Urban and Regional Planning

Recent research led by Associate Dean Ryan Allen examines one of the more effective tools for ensuring affordable housing in rural areas, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Section 515 program.

Dean Nisha Botchwey co-authored the introduction to a special issue of the Journal of the American Planning Association, “Community Design and Revitalization to Promote Health: The Track Record After 20 Years.” 

Humphrey School PhD candidate Rebecca Walker is lead author of the study, “Making the City of Lakes: Whiteness, Nature, and Urban Development in Minneapolis,” which was published recently in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 

Professor Jason Cao and Tao Tao (PhD '22), currently a postdoc researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, published the paper, “Exploring nonlinear and collective influences of regional and local built environment characteristics on travel distances by mode,” in the Journal of Transport Geography. This work was funded by the University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship.

Professor Yingling Fan is co-leader of a $6 million grant project to address transportation insecurity, funded by the Federal Transit Administration. The Center for Transportation Studies is leading the research.

PhD student Noah Wexler and Professor Yingling Fan published their paper, "Transitway investment and nearby commercial gentrification," in Multimodal Transportation Journal. Their research examined the impact of mass transit projects on business investments nearby. 

Professor Yingling Fan has developed an innovative “Transportation Happiness Map” that captures the positive emotions tied to biking, reliable public transportation, safe and scenic paths, and avoiding traffic behind the wheel. 

PhD student Noah Wexler has won the Ryuichi Kitamura Award, given by the Transportation Research Board, for best paper authored by a student in collaboration with a mentor/professor/advisor.

Dean Nisha Botchwey is co-editor of "Making Healthy Places, Second Edition: Designing and Building for Well-Being, Equity, and Sustainability," published July 12 by Island Press.

Faculty, staff, and student researchers affiliated with the Institute for Urban and Regional Infrastructure Finance (IURIF) have won the 2022 Robert C. Johns Research Partnership Award from the Center for Transportation Studies, for their Minnesota Distance-Based Fee Demonstration.