Research
Mobility Hub Planning in West Palm Beach
This research explores the role of community engagement in planning mobility hubs in West Palm Beach, Florida. Mobility hubs integrate multiple transportation modes and supportive infrastructure to enhance accessibility, connectivity, and user experience. Through surveys, focus groups, and expert interviews, the research emphasizes understanding user priorities and challenges in hub design. The goal is to provide insights for inclusive and practical mobility hub planning that meets community needs and enhances multimodal transit access.
Building on this work, two interactive StoryMaps were developed and showcased at the South Florida GIS Expo 2025:
- - Understanding Mobility Hub Needs Through Community Voices in West Palm Beach
- - A GIS Assessment of Affordable Housing Connectivity to Proposed Mobility Hubs in West Palm Beach
2023 Walkability and Housing Value - Land Economics Foundation Report
Recent research on the relationship between walkability and housing value has predominantly relied on Walk Score as the primary measure. However, Walk Score has limitations, being a proprietary measure with opaque calculation and cost implications for large-scale data analysis. This report addresses these concerns by exploring alternative walkability measures and their ability to explain housing value in comparison to Walk Score. The study analyzes 18 walkability variables, investigating their impact on housing prices in Seattle and Miami, while also examining how poverty levels mediate this relationship. Data from 29,942 housing transactions in Miami-Dade and 5,434 in Seattle reveal significant variation in the marginal effect of walkability between the two cities. Some variables show similar performance to Walk Score, with the EPA Index exhibiting a particularly noteworthy impact. Moreover, the study identifies freely available walkability variables that could effectively replace Walk Score in hedonic analyses. The findings suggest potential areas for future research, including investigating the influence of walkability on property values across diverse city forms and constructing a specialized walkability index tailored to housing value considerations.
South Florida and Sea Level Rise Report
Protecting South Florida: A Discussion of Sea Level Rise, Property and Regional Planning
, aims to help local governments protect the region鈥檚 real property, valued at more than $833 billion.听In addition, the South Florida region, comprised of Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, generates more than $337 billion in personal income annually.听A number of choices to protect South Florida from flooding and other climate hazards exist; however, doing so requires the organization of localities for cooperation and starts with accurate and understandable information that can be conveyed to all stakeholders. The report authors, Hank Savitch, Josh Savislak, and John L. Renne, summarize the issues and clarify alternatives for local governments responding to sea-level rise.听
Resilience for state DOTs
John Renne, Brian Wolshon, Pamela Murray-Tuite and Anurag Pande published a new article in听 Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment :听 听
Transportation Solutions for Students
麻豆精品视频has received a $375,000 implementation and research grant from听 听to identify, address and evaluate transportation solutions for students. 听
Visualizing Sea Level Rise Impacts in Transportation Planning
SURP Graduate Student Amir Koleini and Outreach Coordinator Serena Hoermann presented research by Professor John L. Renne, PhD, AICP at Transportation Research Board鈥檚 (TRB)听9th International Visualization in Transportation Symposium: Visualization in Action on November, 5-6, 2019 in Washington, D.C. 听
Evacuating Carless and Vulnerable Populations: How prepared are Florida Counties?
Dr. John Renne, AICP, presented听 听 Evacuating Carless and Vulnerable Populations: How prepared are Florida Counties? 听at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Conference in Greenville, SC on October 24-27, 2019. The interactive poster highlighted听 听with doctoral student Andrea Ramos, which examined levels of preparedness for evacuating, for example, people with special needs and people with pets.
South Florida Transit-Oriented Development
As part of a study on South Florida Transit-Oriented Development (SFTOD), CUES prepared two reports for the South Florida Regional Planning Council in partnership with the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council and the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (operating Tri-Rail). Funding was awarded for SFTOD through the Federal Transit Administration (FTA鈥檚) Transit Oriented Development Planning Pilot Program.
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Dr. John Renne
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For more information, please contact 听 Dr. Fred Bloetscher .听
Hardest Hit by Hurricane Michael and Least Prepared to Evacuate
A study released by听 麻豆精品视频 鈥檚 听Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions ( ) found that the vast majority of counties in the Florida Panhandle were听 听compared to the rest of the state. 听
Wired quotes Dr. John Renne
An article that was published on September 14, 2018 in Wired, 鈥淲HEN IT鈥橲 TIME TO EVACUATE, CITIES STRUGGLE TO HELP THOSE WHO CAN鈥橳 DRIVE,鈥澨齠eatures Dr. John L. Renne鈥檚 research on evacuating vulnerable populations and provides a link to a recent paper he published. 听
Meet Ph.D. Student Andrea Ramos
Andrea Ramos 听is pursuing her Ph.D.听in Public Administration.听 . She received a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from 麻豆精品视频 and a Masters of Science in Public Health from the University of Miami.
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Visualizing Sea Level Rise Impacts in Transportation
HoloMaps app for HoloLens. credit: Taqtile
This project will test and compare new technologies on individuals in community-meeting settings in South Florida to test if 3D technology helps residents better understand the impacts of sea level rise on transportation infrastructure and communities. Read more.听
The State of Downtown West Palm Beach, FL
The State of Downtown West Palm Beach, Florida is the subject of a new report prepared by FAU鈥檚 Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions.听 The report, prepared by CUES听director and associate professor Dr. John L. Renne and graduate research assistant Amanda Kerns, examines population characteristics, provides a market analysis, walkability and placemaking ratings, and a comparison of Downtown West Palm Beach to 46 other downtowns across the United States.听 Read the report.
Incubating Solutions to Community Challenges
CUES director John Renne was featured in the Fall 2017 issue of Owl Research & Innovation (page 39). In partnership with the Florida Center for Environmental Studies (CES), CUES invited the cities of Hollywood and West Palm Beach to participate in the inaugural听麻豆精品视频Incubator for Resilient & Sustainable Communities to address the challenges of climate change and aging infrastructure.
CUES faculty John Renne and assistant professor Louis Merlin were named as听leading researchers in the field of transportation (page听20) along with Eric Dumbaugh, associate director of the Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety,听co-directing the National University Transportation Center with the goal of improving road safety (page 17).
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Elsevier鈥檚 TRD Journal announces new section on Disasters and Resilience
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Elsevier announces the formation of a new section of the international journal听 Transportation Research D 听focusing on听 . This section will be edited by Karl Kim (University of Hawaii), John Renne (麻豆精品视频) and Brian Wolshon (Louisiana State University). Read more.