About

Christine Bae is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington, Seattle. She received her Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Southern California. Her primary areas of interest include transportation and the environment; land use, growth management and urban sprawl; urban regeneration; environmental equity and justice; and international planning and globalization. She recently co-authored an article on measuring pedestrian exposure to PM2.5 in the Seattle, Washington, International District. Dr. Bae teaches a course titled “Mega City Planning,” in which she leads a group of students to Seoul, South Korea for two weeks in the spring quarter. She is currently serving as the West Representative for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning and is a Board Member for the Western Regional Science Association. Additionally, she is the recipient of an ongoing Sea Grant for research on the economic and environmental impacts of moorage marinas on the West Coast.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Economics
• Geography
• Demography
• Archaeology
• Agricultural economics
• Cartography
• Natural resource economics
• Finance
• Business
• Socioeconomics
• Engineering
• Transport engineering
• Ecology
• Statistics
• Operations management
• Biology

Selected publications

• Estimating Intermodal Transfer Barriers to Light Rail using Smartcard Data in Seattle, WA

  Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board · 2022-08-29

  article

  Transit transfers are a necessary inconvenience to riders. They support strong hierarchical networks by connecting various local, regional, and express lines through a variety of modes. This is true in Seattle, where many lines were redrawn to feed into the Link Light Rail network. Previous transfer studies, using surveys, found that perceived safety, distance, and personal health were significant predictors of transfers. This study aims to use smartcard data and generalized linear modeling to estimate which elements of transfers are commonly overcome—and which are not—among riders boarding the Link Light Rail in Seattle and its suburbs. The aims of this research are twofold: (1) critical analysis of attributes of transfer barriers so that the future station area could serve improved riders’ accessibility; (2) equity of transfer barriers among the users by analyzing the user breakdown of the origin lines and the destination. We use Seattle’s One Regional Card for All smartcard data among the Link Light Rail riders in the Seattle metropolitan area in 2019, and applied a negative binomial generalized linear model. The model suggests that walking distance and walking grade have significant effects on transfers. For the users’ equity analysis, the disabled population tends to transfer less, while the low-income and youth riders populations tend to transfer more often. Future research could incorporate a more mixed-methods approach to confirm some of these findings or include station amenities, such as live schedule updates for common transfer lines.

  PublisherDOI

• Analysis of the Relationship between Academic Stress and School Happiness According to Middle School Students" Participation in Sports

  The Korean Journal of Growth and Development · 2021-02-28

  article1st authorCorresponding

  The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between academic stress and school happiness according to middle school students" participation in sports. Statistical analysis was conducted by distributing a questionnaire to 300 students selected as a population who were enrolled in junior high schools located in G city. The results of this study are first, there was a partial difference between academic stress and school happiness according to demographic characteristics, and second, the effect of middle school students" participation in sports on school happiness was found to have a statistical significance which is predictive of exercise time. This study explains the positive aspects of academic stress and school happiness as the frequency of participation in sports of middle school students increases and the amount of exercise time increases, which will be the basis for designing and implementing more sport participation programs for middle school students.

  PublisherDOI

• Site-Specific Transportation Demand Management: Case of Seattle’s Transportation Management Program, 1988–2015

  Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board · 2021 · 5 citations

  • Transport engineering
  • Business
  • Operations management

  A central theme of U.S. transportation planning policies is to reduce single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) trips and promote transit and non-motorized transportation by coordinating land-use planning and transportation demand management (TDM) programs. Cities often implement TDM programs by intervening with new development during the municipal permit review process. Seattle’s Transportation Management Program (TMP) under a joint Director’s Rule (DR) requires a commitment from developers to adopt select strategies from six TDM element categories: program management, physical improvements, bicycle/walking programs, employer-based incentives, transit and car/vanpooling, and parking management. TMP targets new developments and requires some TDM elements, recommends others, and leaves the rest to negotiation. The result is an individualized TMP agreement that is site-specific, reflecting both city policy and developer needs. This case study presents a qualitative analysis of the guiding eight DRs and 41 site-specific TMP agreements in Seattle’s Downtown and South Lake Union (SLU) area since 1988. Overall, a content analysis of TMP documents reveals that the average number of elements adopted in an agreement falls short of requirements set by DRs (34%–61%). Major findings include developer preference toward non-traditional TDM measures such as physical improvement of frontage and urban design features, as well as parking management. High-occupancy vehicle (HOV) elements showed higher adoption rates (59%–63%) over biking/walking programs (< 1%). It is concluded that future TDM policies could benefit if future research includes examining the effectiveness of the range of management options stemming from the real estate trends toward green buildings, tenants’ values in sustainability, and city policy to reduce automobile trips.

  PublisherDOI

• Do home buyers value the New Urbanist neighborhood? The case of Issaquah Highlands, WA

  Journal of Urbanism International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability · 2020 · 5 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Geography
  • Agricultural economics

  This study compares Issaquah Highlands’ home prices with those of traditional suburban single-family homes in the city of Issaquah. Issaquah Highlands is a community that was developed using New Urbanism principles. The null hypothesis is that the sale prices of houses in Issaquah Highlands are not different from the conventional suburban neighborhood in the city of Issaquah. The principal database consists of US Census Washington State Geospatial Data Archive, and the King County Tax Assessments. The final dataset contains 1,780 single family homes over the seven-year period from 2012 to 2018 based on sale records throughout the city of Issaquah. This study uses the hedonic pricing technique to assess the impact of New Urbanism on the value of single-family residences. The findings suggest that people are willing to pay a $92,700–96,800 premium (approximately 7.1–12.0 percent of the sales prices) for houses in Issaquah Highlands.

  PublisherDOI

• Decline of pollinators and attractiveness of the plants

  Involve a Journal of Mathematics · 2020

  • Sociology
  • Ecology
  • Biology

  Flowering plants rely mostly on pollinators to reproduce. A decline of pollinators puts an evolutionary pressure on the allocation of plants’ resources towards attracting the few remaining pollinators. This may result in fewer resources available for the plants’ survival and actual seed production. Moreover, due to the “magnet effect”, attractive plants generally attract pollinators to all plants in their neighborhood, even the less attractive ones. To better understand the allocation trade-offs, we built a computer simulation and studied the evolution of resource allocation towards attracting pollinators. We observed that when pollinators are relatively abundant, there is not much incentive for the plants to allocate more energy to attract them. Only when pollinators are below a certain critical threshold is a relatively large investment in attracting the pollinators suddenly favored. The value of the critical threshold is quite low and further decreases with the increasing seed dispersal distance and the plant population size.

  PublisherDOI

• Cross-Border Impacts of a Growth Management Regime: Portland, Oregon, and Clark County, Washington

  2017-09-08 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  The history of Statewide growth management in Oregon, and of the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) and other growth management initiatives in Portland, have been well-documented. The Washington Growth Management Act of 1990 was modeled on the much earlier Oregon legislation. Apart from land already grandfathered and developed to urban densities on lots where further development can take place, future urban development is restricted to areas within UGBs in counties that have urban centers, thus protecting land outside for agriculture, recreation or forests. A general context for this discussion is provided by a brief examination of employment decentralization in the Portland-Salem Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area. The chapter provides a relevant backcloth to an analysis of development trends in Clark County because it shows that they are consistent with other analyses of metropolitan decentralization. This implies that decentralization would have taken place in Clark County even in the absence of growth management.

  PublisherDOI

• Urban Sprawl in Western Europe and the United States

  2017-03-02 · 121 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding

  Urban sprawl is one of the key planning issues today. This book compares Western Europe and the USA, focusing on anti-sprawl policies. The USA is known for its settlement patterns that emphasize low-density suburban development and extreme automobile dependence, whereas European countries emphasize higher densities, pro-transit policies and more compact urban growth. Yet, on closer inspection, the differences are not as wide as first appears. A key feature of the book is the attention given to France; its experience is little known in the English-speaking world. The book concludes that both continents can offer each other useful insights and perhaps policy guidance.

  PublisherDOI

• Measuring Pedestrian Exposure to PM-2.5: Case of the Seattle, Washington, International District

  Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board · 2016-01-01 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Traffic-related air pollution is dangerous to human health. Although transportation and land use planning policies often focus on making walking more attractive, there is a lack of research on pedestrian exposure to air pollution levels. This research focused on pedestrian exposure to particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 µm or less (PM-2.5) in the International District (ID) adjacent to downtown Seattle, Washington. Several types of equipment were used: ( a) a portable nephelometer (Radiance Research M903) mounted on a backpack (arranged by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency); ( b) an AirCasting mobile application (by Habitmap) in a cell phone to record the researcher’s location and exposure levels while walking; and ( c) a GoPro Hero camera to record visual images of the surrounding built environment, traffic volume, and other activities. The field data were collected three times a day (morning, midday, and evening) for one week in winter (December 31, 2014–January 9, 2015) and one week in spring (March 21–30, 2015) on selected routes in the ID. The study found seasonal and time-of-day variability of exposure levels: there were higher PM-2.5 concentration levels during the winter (57.77 µg/m 3 ) than in the spring (6.99 µg/m 3 ), and higher levels in the morning (25 µg/m 3 ) than in the evening (17 µg/m 3 ). Also, the average PM-2.5 levels of ID data were slightly higher (20.7 µg/m 3 ) than those at the nearest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency monitoring station (19.0 µg/m 3 ). The researchers concluded that the key contributors of pedestrian exposure to air pollution are traffic, construction activities, and smokers on sidewalks.

  PublisherDOI

• Comparisons of Physical Activity and Walking Between Korean Immigrant and White Women in King County, WA

  Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health · 2015-10-29 · 13 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Shrinking cities in South Korea

  2014-03-14 · 2 citations

  book-chapterSenior author

  In many countries, demographic forces are not the primary influence on shrinking cities. However, in cases of potentially severe national population decline such as South Korea demography is destiny. As a result, most cities may face the possibility of shrinkage. Much of the urban shrinkage literature focuses on cities. While this is important in many respects, it may be less significant than a metropolitan approach where the impact may primarily be on economic development. In most Western countries suburban cities do much better, but the situation in the Seoul Metropolitan Area is less clear. The Seoul Metropolitan Area with 24.5 million people is one of the largest metropolitan regions in the world, yet according to world city formation criteria it stands much lower in global city ranking than its size might suggest, being ranked #17. Population pyramids have been available for North Korea only recently. The South Korean 2012 pyramid is starting to look like a light bulb shape.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Harry W. Richardson

  30 shared

• Alon Bassok

  University of Washington

  5 shared

• Hugh Barton

  University of Washington

  4 shared

• Charles E. Connerly

  University of Iowa

  4 shared

• Kelly Clifton

  College of New Jersey

  4 shared

• William And Budd

  College of New Jersey

  4 shared

• Myung‐Jin Jun

  4 shared

• Martin Bierbaum

  Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology

  4 shared

Labs

• Green Futures LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Urban and Regional Planning

  University of Southern California

Awards & honors

• Sea Grant for The Economic and Environmental Impacts of Moor…