Oregon’s history of managed growth goes back to 1973 when the passage of Senate Bill 100 presented a first-in-the-nation, statewide plan to help shape the character of the Beaver State for the next half-century. One of the prominent features of that legislation was comprehensive land-use planning.

That time has already come and gone — and what a difference a half-century makes. Oregon now faces a somewhat changed set of challenges.

In 2022, with the state’s population growth and demographic shifts, the cost and scarcity of housing stock, along with other economic sector changes and deepening climate crisis impacts, another generation of professional planners approached then-Gov. Kate Brown and asked about developing a new statewide plan for the decades that lie ahead.

Before leaving office, Brown commissioned Portland State University to provide an “interdisciplinary foresight report” to identify trends, opportunities, and challenges. “Toward Oregon 2050,” published late last year, is the result.

Megan Horst, a program director of urban and regional planning at Portland State University, served as editor for this project. She shepherded a group of nearly two dozen colleagues to consider a wide range of issues that Oregonians will be grappling with in the upcoming decades, and to suggest big ideas for ways to address these issues.

To be clear, these are not prescriptions, but proposed topics to elicit conversation from a much broader group of residents and other stakeholders around the state.

The book is divided into four major sections: Natural Environment, Built Environment, Social Foundations and Governance. As straightforward as these may sound, the planners who wrote the chapters for each of these sections were encouraged to think in an interdisciplinary fashion, so there are some very interesting juxtapositions of social issues, geographic factors and policy approaches here that most folks at first glance might not consider to be related.

One of the issues that comes up repeatedly is the rural-urban divide, and the socioeconomic inequities that continue to exist in a geographically diverse state as well as demographically disparate society.

Here’s just one example of the shocking health discrepancies around the state: There’s a gap of more than 20 years between the life expectancy of a newborn who spends his or life in central Medford with another newborn who spends a lifetime in northwest Portland.

In addition to some of the standard planning considerations, many of the authors tapped for this book throw some new ideas into the mix: how to improve civic engagement and voter registration, for example, or whether to elevate the importance of participation in arts and culture. How much should Oregonians invest in rehabilitation — is decarcerating with education and employment training a viable alternative to conventional incarceration? How about prioritizing the treatment of mental health or substance use disorders?

There’s no doubt that Oregonians and humankind overall are contending with a shifting set of challenges. “Toward Oregon 2050” asks what new solutions ought to be brought to the fore. This is a thought-provoking read for Oregonians, and for others outside of the state, as well.

 

This week’s book

“Toward Oregon 2050,” edited by Megan Horst

Oregon State University Press — 480 pages — $45