Registration
Please fill out this form by 11:59pm on September 15th to be considered for the 2024 class. The maximum number of students will be limited to 25. All applicants will be notified in mid-September whether or not they have been selected to participate.
The course will be recorded for remote viewing and everyone is welcome to watch.
Register now
A transportation-themed class with an emphasis on land use, mobility, social justice and racial equity. Previously offered through the City of Portland and Portland State University, the fall 2024 course will be conducted in-person at the Metro Regional Center. Class time will be used for presentations from guest speakers, activities and class discussion.
This course will focus on equitable traffic and transportation design and planning for our communities and infrastructures across greater Portland. Students will prepare a vision plan or class project, addressing community planning for the transportation systems (e.g., roads, bridges, transit, parks, urban centers, etc.). Students are encouraged to research current design trends in the traffic and transportation industry, including new developments in connectivity, green technologies, and changing populations. Students will be engaged in assignments/project coursework using written and oral communication. This course will be taught using guest speakers and discussion combined with individual and team-centered project-based learning.
Schedule
The 2024 classes will be held in-person on Thursday evenings from 6:40 p.m. to 8:40 p.m. at the Metro Regional Center, 600 NE Grand Ave., Portland, OR 97232. The first class is scheduled for Oct. 3 and the last class will be Dec. 5. There will be no class on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28.
Topics and speakers will be posted in advance of the class, though they are subject to change.
Course Learning Objectives
- Learn and understand the current challenges and barriers to transportation planning
- Recognize stakeholder perspectives and explore mutually beneficial solutions
- Apply a system thinking approach to central concepts, technologies, and practices of resiliency planning and sustainable systems
- Critique and develop traffic and transportation planning and sustainability metrics
- Communicate and persuade the need for planning and sustainable infrastructure for a nontechnical audience
- Develop skills for continued learning on planning and sustainable infrastructure as the field evolves.
Meet the instructor
Instructor Thuy Tu has over 25 years of experience as a senior transportation planner and civil engineering project manager. She is an innovative collaborator, progressive communicator, educator and believes in people-focused urban design concepts and methods.
She graduated from Benson Polytechnic High School and earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Portland where her studies were focused on traffic and transportation.
Now the principal and founder of her own consulting firm, she has been an adjunct professor at the University of Portland, at the Portland Campus of the University of Oregon’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts, and a mentor of project management and civil engineering for the Portland State University Student Chapter of Engineers without Borders. Thuy has also led a course on master planning for resiliency for the Lents Community and vision planning for 82nd Avenue.
Read more about Thuy Tu at the Portland Business Tribune