News

$1.7M Watershed Planning Initiative

Adapted Press Release:

The Florida Division of Emergency Management (DEM)’s Bureau of Mitigation prioritizes flood risk management as a means to protect people and property during flood events. To accomplish this goal, DEM is laying the foundation for its Watershed Planning Initiative by working on a pilot project with Florida Atlantic University (FAU) College of Engineering and Computer Science. The multi-disciplinary FAU team includes Dr. Diana Mitsova, from the School of Urban and Regional Planning; Anthony Abbate and Jeff Huber, from the School of Architecture, as well as others including team leader Dr. Frederick Bloetscher, Professor and Associate Dean of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

DEM has received funding from FEMA to encourage communities to become a part of their community rating system program. To help encourage participation, DEM has contracted with the Florida Atlantic University College of Engineering and Computer Science through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) DR-4337-004-P, to create a template for completion of Watershed Master Plans (WMP) throughout the state of Florida over the next year.

To start the process, FAU will conduct research to determine where the gaps in watershed data across the state. FAU’s Center for Environmental Studies will collect plans that currently exist and creating a catalog of these plans. They are also creating a best-practices document when it comes to developing watershed management plans.

FAU is also creating a screening tool to identify the areas across the state that are the most susceptible to flooding. This part of the project includes researchers in the Departments of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering, Urban and Regional Planning and Geosciences.

The next step will be to use the data generated from the screening tool and the gathering of current plans and policies and create a guidance document for others to implement the tool and will create data for others to use in developing their plans. The ultimate goal for the initiative is to develop watershed master plans for the entire state. In doing so, the state hopes these plans will be integrated into floodplain management and Local Mitigation Strategies throughout Florida along with helping those communities that participate in the National Flood Insurance Program.

The initiative is funded partially by the federal government through FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and partially from the State of Florida. The pilot project is scheduled to conclude in September 2020 and will ultimately produce two prototype watershed master plans for the state of Florida. The entire initiative is projected to take three years and the next step will be to take the pilot program’s results and apply them statewide.

Park Space and Cognition

Dr. Lilah Besser was selected to present at the 2019 annual Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) on her study of “Neighborhood Park Space and Cognition in Non-demented Older Adults: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.”

Read the Abstract

Best Paper Award

Dr. Steve Bourassa, director of the School of Urban and Regional Planning, and his co-authors received the best paper prize sponsored by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors at the Asian Real Estate Society 2019 Annual Conference held in July in Shenzhen, China. The paper, titled “Heterogeneous Households and Market Segmentation in a Hedonic Framework”, was co-authored by Martijn Dröes of the University of Amsterdam and Martin Hoesli of the University of Geneva. The photo shows Professors Hoesli and Bourassa receiving the prize from award committee members Yuming Fu of the National University of Singapore and Ko Wang of Johns Hopkins University.

Faculty Spotlight

Dr. Eric Dumbaugh, Associate Professor in the FAU School of Urban and Regional Planning, wears many hats. In addition to his full-time teaching role, he is also the Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Planning Association and the Associate Director of the Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety, headquartered at the University of North Carolina.

He also works with the World Health Organization and the Swedish Ministry of Transport to include traffic safety into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are projected to be adopted in 2020 and will guide United Nations programs and investments. He also does ongoing work with the World Resources Institute (WRI) on global road safety, where he also served as a technical advisor to the manual titled “Cities Safer by Design”. Dr. Dumbaugh most recently led a two-week long, WRI-sponsored educational program for transportation professionals in Fortaleza and Sao Paulo, Brazil in Summer 2019. We sat down with him to talk about the program.

Q: How long have you been working with WRI?

A: Since 2012, I have provided training and technical services to the World Resource Institute’s Ross Center for Sustainable Cities (WRI Ross Center) as part of the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety (Bloomberg Initiative). This effort is focused on reducing the global incidence of traffic-related death and injury, which currently results in 1.3 million deaths and 50 million serious injuries each year. The majority of these deaths and injuries are the result of the rapid urbanization of the developing world and involve vulnerable road users, including pedestrians and cyclists.

In 2010, the WRI Ross Center was sponsored by the Bloomberg Initiative to develop an evidence base for the prevention of traffic-related deaths and injuries. My efforts as part of this effort have including training WRI personnel in Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, and Washington DC on the relationship between urban design and road safety, providing technical assistance for the development of the manual Cities Safer by Design, and discussing emerging road safety challenges at the World Bank.

The summer program was part of Phase 2 of the Bloomberg Initiative, which is focused on advancing road safety practice by provided focused training to transportation personnel in 10 select cities (Accra, Addis Ababa, Bandung, Bangkok, Bogota, Fortaleza, Ho Chi Minh City, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai). My role in this effort is to participate in the development and delivery of week-long training sessions that detail policies and practices for addressing the safety challenges faced by cities undergoing rapid urbanization.

Q: What were your teaching goals for the two-week course in Brazil?

A: The rapid urbanization of the developing world has resulted in the rapid increase of U.S.-style patterns of automobile use and traffic congestion. Nonetheless, this growing affluence has been accompanied by increasing economic disparity, placing lower-income populations at disproportionate risk of being injured or killed in a traffic crash. The course detailed the problems associated with the rapid increase in automobile use, and provides local planners, engineers, and elected officials with guidance on how to mitigate and prevent traffic-related death and injury. The course also detailed the costs of traffic crashes on society, details how to integrate safety considerations into transportation planning and project development processes and engaged participants in the development of safety solutions for high-crash locations in their jurisdictions.

Q: Why is WRI’s work so relevant and important right now?

A: Their efforts are at the forefront of moving our cities to a post-automobile future. The present narrative is that automated vehicles (AVs) will liberate society from not only the burdens of driving, but also from the incidence of traffic-related deaths and injuries. The reality is that these technologies are incapable of safely adapting to urban environments (which is increasingly being demonstrated by my colleagues that are conducting safety testing on AVs). Moreover, the costs of these technologies make them largely inapplicable to the needs of the developing world.

The growing problems with the expanding use of automobiles in the developing world are going to force a fundamental rethinking of the nature of urban development, one which I expect will echo back into the development patterns in the United States. Indeed, the US is unique among developed countries in its continued prioritization of personal automobiles as a primary means of urban transportation. This approach is unsustainable, as evidenced by the declining state of our nation’s transportation infrastructure and the growing deficit of the Highway Trust Fund. A major goal of this program is to empower developing countries to move beyond the 20th century’s reliance on personal automobiles, and to begin to develop 21st urban transportation solutions.

Planning Abroad in Paris: Q&A

Led by Peter Henn, SURP Instructor, and Brandon Johnson, SURP graduate student and CDSI graduate adviser, a group of 24 SURP undergraduate and graduate students visited Paris, France in May.They traveled to the historic city to study modern urban design and transportation and learn how to apply international concepts to local urban planning situations.

It was all part of the “Planning Abroad” URP 5958/URP 4955 course, offered each summer. We sat down with Brandon to talk about the trip.

CDSI: How do you feel the study-abroad program has enhanced your academic experience?

BJ: It has shown me some unique urban implementations of international cities and provided some ideas of how we can improve urban planning in South Florida.

CDSI: What were the top highlights of the trip?

BJ: Visiting and having lunch in the Eiffel Tower and Basilique du Sacre church.

CDSI: What advice would you give to students considering enrolling in this course?

BJ: Take advantage of this amazing experience. Many of our students have not only gained a wealth of knowledge of how international cities are designed and operate but have also made new friends within the programs. The experience is priceless.

Interested in taking this course next summer?

Check it out in the University catalog or email Instructor Peter Henn with any specific questions about the “Planning Abroad” course.

Dr. Steven Bourassa publishes internationally

Dr. Steven Bourassa and colleagues have published a number of articles in the field of international real estate research.

“Estimation and updating methods for hedonic valuation” (with Michael Mayer, Martin Hoesli, and Donato Scognamiglio), Journal of European Real Estate Research, vol. 12, no. 1 (2019), pp. 134-150.

Abstract: This paper uses a large and rich data set consisting of over 123,000 single-family houses sold in Switzerland between 2005 and 2017 to investigate the accuracy and volatility of different methods for estimating and updating hedonic valuation models. We apply six estimation methods (linear least squares, robust regression, mixed effects regression, random forests, gradient boosting, and neural networks) and two updating methods (moving and extending windows). The gradient boosting method yields the greatest accuracy while the robust method provides the least volatile predictions. There is a clear trade-off across methods depending on whether the goal is to improve accuracy or avoid volatility. The choice between moving and extending windows has only a modest effect on the results. The results should prove useful in improving hedonic models used by property tax assessors, mortgage underwriters, valuation firms, and regulatory authorities.

 

“Measuring house price bubbles” (with Martin Hoesli and Elias Oikarinen), Real Estate Economics, vol. 47, no. 2 (2019), pp. 534-563.

Abstract: Using data for six metropolitan housing markets in three countries, this paper provides a comparison of methods used to measure house price bubbles.  We use an asset pricing approach to identify bubble periods retrospectively and then compare those results with results produced by six other methods.  We also apply the various methods recursively to assess their ability to identify bubbles as they form.  In view of the complexity of the asset pricing approach, we conclude that a simple price-rent ratio measure is a reliable method both ex post and in real time.  Our results have important policy implications because a reliable signal that a bubble is forming could be used to avoid further house price increases.

 

“Folk custom and home improvement decisions” (with Wen-Chieh Wu and Yu-Chun Ma), International Real Estate Review, vol. 21, no. 3 (2018), pp. 317-341.

We test whether Chinese folk customs and taboos have impacts on the home improvement decisions of Taiwanese homeowners. Based on traditional Chinese culture, we choose dragon and widow’s years as indicators of auspicious (fortune) and inauspicious (taboo) times, respectively. Using a Heckman two-stage estimation approach, our empirical results provide evidence that traditional Chinese folk customs and taboos indeed play roles in decisions on home improvement. We find that the likelihood of a homeowner making home improvements falls significantly at the so-called taboo time. Moreover, we find that expenditure on home improvements rises at the so-called fortune time, particularly in areas outside the capital city region. In addition to considering the impacts of folk customs on home improvement decisions, this paper contributes to the literature by establishing a theoretical model that reflects the fact that homeowners play dual roles as both consumers and suppliers of housing.

FAU Students Provide Input on WPB Jefferson Terminal

Urban and Regional Planning students at FAU are working with City of West Palm Beach Planners to formulate ideas to improve the Jefferson Terminal District, southwest of downtown. It’s all part of a class project led by John Renne, Associate Professor, and featuring graduate student, Andrew VanValin.

Graduate Student Spotlight: Kestride Estil

The FAU Graduate College is shining a spotlight on MURP student, Kestride Estil. When a devastating earthquake hit her home in Haiti in 2010, causing housing and debris crises, Kestride was determined to find a solution. Her research collaborations with FAU’s School of Architecture and GFA International (an environmental and geological engineering consulting organization) resulted in innovative ideas for using construction debris left behind by the earthquake to affordably re-build housing in Haiti.

Read the QA Interview and Watch the Video

Drs. Saginor and Dumbaugh publish in the ITE Journal

South Florida’s Brightline: The Public Costs of Private Rail

The decline of state and federal transportation funding led to increased reliance on private sector partners to finance and construct new capital infrastructure. In this context, the Brightline project (formerly known as All Aboard Florida) is particularly promising. Heralded as the first 100 percent privately-owned and operated rail line built in the last 100 years, Brightline began service in late 2017, running 32 high-speed trains daily between Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, FL, USA, with future expansion to the Orlando Intermodal Transportation Facility. An article by Jesse Saginor, Ph.D., AICP and Eric Dumbaugh, Ph.D. explores this topic. Read the article

Explore FAU 2018 – College Expedition

More than 100 prospective students and family members visited the College for Design and Social Inquiry during the “College Expedition” portion of Explore FAU 2018.  It was a great opportunity for Owl hopefuls to visit the colleges and departments they’re most interested in and speak with faculty and existing students about what it would be like to be a student in their respective degree programs.

Dr. Mitsova publishes in Risk Analysis

Integrative Interdisciplinary Approaches to Critical Infrastructure Interdependency Analysis

There is a growing understanding that cross‐sector risks faced by critical infrastructure assets in natural disasters require a collaborative foresight from multiple disciplines. However, current contributions to infrastructure interdependency analysis remain centered in discipline‐specific methodologies often constrained by underlying theories and assumptions. Dr. Diana Mitsova‘s perspective article contributes to ongoing discussions about the uses, challenges, and opportunities provided by interdisciplinary research in critical infrastructure interdependency analysis. Read the article

Dr. Dumbaugh publishes in Transportation – Planning – Policy – Research – Practice

Transportation - Planning - Policy - Research - Practice

Revisiting the relationship between traffic congestion and the economy: a longitudinal examination of U.S. metropolitan areas

Is the fear of the negative economic effects of traffic congestion justified, or is congestion merely a nuisance with little economic impact? Research by Wesley E. Marshall of the University of Colorado at Denver and FAU’s Eric Dumbaugh was published in Transportation – Planning – Policy – Research – Practice, challenging the assumption that traffic congestion inhibits economic growth and jobs, costing money and driving away business and activity. The research was also featured in Streetsblog Denver | Read the Transportation article

Dr. Merlin publishes in Transport Policy

Dr. Louis Merlin published in Transport Policy an article titled “Accessibility analysis for transportation projects and plans.”

We spend billions of dollars on new roadways, but are they making our transportation system work more efficiently? In this paper, Dr. Louis Merlin examines transportation success from two perspectives, firstly, in relation to how fast vehicles are able to travel, and secondly, in relation to how many destinations can be reached. From the perspective of speed, these roadway investments are working; but from the perspective of how many useful destinations can be reached, this study of San Antonio finds that typical radial highway investments may not offer any net benefits. Read the article

Congratulations, Class of 2019!

On Thursday, May 2, 2019, 289 bachelor students, 139 masters students and 9 doctoral students – including the inaugural cohort of the first Doctor of Social Work program (DSW) in the state of Florida – accepted their diplomas from the College for Design and Social Inquiry at Florida Atlantic University. To all of our graduates, it has been our pleasure to have you in our classrooms and to watch you grow and learn in your programs.

Whether you are continuing your education or ready to apply your knowledge in the world, we look forward to watching your next chapter unfold. Remember that we are here for you and rooting for your success each step along the way.

As you move forward into your future, remember the words of Dr. Manny Gonzalez, DSW Program Coordinator and Associate Professor in the Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work, “Know what you know, know what you don’t know, but know what you know well.”

Be well and best wishes!

  • 28 Bachelor of Architecture
  • 121 Bachelor of Arts
  • 21 Bachelor of General Studies
  • 10 Bachelor of Public Management
  • 18 Bachelor of Public Safety Administration
  • 62 Bachelor of Social Work
  • 18 Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning
  • 11 Bachelor of Urban Design
  • 2 Master of Nonprofit Management
  • 5 Master of Public Administration
  • 1 Master of Science
  • 127 Master of Social Work
  • 4 Master of Urban and Regional Planning
  • 2 Doctor of Philosophy
  • 7 Doctor of Social Work

Want to explore the degree programs in the College for Design and Social Inquiry at FAU? Call our Academic Advising Team today: (561) 297-2316

Spring 2019 Commencement Gallery

 

Dr. Merlin publishes in Research in Transportation Economics

In the new Research in Transportation Economics article, Dr. Louis A. Merlin examines whether people who move to the intown infill development of Atlantic Station next to Midtown Atlanta travel differently than if they lived elsewhere in the region. He finds that households living in and near Atlantic Station drive significantly less per day than households elsewhere in the region – 18 fewer miles per day – and use walking, biking, and transit more – for 25.9% of their trips.

The upshot is that well-placed infill development actually can help reduce regional levels of congestion, which may be counter-intuitive to some. Read the article

SURP Director Publishes Article in the Journal of Urban Economics

Steve Bourassa, Director of the School of Urban and Regional Planning, co-authored an article titled “U.S. Metropolitan House Price Dynamics” in the May 2018 issue of the Journal of Urban Economics. The paper uses advanced statistical techniques to explain changes in house prices in metropolitan areas in the United States. He and his co-authors find that aggregate personal income for metropolitan areas is an important determinant of house price dynamics, but the effect of aggregate income is closely related to constraints on the supply of housing. Supply constraints can be topographical or regulatory. His co-authors are Martin Hoesli (University of Geneva, Switzerland) and Elias Oikarinen and Janne Engblom (both at the University of Turku, Finland).

Read the article

I-Cube Tabletop Exercise

Interdependent Infrastructure Incident

May 17, 2018 – 8:30 am – 11:45 am
Palm Beach County Convention Center
West Palm Beach, FL

Submitted for 3 AICP CM credits

Participants in infrastructure restoration prioritization research took part in a fun, interactive, computer-based exercise at the Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference.

The “Interdependent Infrastructure Incident” (I3) exercise featured a tabletop (discussion-based) exercise within the framework of a simulated disaster scenario. The purpose of the exercise was to collect data on the behavior and decision process of subject matter experts in disaster recovery.

Learn more here

I-Cube is part of the PRAISys project funded by the NSF CRISP 2 Program

Congratulations, Class of 2018!

On Thursday, May 3, 2018, nearly 300 bachelor students and 140 masters students accepted their diplomas from the College for Design and Social Inquiry at Florida Atlantic University. To all of our students, it has been our pleasure to have you in our classrooms and to watch you grow and learn in your programs.

Whether you are continuing your education or ready to apply your knowledge in the workforce, we look forward to watching your next chapter unfold. Remember that we are here for you and rooting for your success each step along the way.

As Chairman of the FAU Board of Trustees Anthony Barbar said during his undergraduate commencement speech, “It’s now our turn to learn from you.” Be well and best wishes!

  • 21 Bachelor of Architecture
  • 127 Bachelor of Arts
  • 16 Bachelor of General Studies
  • 14 Bachelor of Public Management
  • 23 Bachelor of Public Safety Administration
  • 70 Bachelor of Social Work
  • 16 Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning
  • 8 Bachelor of Urban Design
  • 9 Master of Nonprofit Management
  • 6 Master of Public Administration
  • 12 Master of Science
  • 106 Master of Social Work

Want to explore the degree programs in the College for Design and Social Inquiry at FAU? Call our Academic Advising Team today: (561) 297-2316

Spring 2018 Undergraduate Commencement

Spring 2018 Graduate Commencement

Dr. Mitsova published in The Journal of Environmental Planning Management

The Journal of Environmental Planning Management published Dr. Diana Mitsova’s research on Spatial decision support for nature-based shoreline stabilization options in subtropical estuarine environments. 

Related projects include the study, ‘Suitability Analysis for Living Shorelines Development in Southeast Florida’s Estuarine Systems,‘ funded by The Nature Conservancy, and a story map created by The Nature Conservancy in collaboration with the Shoreline Resilience Working Group of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact.

Elsevier’s TRD Journal announces new section on Disasters and Resilience

Elsevier announces the formation of a new section of the international journal Transportation Research D focusing on Disasters and Resilience. This section will be edited by Karl Kim (University of Hawaii), John Renne (Florida Atlantic University) and Brian Wolshon (Louisiana State University).

This section of Transportation Research D will build on the special capabilities and interests of transportation researchers, coming from multiple disciplines, worldwide, to address the critical ways in which transportation science and the supporting theories, methods, and tools can be applied to increase societal resilience against all hazards, both natural and man-made. In addition to the wide range of natural hazards including both geo-physical and hydro-meteorological, the section will also cover industrial accidents, cascading events (where one hazard such as an earthquake can trigger a release of toxins and harmful substances into the environment), and intentional acts of sabotage or terrorism. In each of these disasters and emergencies, transportation plays a significant role. Core concepts such as travel demand modeling, rare event forecasting, activity-based analyses, system performance monitoring, optimization across time and space, mode choice, network analysis, geospatial modeling, and many other methods are appropriate topics for this section.

Interested authors are encouraged to contact section editors or submit manuscripts through EVISE: https://www.evise.com/profile/#/TRD/login

SURP Student Spotlight: Conor Campobasso

How can urban planning students succeed as professionals? FAU Master of Urban and Regional Planning student Conor Campobasso serves as the Manager for Complete Streets and other Localized Initiatives Program (CSLIP) at the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization (Broward MPO). Conor talks about two of the projects he’s worked on and his tips for succeeding in the field of urban planning.

Florida APA announces Minority Scholarship

The Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association Minority Scholarship is meant to celebrate planning and foster increased interest in planning by providing financial support for planning students who are members of underserved ethnic groups and who attend a PAB-accredited planning institution or urban planning program actively seeking PAB accreditation in the state of Florida. Two scholarships are offered: one for $2000 and one for $1500. Learn more and apply here: 2017 Minority Scholarship Application Package

Director of SURP/PA & Coauthors Win “Best Paper” (again)

American Real Estate Society
Steven Bourassa, Director of the School of Urban and Regional Planning and the School of Public Administration, and his coauthors Martin Hoesli of the University of Geneva (Switzerland) and Elias Oikarinen and Janne Engblom of the University of Turku (Finland) have won the prize for the best paper in real estate market analysis presented at the American Real Estate Society (ARES) Annual Meeting held in San Diego in April 2017. The paper is titled “Revisiting the House Price-Income Relationship” and aims to resolve some longstanding issues about how personal income growth affects housing markets in metropolitan areas. The paper applies state-of-the-art statistical techniques to analysis of data for the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. For a second consecutive year, Bourassa and Hoesli have won a “Best Paper” prize at the ARES conference.

RSVP for SURP’s Fall Kick-off and Orientation

Join us Friday, Aug 25 at the Biergarten

Join us Friday, August 25 for the Fall Kick-Off and Orientation to be held Friday, August 25th from 7 to 9 pm at the Biergarten, 309 Via de Palmas #90, Boca Raton, FL 33432. All new and continuing SURP students, faculty, mentors, and supporters are invited to attend. This will be a great opportunity for students, faculty, and professional planners to interact.

New students will receive an orientation, can meet with continuing students, and also learn about professional planning and student planning organizations (Planning Society @ FAU).

In addition, the event will provide an opportunity for participants in the Mentorship Program to meet. Food and drinks will be provided. We hope to see you there!

Please RSVP so we can cater for the right number of attendees

Questions? Please contact us.

FAU Planning Abroad – London 2018

FAU Planning Abroad London 2018

During Spring Break 2018, Peter Henn will lead FAU Planning Abroad to London to study modern urban planning and design and transportation in a historical city. To secure a spot, students must sign up by December 2017. Limited scholarships to qualified students may be available. Get ready for some fun!

Learn more HERE about FAU Planning Abroad

Apply HERE to Study Abroad by November 30

For more information contact Peter J. Henn, J.D., AICP, Florida Atlantic University’s School of Urban & Regional Planning, at PHenn@FAU.edu or telephone 561-558-3884.

2017 FAU Incubator for Sustainable & Resilient Communities

FAU Incubator

On April 25-26, 2017 CUES partnered with FAU’s Center for Environmental Studies (CES) to offer the inaugural FAU Incubator for Sustainable & Resilient Communities. The cities of Hollywood and West Palm Beach participated, addressing concerns about flooding and aging infrastructure, connectivity and economic development. The FAU Incubator offers leadership and expertise based on best practices and provides guidance on developing implementable plans and policies. Watch the 2-minute video here.

Earn a GIS Certificate with Your MURP Degree

Access to geospatial data has transformed Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology into one of the most widely-used and comprehensive analytical tools for local governments and city planners. To respond to the growing demand for GIS professionals, the Department of Geosciences jointly with the School of Urban and Regional Planning has developed a 15-credit graduate GIS certificate program. Students can apply the credits earned as part of the certificate towards the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) degree. For more information please see the certificate program’s web page here.

SURP Associate Professor Eric Dumbaugh to Lead Road Safety Project

Eric Dumbaugh , Ph.D., AICP

FAU will receive $1.5 million in total for the next five years from the US Department of Transportation to co-direct the Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety, a National University Transportation Center housed at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. This is one of five national centers with the aim to reduce injuries and fatalities on the nation’s roads by providing a new model for understanding and addressing traffic safety issues.

“We are very excited to join forces with the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and our partner universities to work collaboratively to address and improve road safety issues that impact millions of drivers throughout our country,” said Eric Dumbaugh, Ph.D., associate director of the Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety, and an associate professor in FAU’s School of Urban and Regional Planning within FAU’s College for Design and Social Inquiry.

Researchers from FAU’s College for Design and Social Inquiry will work with the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Duke University; the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville on transportation research, planning, public health, data science and engineering programs related to the Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety.

“The establishment of these new designated centers will help to foster novel ideas that will lead and influence the future of transportation safety in the United States through multidisciplinary research, education, collaboration, and technology transfer activities,” said Daniel C. Flynn, Ph.D., FAU’s vice president for research.

Special Issue of Housing Policy Debate Edited by John Renne

The latest issue of the journal Housing Policy Debate is a special issue co-edited by SURP’s John Renne, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions in the School of Urban and Regional Planning. The issue includes 15 papers focused on how location choices and associated transportation costs affect housing affordability.

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