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N° 653 - May 2014 www.iau-idf.fr Portland, a virtuous urban and university ecosystem

Portland Metro Portland Metro comprises 25 mu- nicipalities and three counties for a population of over 1.5 million people across a land area of ap- proximately 1,000 square kilome- tres. Its density is therefore almost 6 times lower than that of Greater Paris. Created almost 30 years ago, it is the only US metropolitan government directly elected by universal suffrage. It is headed by a President elected by all citizens of the territory and six metropoli- tan councillors elected by district. Its expertise mainly covers stra- tegic planning, , waste management and natural

Laurent Perrin/IAU îdF Laurent Perrin/IAU spaces as well as metropolitan facilities (exhibitions, conventions, Portland cultivates its difference in a wide variety • a network of soft transport zoo, etc.). It should be noted that of fields such as sustainable urban planning, sports and public transport which is it does not deal with economic development policies at the met- industries and the outdoors. Its universities make closely interlinked, comprising numerous bus and tram lines in ropolitan level. Its annual budget an active contribution in this respect through their the city centre and tram-trains is around $520 million (2012- research and their real estate practices in synergy to the main suburban hubs and 2013). with metropolitan public transport projects. No- the airport (Metropolitan Area thing spectacular, but all achieved with exemplary Express or “MAX” network), intelligence and pragmatism. This Note rapide sup- • a master plan for development and planning incorporating the plements the Science Cities series of case studies. concept of the Urban Growth Boundary enshrined in the law (1) Its metropolitan area statistically defined (3) ortland, the economic • a significant investment in the of the State of Oregon . by the US Census Bureau has a population of capital of Oregon, is urban renewal of the down- nearly 2.3 million people, which is ethnically only the 24th biggest US town area (the Pearl District, for In economic terms, Portland fairly homogeneous being three-quarters of European origin. metropolis in terms of example), hosts a highly diverse produc- (2) Putting North American approaches into P (1) practice such as “smart growth” and “transit- population , but it is one of the • a high quality of design and tive fabric, composed of multiple most progressive in urban plan- implementation of public ame- small businesses, mostly serving oriented development”, based on enhanced integration between urban planning and ning terms. nities and spaces, local markets. However, on the public transport and soft modes on different It is, in fact, something of a labo- • a system of government similar scale of the metropolitan area, scales, in order to combat the chronic disease ratory for the development of to that of an urban community major international groups are of American cities: urban sprawl. (3) Which is fundamentally aimed at preser­ sustainable urban planning poli- (see boxed text on the Portland established, especially in Silicon ving farm land in the face of Portland’s out- cies(2) based on: Metro), Forest, specialising in high tech- ward spread. Note rapide - N° 653 Portland, a virtuous urban and university ecosystem

nology around Intel in a corridor via the Portland Development develop due to topographical pus at a lower level which is fully running between Beaverton and Commission (PDC) around four and natural constraints. However, integrated into the urban grid of Hillsboro or around Nike in Bea- major industrial clusters: Athletic PSU occupies a 49.5 acres cam- downtown Portland and perfectly verton, Washington County. More and Outdoor (see boxed text), recently, a large number of data Clean Techs, Advanced Manufac- Portland and the Innovation Quadrant in their national centres have moved in and deve­ turing and Software. These four and regional contexts loped thanks to a very attractive sectors were selected for several tax policy. reasons, in line with the munici- pality’s priorities: they are grow- The workforce is highly skilled ing rapidly and are big exporters, but still very regional. There is they offer jobs with good wages little in the way of immigration and they focus talents and enter- although things are changing prises in clusters in and around since the reputation of Portland, Portland. For companies in these celebrated for its independent sectors who choose to settle there, artistic movements, sustainable Portland presents competitive urban development, penchant advantages compared to other for Slow Food and its commu- American cities. nity spirit, is now attracting a new workforce which is more creative Booming universities and entrepreneurial. Portland hosts two public research universities in the In 2009, the Portland municipa­ south of its downtown: the Port- lity adopted a five-year economic land State University (PSU) development strategy to foster and the Oregon Health and economic growth and job crea­ Science University (OHSU). tion. The municipality has several PSU is a comprehensive univer- objectives: complete the transfor- sity of 29,000 students whose mation of the Portland economy, urban planning and transporta- the city having experienced a tion department enjoys a fairly severe recession in the 2000s, good reputation in the US, while seek to build the most sustainable OHSU welcomes 10 times fewer economy in the and students in medicine and the ultimately create 10,000 new jobs life sciences. On the other hand, by end 2014. By end 2012, Mult- OHSU has a significant impact on nomah County had already crea­ the region with a large teaching ted 15,000. Portland is betting on hospital, a workforce of 14,000 three areas of development: com- (making it the largest employer in petitiveness (job growth, increased Portland) and an annual budget exports), urban innovation (build- of about $2.1 billion. For histori- ings and processes) and the cal reasons, it occupies 116 acres rebalancing of economic vitality at the top of Marquam Hill, a site in its suburbs. The metropolis has which is poorly served by public chosen to concentrate its actions transport and complicated to Laurent Perrin/IAU îdF Laurent Perrin/IAU Odile Soulard/IAU îdF Marquam Hill campus, an historic part of the OHSU campus. The streetcar runs smartly across the PSU campus (underneath the Urban Center building). Note rapide - N° 653 Portland, a virtuous urban and university ecosystem

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and Portland State University (PSU) campuses within Portland agglomeration

PSU W i l l a Parking lot m Bus stop e Tram train (MAX) t OMSI t Railway e Extension MAX r i Freeway OHSU v e Central Motorway

r

East Side Marquam Hill Secondary road South Street Waterfront Other street OHSU Bicycle path OHSU Foot path Buildings major Water Forest Park River I-5 Campus boundaries

0 250 500 750 m Fond de plan : openstreetmap.org Laurent Perrin/IAU îdF Laurent Perrin/IAU

Location of PSU campus and OHSU’s with its 2 lower annexes, among which the new Collaborative Life Sciences Building. These campuses are not anymore enclaves in the city, but are on the contrary fully integrated in the urban development master plan of Portland’s downtown.

The Portland-Milwaukie tram-train project In 2015, the 7.3-mile long Portland-Milwaukie Transit Project will structures in order to cross the highway interchange to the south of the PSU extend the yellow and green lines of the MAX network from the PSU campus campus then the Willamette via a new cable-stayed bridge reserved for to neighbourhoods on the right bank of the Willamette southeast of Portland, public transport, bicycles and pedestrians. With a total length of 1,720 ft which have a high potential for renewal due to their fabric of activities. This and an average width of 72.5 ft, it will cost almost $134 million and include is the largest public transport project led by TriMet, to the extent that its two cycle paths and side pavements directly connected to the cycle paths inclusion or its insertion requires the building of numerous civil engineering running along the river.

The South Waterfront/SW Moody Ave station is designed to allow intermodality between buses, trams and tram-trains perpendicular to the new Collaborative Life Sciences Building. TriMet is a public corporation of the State of Oregon, overseen by a board of 7 members appointed by the State Governor. It ensures more than 100 million trips per year, of which 41% via the MAX network. Its operating bud- get ($473 million in 2013) and expenditure ($105 million) is funded by federal and state grants, ticket sales and taxes levied on the pay- roll of state-owned companies. It is able to issue and sell bonds. TriMet & OHSU TriMet Perspective over the new TriMet intermodal station and Collaborative Life Sciences Building. Note rapide - N° 653 Portland, a virtuous urban and university ecosystem

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and Portland State University (PSU) campuses within Portland agglomeration

OHSU 9 Willamette SCHNITZER9 Bridge CAMPUS6 OHSU 5 INFORMATION CENTER 4 SW Moody Ave South Waterfront University Housing Offices Services/retail Willamette Facilities river Planned 11 Forest 7 H Park 2 River H OHSU 10 Railway CENTRAL SW Freeway 3 Motorway 1 CAMPUS 8 Secondary road SOUTH Other road OHSU Bicycle path MARQUAM HILL H WATERFRONT Path Stairway CAMPUS Tram train extension Streetcar Hospital & clinics extension University & research extension 1 DCH Center for Mothers + Babies 4 OHSU/ OUS Collaborative Life Science Bldg Aerial tram 2 OHS Adult Beds 5 Schnitzer Campus Building II MACADAM Aerial tram station 3 Ambulatory Expansion on block 29 6 Schnitzer Campus Building III T Bus + streetcar station 10 New Patient tower 9 Schnitzer Campus Buildings IV&V WAREHOUSE 11 Marquam Hill Research Building Parking lot Central services 0 125 250 m 7 Parking Garage/ Logistics Hub 8 Support Services Building Fond de plan : openstreetmap.org Laurent Perrin/IAU îdF Laurent Perrin/IAU Focus on OHSU’s multiple campuses. The historic one on the top of Marquam Hill is now well connected to the South Waterfront District under development via the aerial tram, while Central SW and Schnitzer campuses are 2 important pieces of this major redevelopment operation.

The Innovation Quadrant 2009 Portland Innovation Quadrant 2009 Portland Innovation

Diagram illustrating the relationships and synergies between university developments, urban and public transport projects in the Innovation Quadrant. Note rapide - N° 653 Portland, a virtuous urban and university ecosystem

served by the public transport It therefore bought six plots in network (making it comparable the central part of Portland South Portland’s athletic and outdoor “signature” cluster with the situation at the université Waterfront. This is a major mixed It is a little known fact outside of the US, but Portland is the birthplace of Diderot in Paris, for example). property transaction covering Nike and Oregon hosts a global cluster of more than 800 companies and To remain attractive in the North around fifty hectares located 14,000 jobs(4) specialising in the sports industry and the outdoors(5). Since its American context and anticipate 1 km below, between the I-5 high- creation in the 70s on the outskirts of Portland, Nike has played a leading role their growth(6), each university way and the Willamette, which in catalysing around it a cluster specialised in sport and technology. Today, this has committed to an ambitious has been developing for nearly cluster hosts companies such as Nike, Columbia, Adidas, Pendleton, Jantzen development master plan since 15 years on former ship repair and a myriad of very small specialised companies like Keen Footwear and the beginning of the decade. That and demolition yards. Icebreaker. Portland companies are world renowned for their expertise in de- of PSU, designed by the Sasaki In 2006, OHSU opened its new sign and especially innovation. Supported by a demanding local market and Associates agency, in partnership inpatient hospital there at the foot easy international accessibility, they with the Portland municipality, of the aerial tram serving the Mar- find that it offers the kind of talent plans to transform its campus quam Hill campus (see boxed and environment which is conducive into an eco-neighbourhood. The text: “Portland aerial tram”). to their growth and the development project consists in merging the In the north of the operation, it of start-ups. This cluster is crucial university facilities and accom- also acquired 19 acres of land for the economic attractiveness of modation on the site with private which will enable it to create the metropolis since its many busi- or public housing programmes several teaching and research nesses and start-ups attract young combining the entire range of facilities, including the Collabo­ talent around Portland eager to en- central urban functions, while rative Life Sciences Building. This joy an affordable standard of living, taking the opportunity to elimi- building offering 480,000 sq.ft of a better work-life balance but also nate the boundaries between uni- floor space, the result of a part- and especially drawn in by the “cool” versity and city residential areas nership between OHSU, PSU and and aspirational image of the city Odile Soulard/IAU îdF through landscaping of attractive , includes that blends creativity with alterna- pedestrian pathways towards the an advanced research centre for tive and ecological lifestyles (8% of people in Portland cycle to work, tenfold neighbouring but hard-to-access space biomedicine and class- the US national average). The city hosts a plethora of local farmers’ markets. . The idea is to rooms for different specialties use PSU’s grey matter to turn this taught at OHSU, as well as experi- (4) http://aoportland.com/explore/discover-portland/#by-the-numbers project into a collective learning mental biology and chemistry (5) http://pdxeconomicdevelopment.com/cluster-activewear.html laboratory. In all, the capacity for laboratories, not to mention a development through densifica- 400-seat amphitheatre for PSU tion, preferably around stations students. see strengthened. This process, foremost Zidell Corp., the com- on the public transport system, is which could eventually lead to a pany which operated the South estimated at around 7,000,000 sq.ft This partnership, initially born merger, will take on real meaning Waterfront shipyards. This work, of floor space (compared with out of financial necessity since on the ground thanks to a new carried out at the height of the 4,500,000 sq.ft currently). OHSU lacked the means to fund MAX tram-train line connect- economic crisis in the late 2000s, this ambitious and expensive ing the PSU campus with the was intended to promote the The constraints of the historic project in its entirety ($295 mil- south-eastern suburbs of Port- urban regeneration of this whole OHSU campus led it to focus lion!), embodies a first tie-up land, while serving the new col- area (at that time dubbed the on external growth in order to between OHSU and PSU which laborative building (see boxed “Innovation Quadrant”) in order ensure its development through many university and economic text: “The Portland-Milwaukie to repopulate it and revitalise it the acquisition of nearby land. players in Portland would like to tram-train project”). Thus, thanks economically (11,000 households to the ae­rial tram, tramway and and 30,000 jobs are expected for tram-train, the four campuses of in the next 25 years). This mainly the two universities will soon be made it possible to obtain the closely interconnected. necessary funds from the Federal Department of Transport and the The emergence of these diffe­ State of Oregon in order to create rent projects and development the transport infrastructure that visions has naturally required will not only connect the new close coordination between the campus of OHSU to downtown various players involved, whether Portland and PSU but also open the State of Oregon? via its public up the Central Eastside Industrial transport authority (TriMet)? Port- District, a primarily industrial land Metro, the Portland munici- zone near the city centre and the pality? through its economic development agency (PDC)?

OHSU both universities, neighbour- (6) Between 1998 and 2009, the number of Aerial view of 3 OHSU campuses. In the foreground, the historic campus students enrolled at PSU almost doubled and in the background, at a lower level, its two extension sites. hood associations or individual and the figure is expected to surge by 50% In blue, the volumes still buildable. In orange, the aerial tram right of way. proprietors concerned, first and over the next 25 years! Note rapide - N° 653 Portland, a virtuous urban and university ecosystem

Oregon Museum of Science and For more information Industry (OMSI). The redeveloped The Portland aerial tram Portland right bank of the Willamette River • P ortland Development Commission: therefore presents a medium-term http://www.pdc.us/our-work.aspx potential in terms of economic • Tri-Met: www..org dynamics in relation with the ele- • Plan for the strategic development ments of the campus and the site’s of Portland Metro by 2040: http:// industrial past. It has all the ingre- www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/ dients required to attract busi- go/by.web/id=29882 nesses, SMEs and start-ups which • Master plan for development of the will benefit from public transport, OHSU campus: http://www.ohsu. soft transport modes and access edu/xd/about/services/cpdre/plan- to affordable former industrial ning/ohsu-facility-master-plan.cfm buildings in the vicinity of the • Master plan for the university eco- OMSI museum and the opera. neighbourhood of PSU: http://www. pdx.edu/planning-sustainability/ Portland, eco-focused university-district-framework-plan and responsible On campuses and clusters Decade after decade, Portland • S oulard Odile, « Campus et clusters has demonstrated that it is able mondiaux : un détour par l’ail- to renew itself through dialogue leurs », Note rapide, n° 607, IAU îdF, between its regional pla­yers, by novembre 2012. offering a different urban model • P errin Laurent, Soulard Odile, Science for North America. A fairly effec- Cities : campus scientifiques et clus- tive model from an energy view- ters dans les métropoles du xxie siècle. point and conducive to city life Séoul : Digital Media City et Songdo which now seems increasingly Laurent Perrin/IAU îdF Laurent Perrin/IAU New City, IAU îdF, octobre 2011. attractive to a young, urban, • P errin Laurent, Soulard Odile, creative and environmentalist The Portland aerial tram was designed at the initiative of OHSU and the «Science City et Zurich-Ouest, les class fed up with life in “subur- Portland Transportation Department in order to connect the central part deux piliers du Wissenshub zuri- bia”(7). A point which the city of the new South Waterfront District to the Marquam Hill campus. Built chois », Note rapide, n° 514, IAU îdF, has in common with its bigger in 2006 by the Swiss company Doppelmayr, it ascends to more than juillet 2010. Californian neighbour down 1,000 metres and drops 150 metres in just 3 minutes. Since it first came • P errin Laurent, Soulard Odile, « Hel- the coast San Francisco, but with into service, the aerial tram has carried 10 million passengers, making sinki, entre ville-nature et living lab much more affordable property nearly 350,000 trips. Its rated capacity is 960 passengers per hour in city » , Note rapide, n° 513, IAU îdF, prices. each direction, with each cabin able to hold 80 people and departures juillet 2010. The combination of this anti-con- every 5 minutes. formist identity (“green attitude” A comparative study of transport systems led by the Portland Transporta- and “community spirit”(8)), a cli- tion Department concluded that the aerial tram was better than the bus We warmly thank John Fregonese mate of tolerance, its alternative both in terms of journey time, load capacity, urban quality, maintenance, and Fregonese Associates Inc. for culture, its independent art scene, cost of upkeep in the long term and environmental impact (especially their precious assistance in set- its many cafes and bars, and the sound). It cost $56 million to build, an admittedly high price and above ting up our mission to Portland. low cost of living is attracting initial estimates, but which also includes the construction of a footbridge spanning the I-5 highway negotiated by the inhabitants of the neighbour- increasing numbers of creative Publishing Director: Valérie Mancret-Taylor professionals and young Ameri- hood it passes over (following fierce opposition to the project) and the ------Authors: Laurent Perrin, Odile Soulard can entrepreneurs to Portland, on additional cost of building the tower bearing the upper station. under direction of Fouad Awada Although an integral part of the public transport system in Portland, its and Anne-Marie Romera a model which is close to Berlin ------in Europe. Portland is fashionable. cost was mainly borne by the OHSU and other landowners in the South Editor-in-chief: Isabelle Barazza Layout: Vay Ollivier But will it be able to capitalise on Waterfront Central District, including the Portland Development Commis- Mapping: Yuliya Georgieva, Pascale Guery, sion (PDC). The municipality only subsidised 15% of the project. The aerial Laurent Perrin, Jean-Eudes Tilloy these new assets to bolster its under direction of Frédéric Theulé tram is free for employees or students of OHSU and costs $4 for other ------future competitiveness? Distribution through subscription users. Its annual operating cost is about $1.7 million. E80 annually (40 issues) - E3 per issue Distribution and sales Laurent Perrin, Odile Soulard The lower station is directly accessible by bus and tram and a large guarded Tel.: +33 (0) 1 77 49 79 38 bicycle park is available to users. Bicycles are also allowed inside the 15, rue Falguière 75015 Paris cabins as indeed in all other modes of public transport. Intermodality ISSN 1967 - 2144 ISSN ressource en ligne 2267-4071 (7) Generally dubbed the “Hipsters” class. with other soft transport modes is therefore certainly key to its success. www.iau-idf.fr (8) Portland hosts many vintage stores, in- Beyond its role as a link between the old and the new campus of OHSU, cluding the largest second-hand bookstore in the world (Powell’s books), community gar- the Portland aerial tram has become an icon of identity and a vector of dens, social services for the disadvantaged, development for tourism in Portland. It is true that it offers unparalleled affordable public transport, public provi- views over the Willamette and the chain of Oregonian volcanoes. sion of private space by companies such as Wieden+Kennedy, etc.