- GIS-based investigation of gentrification & transit in Portland, using socioeconomic census indicators and land value to assess the landscape of gentrification and its relation to transit
- Creation of census tract and census block group-level maps, using shape files from RLIS, Trimet, and CivicApps (including the census block and tract boundaries, zoning data, and transit stops/routes) and American Community Survey and normalized Census data (including change in household income, home values, rents, education status, and mobility) available from American Fact Finder and the US2010 Longitudinal Database.
- An exploration of land values and transit in Portland, using tax lot data, to assess the relationship between transit and urban land dynamics in downtown and redeveloped industrial areas poorly understood through changes in residential socio-economic status and housing value.
- Statistical analysis of the correlation between proximity to transit and gentrification
- I joined taxlot data on land value going back to 1998 to census block boundaries, finding a median land value per square foot for each block. I then measured the distance from the centroid of those blocks to the nearest frequent transit stop. From there, I was able to create scatterplots comparing gentrification indicators to the proximity to transit. I then performed a linear regression, testing the significance of proximity to transit in terms of land value appreciation after controlling for distance to downtown, distance to the nearest freeway, distance to the nearest park centroid, and the percent of roads with sidewalks (calculated at the block group level and then joined to each block within that group). I tested both the broad-scale relationship between transit and land value and increases in land value near four major rail capital projects in Portland—the Yellow Green light rail lines and the two major streetcar projects—in the years since their opening.
- Interrogation of City of Portland planning documents, zoning, and urban renewal policies and history, connected to extant theories of gentrification
- Field experience volunteering for and observing the meetings of OPAL, the local bus riders’ union