The year 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the , one of the most consequential plans in the city's history. It put in place a vision for a public, pedestrian-scaled, multipurpose, and vital downtown. Through the requirements adopted in the Downtown Plan and subsequent public and private investments stemming from it, Portland's core area became an international icon for central city recovery.
In February of 2022, PhD candidate, Kimberly Nightingale, and Professor Emeritus, Ethan Seltzer, wrote a paper entitled that examines the history of the urban university idea in the U.S. and presents a working definition of what an urban university is today. It then examines the way that being an urban university has been baked into Portland State's identity from its very beginning, and concludes with some thoughts about where we might go from here. Seltzer also made appearances on and PSU podcast, , to discuss the impact of the historic 1972 Downtown Plan.
Ethan Seltzer and Sy Adler authored a paper entitled Looking towards 2072: Portland, Portland State, and a Shared Future that reflects on the original paper and panel discussions and discusses a vision for Portland's next 50 years.