Public Affairs

Strategic Partner: Portland

Overview

PSU collaborates with the City of Portland to advance Portland’s reputation as one of the most innovative, smart and sustainable cities in the country. Engagement between PSU and the City of Portland is extensive and spans multiple dimensions including research, policy development, student engagement and employment, joint demonstration projects and investments in campus planning and development.

  • Planning and Sustainability
    PSU and City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability have benefitted from a 25-year partnership. The partnership between PSU and BPS began with a focus on multi-family recycling and has expanded dramatically to include climate mitigation and adaption strategies, smart cities, age-friendly cities, sustainable neighborhoods and the Portland Innovation Quadrant.

    Learn more about the PSU-BPS Award Winning Partnership here: Let Knowledge Serve: PSU-City of Portland/Bureau of Planning and Sustainability Partnership (video) » 
     
  • Environmental Stewardship
    The Community Watershed Stewardship program is a longstanding partnership between the City’s Bureau of Environmental Services and PSU. The program helps Portlanders make improvements in their neighborhoods and communities while also improving the health of watersheds. Through competitive mini-grants, the program empowers community group and residents to get involved in watershed improvement projects and help leverage community resources to expand watershed stewardship resources.
     
  • Transportation
    Portland is a national leader in alternative transportation choices and PSU has played a significant role in helping establish this reputation. PSU’s Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) provides research expertise to the Portland Bureau of Transportation in the following areas: bicycles and pedestrians, integration of land use and transportation, electric vehicles, and intelligent transportation systems and multimodal modeling.
     
  • Economic Development
    Since 2009, PSU and City of Portland have worked collaboratively to ensure that PSU curriculum, degrees and certificate programs deliver on the needs of city and regional employers. This aspect of PSU’s partnership with City of Portland revolves around the city’s priority industry clusters: Athletic and Outdoor, Green Cities, Advanced Manufacturing, Software, Health Care.
     
  • Campus Development
    PSU’s 25-year Framework Plan calls for an expansion of 4.2 mill square feet and an anticipated investment of more than $1.26 billion. Prosper Portland, the City of Portland’s Urban Renewal and Economic Development agency has a long history working with PSU to develop its campus. In fact, the City and PSU have partnered on multiple projects over the past 25 years including the Urban Plaza, the Academic and Student Rec Center and Southwest Montgomery Greet Street. More recently, the city has helped support the construction of the new Karl Miller Center (School of Business Administration). PSU and the City of Portland have joined forces on a new building that will co-locate PSU Graduate School of Education, the PSU-OSHU School of Public Health, PCC Dental Programs, and City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.