environments, but also indicates areas of impending transition, places having the strong potential for reorganization with respect to higher levels of transportation accessibility. The ADaM Cube is a tool for characterizing Portland's existing urban form, and describing the vulnerabilities of urban neighborhoods to the pressure of redevelopment.

The present thesis chronicles the decision to replace Portland, Oregon's Harbor Drive, a downtown highway located between Front A venue and the Willamette River, with Tom McCall Waterfront Park, a thirty-seven acre linear greenway, in the late 1960s and 1970s. These events provide an example of the battle against the ascendancy of the automobile and the ability of concerned citizen groups to affect city planning decisions.

This thesis traces the historical evolution of one of the early responses to youth crime and violence -- public school police. In addition, this thesis addresses the lack of information about the creation and implementation of a public school police force, specifically the Portland Public School Police and School District No. 1, during its formative years, 1937 to 1953. Finally, the thesis intends to address two principal questions: A) Why did the Portland Board of Education find it necessary to create their own police agency? While one opinion suggests that there was a real need for school police due to the escalating crime raking place within the school district, the other opinion suggests that the school police were created mostly for underlying political reasons rather than general public safety. B) What were the principal functions of the School Police? The initial function of the Portland Public School Police was to protect school property and reduce the monetary loss incurred by the school district. However, after 1941, when large number; of immigrants came to Portland with their school-age children, the Portland Public School Police expanded their function from property protection and reduction of monetary loss to include crime repression and protection.

This study endeavors to identify those daycare centers in the Portland Metro area that provide service to the handicapped or special needs child. ("Special needs" refers to children that are handicapped with varying degrees of severity.) It discusses the value and importance of the daycare experience for the young child, noting that daycare options available to the normal child are not usually available to the atypical child.

The purpose of this study was to examine the interrelationships between the School of Education and the rest of the university by means of the course demands placed by elementary education majors and graduate education students on other academic departments during the fall terms of 1972 and 1973. It also examined the course demands placed on the School of Education by other major groups for this period. The Induced Course Load Matrix (ICLM) was the vehicle used in this examination. The hypothesis tested were 1) that elementary education majors and graduate education students placed equal course demands on the other academic departments, 2) that other major groups place equal course demands on the School of Education, and 3), that course demands by these three groups were consistent over time. Results indicated that elementary education majors and graduate education students did not place equal demands on other academic departments. Elementary education majors place the greatest course demands, as might be expected, on departments where there are course requirements such as Psychology, English, General Science, Mathematics and Speech. However, this group also placed heavy course demands on the History Department even though there are no required courses. Graduate education students placed course demands on other academic departments similar to elementary education majors, especially in the Departments of Psychology, English and History.