Vacant Land Stewardship

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Vacant land stewardship is the comprehensive repurposing and maintenance of vacant lots in a community in service to community needs, priorities, and goals.

Strong, equitable communities require every lot fulfilling a purpose in service of the community’s vision. Vacant lots make up a majority of vacant property inventories—over 75 percent according to our 2019 National Survey on Greening. Most of those hundreds of thousands of lots are purposeless and detracting from residents’ quality of life. In many places, vacant land can feel like an insurmountable challenge. Yet, vacant land presents incredible opportunity. It is one of our greatest assets, and most finite resources, to address some of our most pressing challenges—healthy food access, stormwater management, aging infrastructure, natural ecosystems, safe neighborhoods, community wealth, and more. Residents and neighborhood groups in communities large and small recognize this opportunity and are repurposing lots to improve their neighborhoods. Yet, vacant land remains a significant untapped resource community wide change and few (if any) places have all the elements needed to address their full inventories of vacant lots.

Community Progress sees the growing challenge of vacant land in communities we serve and the slow pace at which that space is moving forward. While it is important to acknowledge both the past and current context, we must look to the future to anticipate how best to support the evolving needs of people and their communities. You will find these pages full of resources to inform you, inspire you, and ultimately help you implement vacant land stewardship.

This resource center will be continually growing, check back often for updates and sign up for our newsletter to get the latest. We look forward to growing our collective knowledge and helping communities move towards vacant land stewardship.

Vacant Land Stewardship Resources

Project Database

Get Inspired! Get Inspired! See what others are doing by exploring vacant land projects from around the country or share your own project!

Fundamental Elements

Vacant land stewardship requires knowing your community’s context, having clear goals and plans, significant collaboration, and facilitative policies. Visit the Elements Page to learn how you can advance your community’s stewardship work.

Keep Growing Detroit Farm

By Rob Wilson | September 10, 2021

The Keep Growing Detroit Farm is the place where all of our work comes together. Our farm is where half of the Garden Resource Program transplants and the Motown Music garlic seed is grown. It’s where many of our workshops are hosted and where growers of all ages practice and hone their skills. It’s also…

Urban Edge

By Community Progress | September 9, 2021

Prior to beginning the project, the lots we worked with had a lot of landfill items that were hard to remove with standard equipment. The first step was the clear those lots out and determine what type of soil we would have work with on the lot. After clearing the lots, we learned that the…

The American Riad

By Community Progress | September 9, 2021

North End Woodward Community Organization is re-building a corner through art & culture, in a multi-year project of skill-shares and public art, to create a Moroccan-style Riad (a central, shared courtyard, filled with art and gardens). So far, in addition to Detroit, this has involved related activities in New York, Texas, Massachusetts, Marrakesh (Morocco), and…

The Alley Project

By Community Progress | September 9, 2021

The Alley Project (TAP) is a network of places and programs along the alley developed to facilitate creative processes, positive youth-adult partnerships, and community building. TAP includes a transformed vacant corner lot into a community-designed park for informal gatherings, recreation and formal programming.  More about this project >

Penrose Market Garden

By Community Progress | September 9, 2021

A place for individual and community activity and recreation, the design of the Garden includes a welcoming entrance, outdoor classroom space, walks and connections to the surrounding areas, a lawn/gathering/event area lined with flower beds for the market garden’s cut flowers, shade structures and seating. The form and function of the garden space connects it…

Outdoor Theatre

By Community Progress | September 9, 2021

Carrie Morris Arts Production (CMAP) creates and supports performance art and artistic exploration in a way that is inclusive, intimate, and community-centered. Since 2012, they’ve provided opportunities for artists who are typically underrepresented in the arts community and support artists who may not have access to other modes of funding. They strive to include residents…

Old North Rain Garden

By Community Progress | September 9, 2021

The Old North Rain Garden can divert approximately 31,000 gallons of stormwater in a one-inch rain event from this area’s combined sewer system, reducing the likelihood of basement backups and sewer overflows. It manages almost all the stormwater runoff that falls on this block, 1.72 acres, by holding back the stormwater so it can soak…

Neighborhood Exercise Loop

By Community Progress | September 9, 2021

Central Detroit Christian created fitness-focused neighborhood pocket parks with excercise equipment and connected them with a walking path to foster healthy, active living in the Middle Woodward Corridor. The faith-based organization provides housing, workforce training, neighborhood-beautification, and youth-development services designed to bolster Central Detroit neighborhoods and empower residents.  More about this project >

Manistique Treehouse

By Community Progress | September 9, 2021

The Community Treehouse Center will be an environmentally-friendly community education center and event space and will host year-round therapeutic and educational programming to improve the physical and mental well-being of community members, particularly the elderly and those with disabilities who are socially isolated.  More about this project >

Intersections Park

By Community Progress | September 9, 2021

This pocket park at the corner of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks Boulevards was transformed through the team effort of North Corktown community members and students at Burton International School. All of the pieces in the park were chosen to honor the contribution of King and Parks to the civil rights movement and build…

Get Help

For more information on how Community Progress can help advance your vacant land stewardship work, check out: our services, or send us a message to request help.

On average, vacant lots accounted for
%
of the vacant properties owned by respondents to our 2019 survey