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Vacant Land Stewardship

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

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#LoveThatLot – Help Tell America’s Big Revitalization Story, Score National Exposure
#LoveThatLot – Help Tell America’s Big Revitalization Story, Score National Exposure

#ValentinesDay six years ago was just the start. For six years, you’ve shared #LoveThatLot stories of your revitalization wins that have turned vacant lots and homes into beautiful additions to your community. We can’t say thank you enough and how excited we are about your work… so excited that one…

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Problem to Purpose: A Parking Lot Becomes a Beach?
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…

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A Green Culture Shift: Changing Perspectives on Open Space in Detroit
A Green Culture Shift: Changing Perspectives on Open Space in Detroit

Whether it’s the roughly 120,000 vacant lots like Detroit, or the roughly 14,000 vacant lots in the City of Baltimore, vacant lot statistics are enough to keep one up at night. The 2012 Detroit Future City Strategic Framework was the first planning effort in Detroit to daylight the sheer magnitude…

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From a Shipping Container to a Solar-Powered Greenhouse: Arts Meets Agriculture in Detroit
From a Shipping Container to a Solar-Powered Greenhouse: Arts Meets Agriculture in Detroit

In Detroit, a recycled shipping container will soon become a community beacon for fresh food, job creation, and arts and culture. Part agricultural, part placemaking, the Liberty Harvest project officially launched in July 2017. It is an initiative spearheaded by Resurge Detroit, a nonprofit with a mission to “tackle blight…

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In Flint, block clubs make a difference worth millions
In Flint, block clubs make a difference worth millions

  This article is the fifth and final story in a five-story series on resident-led revitalization efforts in Flint, Michigan, developed thanks to the support of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint. Click here to see all stories in the series. Share your reactions on Twitter with #FlintRevitalizing. Lorrie Knighten met Marijoyce Campbell…

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When it comes to keeping up Flint’s parks, it takes an army
When it comes to keeping up Flint’s parks, it takes an army

  This article is the third in a five-story series on resident-led revitalization efforts in Flint, Michigan, developed thanks to the support of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint. Click here to see all stories in the series. Share your reactions on Twitter with #FlintRevitalizing. “What’s up, Q?” a man says, dribbling a…

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In Flint neighborhood, vacant lots will soon bear fruit
In Flint neighborhood, vacant lots will soon bear fruit

  This article is the second in a five-story series on resident-led revitalization efforts in Flint, Michigan, developed thanks to the support of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint. Click here to see all stories in the series. Share your reactions on Twitter with #FlintRevitalizing. When Edna Sabucco was a…

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Flint co-op will put good food, ownership in hands of residents
Flint co-op will put good food, ownership in hands of residents

  This article is the first in a five-story series on resident-led revitalization efforts in Flint, Michigan, developed thanks to the support of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint. Click here to see all stories in the series. Share your reactions on Twitter with #FlintRevitalizing. As a pastor, Reginald “Reggie”…

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Lots to Love in Beall’s Hill
Lots to Love in Beall’s Hill

We’re pleased to share this guest post from Emily Hopkins with the Historic Macon Foundation about their participation in this year’s national #LoveThatLot campaign. A once-vacant lot in the Beall’s Hill neighborhood of Macon, Georgia, experienced a lot of love on Sunday, February 21. Parents and their children, couples with…

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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

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

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

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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.

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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.”

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The Problem with Calling Neighborhoods with Vacant Properties “Blighted” 

Picture a neighborhood with numerous run-down homes, vacant lots, and boarded-up buildings, grounds or structure overgrown with vegetation. What word comes to mind to describe those conditions?  For many, that word is “blight.”  Blight is a shorthand term many people use to refer to properties they perceive as problematic in…

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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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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

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….

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How Community Progress Celebrated #LoveThatLot in 2022

In 2022, we celebrated Valentine’s Day with another #LoveThatLot, a social media campaign to show our love for the people and organizations turning vacant lots into vibrant places. Neighborhood Gardens Trust shared how they preserved 50 community gardens throughout Philadelphia. The City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services shared how…

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