In 2021 we embarked on creating NITC Research Roadmaps across six core transportation areas of our work, each aimed at identifying key gaps to guide the future direction of research and workforce development initiatives. But to look forward, we had to look back first.

This summer, we'll be releasing literature reviews of a decade of NITC research, starting with Transportation and Land Use, authored by Kristina Currans of UA; Jennifer Leslie, Danya Rumore and Yehua Dennis Wei of UU; Rebecca Lewis of UO; Jenny Liu of PSU and Stephen Mattingly of UTA.

Travel behavior and land use are interconnected. In academic research, travel itself is often treated as a demand derived from the activities for which it serves. In practice, coordinating and linking transportation and land use decision making proves to be challenging. What has NITC found? Download the full literature review of NITC research in transportation and land use here, or you can download our two-page summary here.

To reach a broader audience on this critical topic, researchers are translating NITC research into a popular, easy-to-understand graphic format: comics. Learn more about the in-progress project: Communicating Research through Comics: Transportation and Land Development.

The National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) is one of seven U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. NITC is a program of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. This PSU-led research partnership also includes the Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, University of Oregon, University of Texas at Arlington and University of Utah. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.