Vacant Land Elements Examples
Vacant land stewardship requires four fundamental elements: knowing your community’s context, having clear goals and plans, committing to collaboration, and enacting facilitative policies. These four elements will look different in every community, but they are all critical components of implementing successful vacant land stewardship. To learn more about these elements and discover some next steps for your community's learning journey, explore the element examples below.
Element Type
Organization
Cornell University Legal Constructs Lab
The National Zoning Atlas enables users to visualize the prevalence and nature of regulatory constraints, particularly on housing. The Zoning Atlas is an important tool to help people understand what their local zoning codes say; compare codes across jurisdictions, illuminate regional and statewide trends, and strengthen national planning for housing production, transportation infrastructure, and climate response.
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Grandmont Rosedal Development Corporation
The Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation (GRDC)’s Vacant Property Task Force is a resident-led initiative to target and prevent blight and vacancy in the five neighborhoods GRDC serves. Working closely with resident volunteers, the task force monitors vacant homes with the goal of ensuring that every property is properly maintained.
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Allegheny Green Web Collaboration
The Allegheny Green Web Collaboration is a network of more than 20 nonprofit recreation and conservation organizations with a vision for connected parks, open spaces, and trails throughout Allegheny County to enhance the quality of people’s daily lives, promote healthy living, and encourage increased engagement with nature. The collaboration manages a website providing an interactive narrative of their efforts.
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Baltimore Environmental Equity Partnership (BEEP)
Baltimore Environmental Equity Partners (BEEP) aims to foster cross-sector collaboration to improve community and environmental well-being and sustainability in neighborhoods of East Baltimore. BEEP is comprised of nonprofit and government organizations working on community development, community organizing, environmental and health advocacy, and social justice.
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Grounded Strategies
The PGH Mobile Toolbox is a library of landscaping tools available for free to resident groups and community organizations in Allegheny County to use in the care and stewardship of vacant land and community green spaces.
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Trenton Neighborhood Restoration Campaign
In 2014, the Trenton Neighborhood Restoration Campaign (TNRC) organized the first truly comprehensive, parcel-level survey of all the vacant properties in Trenton — mapped, published, and updated on this interactive website. The TNRC also organized residents and local groups to draw attention to the problems caused by vacant and abandoned properties.
Read More »
East Trenton Collaborative
The East Trenton Neighborhood (ETN) Brownfields Area-Wide Plan provides site-specific recommendations for 12 brownfield sites with an emphasis on two catalyst sites that have the greatest likelihood of development and impact. Cities dealing with high rates of vacant land and contamination may find this plan helpful in understanding the opportunities and challenges of putting properties back into productive use in a safe and healthy way.
Read More »
Monroe County
Monroe County Vacant and Abandoned Property Task Force engages a network of local government and community leaders and partners to work collaboratively to tackle the negative impacts of vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties and develop strategies to return them to productive use.
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Wilmington Alliance
The Wilmington Alliance is a collaborative organization aimed at community wealth creation and neighborhood revitalization.
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Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority
LandCare engages small businesses and community organizations to maintain several hundred publicly owned vacant lots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Read More »Cornell University Legal Constructs Lab
The National Zoning Atlas enables users to visualize the prevalence and nature of regulatory constraints, particularly on housing. The Zoning Atlas is an important tool to help people understand what their local zoning codes say; compare codes across jurisdictions, illuminate regional and statewide trends, and strengthen national planning for housing production, transportation infrastructure, and climate response.
Read More »Grandmont Rosedal Development Corporation
The Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation (GRDC)’s Vacant Property Task Force is a resident-led initiative to target and prevent blight and vacancy in the five neighborhoods GRDC serves. Working closely with resident volunteers, the task force monitors vacant homes with the goal of ensuring that every property is properly maintained.
Read More »Allegheny Green Web Collaboration
The Allegheny Green Web Collaboration is a network of more than 20 nonprofit recreation and conservation organizations with a vision for connected parks, open spaces, and trails throughout Allegheny County to enhance the quality of people’s daily lives, promote healthy living, and encourage increased engagement with nature. The collaboration manages a website providing an interactive narrative of their efforts.
Read More »Baltimore Environmental Equity Partnership (BEEP)
Baltimore Environmental Equity Partners (BEEP) aims to foster cross-sector collaboration to improve community and environmental well-being and sustainability in neighborhoods of East Baltimore. BEEP is comprised of nonprofit and government organizations working on community development, community organizing, environmental and health advocacy, and social justice.
Read More »Grounded Strategies
The PGH Mobile Toolbox is a library of landscaping tools available for free to resident groups and community organizations in Allegheny County to use in the care and stewardship of vacant land and community green spaces.
Read More »Trenton Neighborhood Restoration Campaign
In 2014, the Trenton Neighborhood Restoration Campaign (TNRC) organized the first truly comprehensive, parcel-level survey of all the vacant properties in Trenton — mapped, published, and updated on this interactive website. The TNRC also organized residents and local groups to draw attention to the problems caused by vacant and abandoned properties.
Read More »East Trenton Collaborative
The East Trenton Neighborhood (ETN) Brownfields Area-Wide Plan provides site-specific recommendations for 12 brownfield sites with an emphasis on two catalyst sites that have the greatest likelihood of development and impact. Cities dealing with high rates of vacant land and contamination may find this plan helpful in understanding the opportunities and challenges of putting properties back into productive use in a safe and healthy way.
Read More »Monroe County
Monroe County Vacant and Abandoned Property Task Force engages a network of local government and community leaders and partners to work collaboratively to tackle the negative impacts of vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties and develop strategies to return them to productive use.
Read More »Wilmington Alliance
The Wilmington Alliance is a collaborative organization aimed at community wealth creation and neighborhood revitalization.
Read More »Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority
LandCare engages small businesses and community organizations to maintain several hundred publicly owned vacant lots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Read More »