Resources
Dirt into Dollars
Converting Vacant Land into Valuable Development
Philadelphia is a powerful illustration of the concerns surrounding blight, vacant land, abandoned buildings, and brownfields. Like all the nation’s older cities, it has suffered major population l...
Housing Policy Research Program
Previous research of the Housing Policy Research Program suggests that policies and programs to stabilize Cleveland’s residential base need to be implemented soon. To achieve stabilization requires...
Vacant Property Prescriptions
A Reinvestment Strategy
This paper explains the significance of housing abandonment as a community development issue for Philadelphia neighborhoods. It describes a combination of vacant property prevention and treatment a...
MSD to Help Demolish Vacant Buildings
There are a lot of environmental benefits to keeping stormwater out of sewer systems. St. Louis’ Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) has found a way to solve its derelict building problems in favor o...
The State Role in Urban Land Redevelopment
While city governments bear a large burden of addressing vacant and abandoned land and structures, state governments play an important role as well. This review summarizes the extent of state legis...
Vacant Land 215 Toolkit
A sub-project of Grounded in Philly, the Vacant Land 215toolkit is a comprehensive self-guide for gardeners and community members looking to create community spaces through vacant land.
Grounded in Philly
In 2012, the Garden Justice Legal Initiative at the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, and 596 Acres of Brooklyn, came together in 2012 to start Grounded in Philly. This project maps data ...
Vacant Land Management in Philadelphia Neighborhoods
Cost Benefit Analysis
This is the first of several reports published from the Vacant Land Management Study conducted in the late 1990s in Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. The goal of the study was...
Parking it in the Big Apple
Reports on New York City’s “City Spaces” program which aims to transform vacant lots into temporary parks.
Vacant Land and Environmental Contamination in Philadelphia
A GUIDE FOR COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS
Prepared by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council
The purpose of this handbook is to provide community-based organizations with the knowledge to initiate the process of reusing environmentally cont...
City Willing to Sell Vacant Lots for One Dollar
Reports that the city of Providence in Rhode Island is selling vacant lots for one dollar each to homeowners and neighborhood groups interested in taking title to the city’s abandoned properties.
Urban Vacant Land
ISSUES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This study consists of two sections. The first section, “Toward a New Way of Thinking About Urban Vacant Land,” surveys the programs and policies of governments, non-profit agencies, and neighborho...
Reported Causes of Change in City Supply of Vacant Land
Presents the survey on causes of changes in the supply of vacant land in cities of the United States. Lists cities with increased amount of vacant properties and cities in which the amount of vacan...
NWF Seeks to Turn Urban Brownfields into Green Spaces
Looks at the urban revitalization project launched by National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Natural Resource Center to convert some of the vacant lots and abandoned industrial sites into green...
From Vacant Land to Open Space
An Evaluation of the New Kensington Neighborhood Open Space
This is the second of several reports published from the Vacant Land Management Study conducted in the late 1990s in Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. This report examines the...
An Asset Management Approach to Vacant Land
A Pilot Program for Eastern North Philadelphia
This is the third of several reports published from the Vacant Land Management Study conducted in the late 1990s in Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. This report presents a pl...
Addressing the Vacant and Abandoned Property Problem
Discusses the nature of vacant and abandoned property and the city efforts to address it. Barrier to the revitalization of central cities; survey of the populous central cities in the United States...
Transforming America's Cities
City governments own or regulate vacant land and abandoned structures. In this article, the authors summarize new vacant-land survey data, examine the conditions and causes of vacant land, analyze ...
Vacant Land in Cities: an Urban Resource
A recent survey on vacant land and abandoned structures in seventy cities.
A recent survey on vacant land and abandoned structures in seventy cities found that 15% of a city’s land was vacant; cities in the South tended to have the most vacant land while cities in the Nor...
Reclaiming Vacant Lots
A Philadelphia Green Guide
This manual is intended as a technical resource for community-based organizations, city agencies, and landscape professionals who are addressing vacant land issues in Philadelphia’s neighborhoods. ...