Let's Talk! First Stop Portland and International Dialogues in Planning

Prof. Carl Abbott, PSU

One of the first delegations First Stop Portland hosted back in the summer of 2009 was a group of eighteen planning practitioners and students from Australia who came stateside to explore examples of best practices in urban planning, design and sustainability in a number of cities across North America, Europe and Asia. In addition to the formal meetings, roundtable discussions, presentations, and site visits they engaged in during their visit to Portland, the delegation, led by Professor Trevor Budge, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, at La Trobe University Bendigo Campus, worked on a documentary film of key sites and projects to used for teaching purposes upon their return to Australia. This short interview with Professor Carl Abbott, frequent First Stop Portland presenter and senior historian in PSU's Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, is a result of that project.

Adelaide, Australia, let me introduce you to Tsukuba, Japan

Last week, First Stop Portland got a call from the mayor’s office. A parliament member from Adelaide, South Australia, would be in Portland for a day and was interested in taking one of our study tours. Lucky for us, we had already designed a study tour for a delegation visiting from the Social and Environmental Systems division of the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan. With a little finagling, we were able to roll the two groups into one very interesting, very international, opportunity for dialogue about urban transportation and sustainable development.

Researchers from Tsukuba, Japan explore suburban transportation options