New policy recommendations support aging in place; New research explores gateway and natural amenity region (GNAR) communities' transportation challenges
Life-Space Mobility: Transportation and Policy can Support Aging in Place for Older Adults
Research on older adults frequently explores the notion of "aging in place"—providing older adults the opportunity to continue living in their own homes and communities. Accessible neighborhoods that prioritize mobility help residents meet basic needs like goods, services and social activities. This life-space mobility perspective is rarely applied in urban planning and architecture. New research from Ivis Garcia Zambrana of University of Utah and Alan DeLaTorre of Portland State University seeks to operationalize this concept and draw policy implications for the architecture and planning fields for home modifications, the built environment, and access to
transit.
Small Towns with Big City Problems: Mobility Challenges and Solutions in Our Natural Areas
Living near natural amenities are small GNAR (Gateway and Natural Amenity Region) communities which are growing, sometimes rapidly, and with dramatic increases in visitation. They experience a wide range of "big-city problems": housing affordability, income disparity, parking challenges, and severe traffic congestion. Despite often having few, if any, planners or other paid public officials, they are trying an array of innovative solutions. NITC
researchers Danya Rumore of University of Utah and Philip Stoker of University of Arizona have studied the challenges and developed a new online community toolkit that is open for collaboration and new resources.
Daniel Iwicki is a civil engineering student and Oregon Tech's ASCE-AGC Student Chapter President. His primary research interest is in autonomous vehicles and their effects on future life. He won a nationwide essay competition in 2018 with the paper "The Effects of Autonomous Vehicles on Rural Areas," and was invited to present his work at the National Conference on Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation. Dan has been a NITC Scholar and has represented
Oregon Tech and NITC at several events including the TRB Annual Meeting. He has also worked as a research assistant and was co-author on a NITC-funded study on vibration modal analysis of bridges. After graduation, he will be working at Kimley-Horn in Tucson, Arizona.