This dissertation examines unequal outcomes of urban transportation policies in the neoliberal era. It focuses on inequalities in the Portland, Oregon metro area between 1994 and 2011 as measured in three key areas: 1) access to public transit; 2) the journey-to-work; and 3) "household-serving" trips. Growing concern over the harmful impacts from an increasing dependence on cars has led planners in the U.S. to encourage a modal shift from private car to public transit, bicycling, and walking. The required policies to make this modal shift possible, however, might inadvertently be benefiting "choice" riders at the cost of transport disadvantaged groups. Other contributing factors to this unequal benefit appear to be the suburbanization of poverty, an ongoing gentrification of central areas, and market forces that make it difficult for low income groups to afford housing in transit-rich neighborhoods. The Oregon Household Activity and Travel surveys are used to answer the three major research questions in this dissertation: what has been the effect of neoliberalism on access to public transit?, how do gender, race/ethnicity, and income inequality affect the journey-to-work in Portland?, and how do household-serving trips vary by gender in Portland? Six hypothesis are tested in answering these questions. Those related to access to transit draw on Fred Block's theory of the capitalist state and the "urban growth machine" concept, both of which predict spatially unequal outcomes from neoliberal ideology. Hypotheses about the journey to work draw on a rich body of literature around social relations in the household and the job market, as well as residential location. The final question, about household-serving trips, draws on theories of gender socialization. Findings showed that: (i) individuals in the Portland metro area had less access overall to bus public transit in 2011 than in 1994; (ii) impoverished dependent riders have lost access to transit service over time, whereas choice dependent riders increased their access to public transit; (iii) low income groups have been "forced" into greater car-ownership, in part due to the lower access to public transit; (iv) women in Portland have shorter journey-to-work trips than men; (v) Blacks have longer journey-to-work trips than Whites and Latinos; (vi) low-income individuals have shorter journey-to-work trips than higher income individuals; and (vii) women with children make more household-serving trips than men in similar family structures.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 233-248). Draws on insights of feminist and post-structuralist theorists to question the way in which urban travel is currently reflected upon by urban professionals and the potential effects of these modes of reflection. Argues that in refusing to explicate the counter practices and counter stories of travel, researchers also ignore the potentially disruptive ways of thinking about and intervening in urban travel and urban space. Uses the City of Adelaide in South Australia, as a site through which to examine the way in which the spaces, bodies, and conduct of travel have been objectified and subsequently intervened upon by urban experts.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 233-248). / vi, 248 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Draws on insights of feminist and post-structuralist theorists to question the way in which urban travel is currently reflected upon by urban professionals and the potential effects of these modes of reflection. Argues that in refusing to explicate the counter practices and counter stories of travel, researchers also ignore the potentially disruptive ways of thinking about and intervening in urban travel and urban space. Uses the City of Adelaide in South Australia, as a site through which to examine the way in which the spaces, bodies, and conduct of travel have been objectified and subsequently intervened upon by urban experts. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Geography & Dept. of Politics, 2002?

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

Fatal automobile crashes have claimed the lives of over 33,000 people each year in the United States since 1995. As in any point event, fatal crash events do not occur randomly in time or space. The objectives of this study were to identify spatial patterns and hot spots in FARS (Fatal Analysis Reporting System) fatal crash events based on temporal and demographic characteristics. The methods employed included 1) rate calculation using FARS points and average daily traffic flow; 2) planar kernel density estimation of FARS crash events based on temporal and demographic attributes within the data; and 3) two case studies using network kernel density estimation along roadways to determine hot spots fatal crashes in Jefferson County and Warren County. Rate calculation analyses revealed that travel on roads with high speed limits and winding topography led to the highest number of crashes and highest rate of fatal crashesper 1,000 daily vehicles. Planar kernel density estimation results showed temporalpatterns, revealing that ‘hot spots’ and fatalities were highest in the summer, and typically occurred from 2pm-6pm on the weekends. Further, the 16 to 25 year age group was responsible for the most significant ‘hot spots’ and the most fatal accidents. Also showing that the most significant hot spots involving alcohol occurring in close proximity to meeting places such as bars and restaurants. Finally, results from the network kernel density estimation revealed that most hot spots were in high traffic areas of where majorr oads converged with secondary roads.

This study focuses on how spatial circumstances affect property owners’ preference toward sustainable urban development, in the form of three-essays. In the first essay, property owners’ preference toward the concept of compact development is identified. Compact development is an increasingly popular concept that includes multiple aspects, such as mixed land use, high density, and pedestrian/transit-friendly options. Previous hedonic literature on the comprehensive effect of compact development is limited. Also, spatial dependence in the data, something likely endemic to compact development, has not yet been thoroughly addressed. This study uses a spatial fixed-effect model, a spatial-autoregressive model with auto-regressive disturbances (SARAR), and a spatial fixed-effect SARAR model to determine the price effect of “compactness” in a major U.S. metropolitan area. By analyzing of 47,000 sales records in Fulton County over a decade, this study indicates that home buyers prefer to have smaller, more diffuse greenspace nearby, rather than a large, concentrated greenspace at a longer walking distance. High parcel density and diverse land use is consistently disvalued, and the premium on accessing public transportation is not identified among all models. No specific trend over time has been observed, despite the recession starting in 2008. Finally, a comprehensive index of compactness shows relatively high willingness-to-pay for compact development. The second essay tests the spatial spillover of signaling within the pursuit of LEED certification. The benefit of pursuing green building certification mainly comes from two aspects: the cost-effectiveness from energy efficiency and the signaling consideration, including the premium on property values, benefits from a better reputation, morality values, or purely pride. By analyzing all new constructions that received LEED certification from 2000 to 2012 (LEED-NC v2.0 to v2.2) in the U.S., this study tries to identify the size of the signaling effects, and spillover of signaling, as building owners pursue LEED certification. The results show that the signaling effect affects decision making in pursuing LEED certification, especially at scores around thresholds. The size of signaling effects differs among different owner types and different certificate levels. For the Gold level or below, government and non-profit-organization owners value signaling more than do profit-seeking firms. At the Platinum level, there is no significant difference among owner types. This study also finds that the signaling effect clusters spatially for government and profit-seeking firms. Finally, the results show that the cluster of signaling is independent from the cluster of LEED buildings, indicating that mechanisms behind the cluster of signaling are different from those of LEED constructions. The third essay tests the distance effect on the support for Atlanta BeltLine. Atlanta BeltLine, a large urban redevelopment project currently underway in the center of Atlanta, transforms 22 miles of historical railroad corridors into parks, trails, pedestrian-friendly transit areas, and affordable housing. This study aims to determine the distance effect on the support of Atlanta BeltLine and whether the implement of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) affects the support. The contributions of this exercise are twofold. First, it demonstrates the risks and remedies to missing spatial data by solving the technical problem of missing precise spatial location values. Second, it tests underlying reasons why distance can help explain the level of support that Atlanta BeltLine has received, with striking implications for theories like the Homevoter hypothesis. Survey data used in this study was conducted in summer 2009, about three years after the declaration of the project. The support by both homeowners and renters significantly declines as distance from the BeltLine increases. However, when residents’ tendency to use BeltLine parks and transits is entered as a variable, the distance effect disappears. By indicating that the distance effect comes from homeowners’ and renters’ the accessibility to BeltLine amenities, the result rejects the homevoter hypothesis, which holds that property value increment is the main mechanism behind support. The results also show that whether or not a homeowner or renter is a parent in City of Atlanta affects a person’s support of the BeltLine. These results lead to the conclusion that the concern of TIF affecting future school quality hampers the support of the project.

published_or_final_version / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

Over the last 100 years technological improvements in urban travel in terms of reliability and speed, has meant increased mobility for residents. This was accelerated with the advent of the automobile. It allowed many to move to the suburbs that were typified by less expensive lower density housing, and commute longer distances to their place of work. Today, in urban areas, cars are the main means of urban transport. The problem arises in major urban areas across North American when everyone tries to travel at the same time (usually during to trip to and from work). Urban areas are faced with problems of congestion (during rush hour) along with the lack of attractive transit alternatives. One aspect of this problem is examined in terms commuting habits. The purpose of this exercise is to examine the commuting habits of Justice Institute employees whose place of work moves from the West Side of Vancouver to New Westminister. In the postmove period employees made a number of decisions regarding their modal-type and residential location. These decisions may have a significant impact on their activities and travel patterns in the city. The goal is to collect data that would indicate the place of residence of employees before and after the Justice Institute move. It should also include employee modal-type in the pre and postmove periods of the move. Such information is important in the understanding the changes' employees make regarding their residential location and modal-type and the reasons for these changes. As well, employee characteristics such as income can influence these decisions. Such decisions are based on employee's preferences, likes and dislikes regarding their neighbourhood and modal-type. Within this framework, it is the goal of this analysis to understand how employees make trade-offs between where they live and the time they spend commuting to and from work. The correlation parameter may describe the tendency for some commuters to locate themselves close to their employment. The analysis of the survey results will help planners understand more about the urban transport problem. Within this framework, planners can learn why people choose to travel by car instead of transit. This may be related to choice of neighbourhood. It may be that employees choose neighbourhoods that they like to live in regardless of their place of work. Thus, to understand more about the transport problem planners need to know what kinds of neighbourhoods attract people. If the quality of neighbourhoods is an important factor regarding employees' choice of residential location, any transport plan must include land-use initiatives that attempt to create neighbourhoods that attract people. The idea is to bridge the two; otherwise conflicting land-use policies could easily undermine any transport plan. Within this framework, policy must be geared to bring home and places of work closer together. This means creating vibrant neighbourhoods that contain a variety of land-use that could create more employment opportunities closer to home. Neighbourhoods should not only create just residential uses alone. That would mean people would have less distance to travel. This would also mean creating pedestrian and transit friendly neighbourhoods. Less emphasis would be given to the car and more to alternative methods of transport. Such policies can go along way in reducing the dependence on the car.

Automobile use is associated with significant problems such as air pollution and obesity. Decisions to use the automobile or its alternatives, including walk, bicycle, and public transit, are believed to be associated with urban form. However, in contrast to the hypothesis that compact urban form significantly reduces automobile travel, previous studies reported only a modest effect on travel behavior. These studies, largely built on microeconomic utility theory, are not sufficient for assessing the effect of compactness, for several reasons: (1) The studies postulate that travel invokes only disutility, but travel may also provide intrinsic utility or benefits insomuch as people travel for its own sake; (2) the studies have traditionally focused on how urban compactness reduces the distance between trip origin and destination and accordingly reduces trip time, but urban compactness also increases congestion and reduces trip speed, and thus increases trip time; and (3) the studies have mostly examined automobile commuting, but people travel for various purposes, using different travel modes, and the impact of urban compactness on the utility of non-automobile non-commuting travel has not been duly examined. On this ground, to better explain the effects that urban compactness has on travel behavior, this dissertation refines the concept of travel utility using two additions to the microeconomic utility theory: activity-based utility theory of derived travel demand and approaches to positive utility of travel. Accordingly, it designs a conceptual model that specifies travel utility as an intermediary between urban compactness and travel behavior and examines the behavior associated with and utility derived from travel mode choices for alternative purposes of travel. Twenty individual models are derived from the conceptual model and tested within the context of Seoul, Korea, using a confirmatory approach of structural equation modeling and data from geographic information systems and a structured sample survey, which is initially designed and validated by semi-structured interviews and subsequent statistical tests. By comparing the individual models, this research concludes that the urban compactness effect on travel behavior, represented by trip frequencies and supplemented by mode shares, is better explained when travel utility is considered and if travel purposes are separately examined. Major empirical findings are that urban compactness affects travel behavior mainly by increasing the benefits of travel in comparison to its modest effect on the cost reduction and people’s behavioral response to urban compactness is to shift modes of commuting travel, decrease travel for shopping, and increase travel for leisure. These purpose-specific findings have implications for transportation planners and public health planners by assisting them in linking plans and policies concerning urban compactness to travel purposes.

p. 1-163 / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2013-03-19T18:02:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 22222.pdf: 1050858 bytes, checksum: ce4219fa73772a7da834a80afb30904e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Tatiana Lima(tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2013-04-03T18:56:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 22222.pdf: 1050858 bytes, checksum: ce4219fa73772a7da834a80afb30904e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-04-03T18:56:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 22222.pdf: 1050858 bytes, checksum: ce4219fa73772a7da834a80afb30904e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Este estudo tem como objeto os consórcios de operação formados por empresas de ônibus no município de Porto Alegre na década de 90. O seu principal objetivo foi o de investigar se os benefícios assegurados pelo modelo de organizações em rede podem ser estendidos aos consórcios gaúchos. De forma secundária, buscou-se caracterizar a estrutura de organização, entender o seu processo de formação e identificar que mudanças sofridas pelo transporte público de Porto Alegre no período 1990-2005 lhes podem ser atribuídas. A pesquisa se desenvolveu com base em fontes secundárias e a partir de entrevistas com informantes-chave do sistema de transporte local, empresários consorciados, gestores públicos e representantes dos trabalhadores do setor. É muito rica a experiência dos consórcios gaúchos, sobretudo nos seus aspectos negociais e institucionais, mas o modelo se traduz, apenas, numa representação imatura ou incompleta do modelo de organizações em rede, não estando pronto a usufruir de todas as suas vantagens, inclusive no que tange à sua manutenibilidade. / Salvador