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
Wilmington Alliance
The Wilmington Alliance is a collaborative organization aimed at community wealth creation and neighborhood revitalization.
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City of Beatrice
The City of Beatrice, Nebraska runs a Mow-to-Own Program that allows adjacent homeowners, individuals, and developers to acquire city-owned vacant lots after proving they are capable, willing, and consistent with maintaining it.
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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.
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Tri-COG Land Bank
The Tri-COG Land Bank offers adjacent homeowners the opportunity to expand their yard through their Side Lot Development Program.
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City of Philadelphia
The City of Philadelphia provides a path to license, lease, and purchase land from the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (PRA), the Department of Public Property, and the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (PHDC) and supports the use of vacant land for urban agriculture that improves the quality of life in the City.
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Grounded PGH (Formerly GTECH)
The Northside Vacant Lot Assessment collected information on the condition of vacant lots in Pittsburgh’s 19 Northside neighborhoods. The assessment was conducted by resident volunteers and community organizations.
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City of Gary
The Gary Green Infrastructure Plan is a city-wide framework for green infrastructure. The plan integrates with broader land use planning and redevelopment efforts and details existing conditions. Importantly, it provides tools, strategies, and recommendations for project prioritization and discusses management,…
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St. Louis Vacancy Collaborative
“The St. Louis Vacancy Collaborative is a coalition of community members, private and nonprofit stakeholders, and City agencies committed to reducing vacant property in St. Louis. The Collaborative helps to coordinate existing vacancy efforts under one umbrella and empowers the public and…
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City of Baltimore
Baltimore’s Open Data Portal provides access to hundreds of datasets and interactive dashboards. The Vacant Building Dashboard shares data on number of vacant building notices, building rehabs, and demolitions. The data can be sorted and filtered by geographic bounds, time…
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City of St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority
The ‘Mow to Own’ Program is allows residents who own an occupied residential or commercial property to purchase adjacent vacant lots for $125. Applications are submitted to the St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) Board of Commissioners for review. Following approval, the successful applicant receives a deed to the property with a two-year maintenance lien.
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Developed through a partnership between the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Pennsylvania Downtown Center this handbook provides strategies for communities to utilize their natural, outdoor recreational resources as assets to grow and enhance their community and economic development.
Read More »Rochester 2034 is a 15-year comprehensive plan to improve the community. Rochester’s population losses over the last several decades have left a legacy of vacancy – an urban challenge common to Rust Belt cities. Key takeaways in this work note that half of the vacant parcels in Rochester are owned by the City; all City-owned vacant lots are maintained at a ‘clean and green’ standard that exceeds many other cities…
Read More »This website assists residents in accessing or purchasing one of the 3,400 City-owned vacant lots in Rochester for temporary or permanent projects. Some lots are sold for large development projects, many are used as community gardens, and many more are waiting for their hidden potential to be realized. Featured is…
Read More »With the help of many dedicated citizens and professionals, the Department of City Development in Milwaukee has put together a handbook of creative reuse strategies for city-owned vacant land.
Read More »The Cuyahoga Land Bank (CLB) developed their Side Yard Program for eligible applicants to purchase vacant lots to expand their yards or businesses. This is one of their most successful and popular programs that has helped hundreds of Cuyahoga County residents utilize vacant land in resourceful and imaginative ways.
Read More »The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) has produced a number of planning resources and guides to assist neighborhood groups with grassroots efforts to stabilize neighborhoods.
Read More »The Tree Equity Score tool calculates a “tree equity score” for all 150,000 neighborhoods and 486 municipalities in urbanized areas across the continental United States.
Read More »This report provides an overview of urban agriculture and local food system resources and practices across the United States and parts of Canada, with a primary emphasis on providing resources that can encourage and support urban agriculture in Missouri’s metropolitan areas.
Read More »New Orleans’ ‘Mow-to-Own’ Program invites homeowners adjacent to blighted lots to apply to take care of the empty spaces with the goal of purchasing them down the line.
Read More »Lots of Green was the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC)’s vacant land reuse program, which operated cleanups and volunteer workdays in strategic neighborhoods, as well as vacant land reuse classes, microgrant programs, and competitions that catalyzed new projects around the city.
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