Looking back on my first time here back in
2012, Portland met my expectations of a well-planned city; it still does three
years later. Active transport is encouraged and people actually ride their
bikes, public transit has high patronage levels, the urban growth boundary is
respected for its intentions, local produce is supported more than normal in
the US, and planning authorities carry-out effective community consultation
sessions. What I didn’t expect was the homeless population, which has probably
been the biggest culture shock for most of the Australians, even after
visiting Japan. I think we’re all struggling to see how Portland can be praised
so much for its planning when there are so many residents living in these
appalling circumstances. Although, this has been flagged as a major area for
concern for the City to deal with in the future incrementally, it’s going
to be pretty tough to deal with.
On a positive note, we learnt that the 19
state-wide planning goals were referenced heavily throughout our first day of
study at the PSU first-stop program. These included issues relating to
transport, the urban growth boundary and housing, environment, open spaces, community
engagement, and the agricultural security. As the state-wide planning goals
don’t just affect local governments, the first-stop program is capable of
showing us first-hand how these relevant authorities stick with these goals.
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| 'Burnside - a famous grassroots skate park under the Burnside Bridge in Portland. Bridge pillars are the foundations for the quarter pipes and bowls. an open space unique to Portland |
One big change since 2012, and I guess
someone has to talk about it, we learnt about the blazers’ namesake, that being
the legalisation of marijuana in Oregon. It was outlined today that light
industrial land uses are in low supply due to the large amount of hydroponic
cannabis farms, seeing a massive spike in rental costs for small industries in
Portland. This then forces planning authorities to re-zone more land in the
City, which is somewhat unfortunate, as these typically use large amounts of
land, endangering the size of the current urban growth boundary. Nonetheless,
it will prove to be a big driver of economic development.
Brendan Aikman
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