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Creative Placemaking

The Problem with Calling Neighborhoods with Vacant Properties “Blighted”

Blight is a shorthand term many people use to refer to properties they perceive as problematic in some way.

How Vacant and Abandoned Buildings Affect the Community

Vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties—referred to by some as “blighted properties”—pose significant costs to public health, property values, local taxpayers, and more.

Looking Back at the 2020-21 Community Revitalization Fellowship: Creative Placemaking by Community Leaders from Three Cities

Learn about creative placemaking projects by residents of Birmingham, Alabama; Reading, Pennsylvania; and Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

Meet Kat Guillaume-Delemar, President & CEO of Community Progress

For Kat Guillaume-Delemar, community revitalization is a deeply personal journey.

Transforming Cleveland Vacant Lots into an Urban Farm

How the Cuyahoga Land Bank and a community activist worked together to transform a block one property at a time.

Creative Placemaking in Braddock, Pennsylvania

Community leaders in Braddock, North Braddock, and East Pittsburgh are creatively reactivating vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties.

Creación de espacios creativos en Loíza (Puerto Rico)

A principios de marzo, los cohortes de la Beca de Revitalización Comunitaria (CRF) 2022-23 viajaron a Loíza, Puerto Rico, para su segundo intercambio de aprendizaje. Estos intercambios de aprendizaje, que incluyeron formación técnica y entrenamiento de liderazgo, son oportunidades para que los becarios aprendan de cada uno y de sus…

Creative Placemaking in Loíza, Puerto Rico

As part of the Community Revitalization Fellowship, fellows from Loíza, Puerto Rico shared the creative placemaking working happening in their community.

What Is Creative Placemaking?

Creative placemaking is the practice of enhancing a neighborhood’s quality of life through arts, culture, and intentional community development. This practice can take many forms, like visual art installations, performance events, developing permanent brick-and-mortar spaces, and more. These creative approaches to addressing community challenges often include repurposing vacant properties. What…

Problem to Purpose: The Drug Activity Answer for One Lansing Neighborhood, Get Creative

Empty lots are open opportunities – for safety threats or community innovation. Pegasus Garden, located in the Prospect PLACE neighborhood in Lansing, Michigan, is a great example of what happens when communities choose option two.

Problem to Purpose: Placemaking Brings Community Healing for Residents Impacted by Substance Abuse

Today’s opioid epidemic has become “the worst public health crisis in Pennsylvania,” according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. On average, 10 Pennsylvanians lose their lives to a substance abuse disorder each day. Hinge Collective principals, Alexa Bosse and Ari Miller, are working to find new ways to fight Philadelphia’s challenge…

Problem to Purpose: From Landlord Neglect to a Circus for Youth

Newburgh’s Creative Solutions to the Vacancy and Deterioration Challenge Kids flying through the air on isn’t uncommon in one community north of New York City. There, residents and leaders converted a vacant lot owned by a negligent landlord into what’s known today at the Zip Zap Circus — a circus…

Problem to Purpose: Indiana Teens Recycle to Turnaround Vacant Lots

Tired-A-Lot Transforms Vacant Properties While Creating Youth Volunteerism Teaching teens to give back can yield more than positive values and great character; it can help change a neighborhood. Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and Northeastern University show there are positive connections between youth volunteerism, health, and academics. One hybrid group of local officials…

Problem to Purpose: Teens Create Deterioration Answers in Colorado Springs

A Camera and $500 Turn into a Deteriorated Property Solution “Eventually the youth started asking, ‘Why can’t we just make the changes?’” explained Mia Ramirez of The Colorado Trust. That one powerful question spurred a student group from the Leaders Engaged and Amazingly Determined (LEAD) in Colorado Springs, Colorado to…

Power of Placemaking – What Vacancy Victories from Massachusetts, New York, and California Taught Us

From increased fire outbreaks to elevated safety concerns, there’s no secret property vacancy can weigh down a community. But, how can communities lift themselves up? What are the keys to turning a vacant lot or building into an asset? The answers may vary for each community (and we’re here if…

Problem to Purpose: From Gas Station to Food Station, Solving Insecurity through Creative Placemaking

According to a 2017 study, a whopping 48 percent of Detroit households are “food insecure.” This means that nearly 30,000 Detroit residents experience hurdles when trying to access to quality and affordable food options. How are residents tackling the challenge? One group, Hope Community (Cool Cities) Park, is tackling food insecurity…

Problem to Purpose: A Closing Mill Leads Turns into and Art Opportunity

Dubbed the “Birthplace of Macon,” the once-bustling Mill Hill neighborhood took a hit when its mill closed in 2015. With the mill doors suddenly shuttering, Mill Hill’s vacancy rate increased to more than 50 percent and mirrored Macon-Bibb County’s 50 percent residential vacancy rate. How did Mill Hill Make Use…

Problem to Purpose: 10-Week Safety Turnaround through Public Art

Massachusetts Placemaking Lighting Display’s Downtown Impact The eerie feeling of a dark alley and dim-lit underpass isn’t just a feeling. A recent New York City study showed that increased lighting can reduce crime by as much as 39 percent. Also, when an area is seen as the “dark” side of town, that…

Problem to Purpose: A Parking Lot Becomes a Beach?

More than 30 percent of parents travel with their kids to a beach for enjoyment, but what do you do when the sand’s out of reach? One Sullivan, New York, community answered the question while converting a vacant space into a community asset. Sprinkler Beach is a pop-up project imagined…

Problem to Purpose: Three Oakland Projects Fight Community Challenges through Art

Pop-up Library, Traffic-Injury Prevention, and Problem Properties Conversion with Creative Placemaking There’s an old adage, “money’s the answer, now what’s the question.” Sixty-five percent of neighborhood changemakers not only agree, but say funding is the largest hurdle to leveraging Creative Placemaking to fight vacancy and community challenges in their neighborhood….