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Vacant Land Stewardship

The Problem with Calling Neighborhoods with Vacant Properties “Blighted” 
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.

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How Vacant and Abandoned Buildings Affect the Community
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.

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How to Prevent and Reduce Illegal Dumping
How to Prevent and Reduce Illegal Dumping

Cities spend millions each year cleaning up illegal dumping. What if they tried to make vacant lots less appealing to dumping in the first place?

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New Study Shows Land Bank Ownership of Vacant Lots Can Reduce Violent Crime
New Study Shows Land Bank Ownership of Vacant Lots Can Reduce Violent Crime

A vacant lot owned and cared for by a land bank sees a greater decrease in crime compared to privately owned lots, finds 2023 study in Flint, MI.

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Transforming Cleveland Vacant Lots into an Urban Farm
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.

Read More »
Vacant Land is More Than a Single Lot—it’s a System.
Vacant Land is More Than a Single Lot—it’s a System.

Conceptualizing vacant land as a system makes it possible to identify where strategic interventions can push the system toward different, more desirable outcomes.

Read More »
What Causes “Urban Prairies” in Shrinking Cities?
What Causes “Urban Prairies” in Shrinking Cities?

As cities shrink, once-urban land becomes available for other uses or reverts to nature, leading to the phenomenon of “urban prairies.”

Read More »
Resources for Community Revitalization Leaders Adapting to Climate Change
Resources for Community Revitalization Leaders Adapting to Climate Change

A list of evidence-backed tools you can use to learn and think about community revitalization and climate adaptation for your community.

Read More »
Resident Engagement in Vacant Lot Greening: Empowering Communities for Neighborhood Revitalization
Resident Engagement in Vacant Lot Greening: Empowering Communities for Neighborhood Revitalization

This is an excerpt of Chapter 11 of Tackling Vacancy and Abandonment: Strategies and Impacts After the Great Recession, jointly produced by the Center for Community Progress, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. It has been lightly edited and condensed for the web….

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Approaches to Rural Property Vacancy in Law and Policy
Approaches to Rural Property Vacancy in Law and Policy

This is an excerpt of Chapter 8 of Tackling Vacancy and Abandonment: Strategies and Impacts After the Great Recession, jointly produced by the Center for Community Progress, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. It has been lightly edited and condensed for the web….

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
How to Prevent and Reduce Illegal Dumping

Cities spend millions each year cleaning up illegal dumping. What if they tried to make vacant lots less appealing to dumping in the first place?

Read More »
New Study Shows Land Bank Ownership of Vacant Lots Can Reduce Violent Crime

A vacant lot owned and cared for by a land bank sees a greater decrease in crime compared to privately owned lots, finds 2023 study in Flint, MI.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
Vacant Land is More Than a Single Lot—it’s a System.

Conceptualizing vacant land as a system makes it possible to identify where strategic interventions can push the system toward different, more desirable outcomes.

Read More »
What Causes “Urban Prairies” in Shrinking Cities?

As cities shrink, once-urban land becomes available for other uses or reverts to nature, leading to the phenomenon of “urban prairies.”

Read More »
Resources for Community Revitalization Leaders Adapting to Climate Change

A list of evidence-backed tools you can use to learn and think about community revitalization and climate adaptation for your community.

Read More »
Resident Engagement in Vacant Lot Greening: Empowering Communities for Neighborhood Revitalization

This is an excerpt of Chapter 11 of Tackling Vacancy and Abandonment: Strategies and Impacts After the Great Recession, jointly produced by the Center for Community Progress, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. It has been lightly edited and condensed for the web….

Read More »
Approaches to Rural Property Vacancy in Law and Policy

This is an excerpt of Chapter 8 of Tackling Vacancy and Abandonment: Strategies and Impacts After the Great Recession, jointly produced by the Center for Community Progress, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. It has been lightly edited and condensed for the web….

Read More »