Sustainability

Bike commuting is rising dramatically in Portland, Oregon, according to 2008 Census data analyzed by Impresa Consulting. Portland is the number one  bike commuting city out of the top 50 U.S. cities, where two percent of work trips--about 22,000 trips total--are made by bike commuters. These numbers are for the seven-county Portland metropolitan area; numbers are much higher for just the City of Portland, with bike commuting accounting for 6.4 percent of all work travel.

How the gas price spike popped the housing bubble and devalued the suburbs

A report for CEOs for Cities, May 2008.

Contrary to the widespread misconception that achieving sustainability or pursuing environmental objectives requires economic sacrifice, Impresa's research shows that going green is actually a substantial benefit to the local economy.  We estimate that a combination of public transportation and land use policies, coupled with consumer choices, save consumers in the Portland metropolitan area more than a billion dollars a year in out-of-pocket transportation costs, compared to the average US urban resident.  This "green dividend" results in more income that local resident