Portland: Quest for the Livable City

Portland: Quest for the Livable City is a documentary film and educational outreach project produced as a collaboration of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Northern Light Productions. Incorporating historic footage of Portland's growth as the self-proclaimed "City that Works," and recent interviews with city leaders and neighborhood residents during the battles over ballot measures on the land-use planning system, this one-hour documentary film chronicles the complex challenges of aspiring to be a more sustainable metropolis with a smaller carbon footprint. As cities across the country today attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, invest in transit, and focus on infill redevelopment as an alternative to car-dependent sprawl, the experience of Portland provides a cautionary tale for planning in the 21st century, involving issues of economic development, gentrification, local food and farming, property rights, and civic participation.

[@MarkChesak]

Someone needs to up load the finished cut of this film! I was one of the editors on this project at Northern Light Productions, and this is an early rough cut.

[@EscortsSociety]

I love Portland, beautiful.

[@mrlenzibleo]

How can i get the whole documentary?

[@LittleLulubee]

I love the growth boundary. It's a wise decision that takes into consideration the greater good for all. The earth requires wild and rural areas. Without boundaries, eventually every single piece of natural land, (with the exception of sanctuaries, of which there are not near enough), will be turned to concrete and we will all suffer from it. The damage that has already been done from the destruction of wild areas on a global scale is already inexcusable. Preserve natural, open areas.

[@davidevans8204]

I would be a little upset too if some faceless entity drew a line that devalued my investment. The UGB seems to be there to protect the natural system and encourage sustainable farming around it, yet it devalues property outside of it and increases city properties. How can someone outside the zone sell their property and re-invest back into the city without feeling like they have made a bad investment? Don't get me wrong, I am not picking the suburban sprawl side of the argument here, nor am I saying that the couple in this video do not have more options to explore. They own land, which is space to work with, so they need to invest in using that land to make something that has value to city folk. Is high density living really what is best though? Or should we split into smaller rural communities, surrounding important resources, and try to make each one as self sustainable as possible. Less people = less waste to deal with, less "noise" in community forums, less human diversity (though biodiversity should improve). Or is the distribution network to dependent on high density deliveries for such a spread out of consumers?

[@AnthonyRizzo2]

Boo Hoo, I bought all these acres and now I can’t sell them off for a bundle of money because they’re not within the urban boundary, so now I want the city to make an exception for me and only me so I can get mine. Are people really that effin selfish? Do they not see what suburban sprawl has done to the rest of the friggin nation? Where is the economic windfall for those people that sold their farms for pennies an acre so that some stupid developer can build a blasted subdivision, huh?

[@AslanKyoya1776]

I miss what Portland used to be, as well as Oregon. The democrats ruined my home state.