Why Are There So Many Empty Lots?

Nancy Levinson at PLACES explains:

"The students interview local landowners, city officials, an environmental consultant, an advocate for the homeless, and a high school administrator, among others, and learn some of the non-intuitive rules of urban real estate (e.g., why it's often more profitable to leave a lot vacant and trashy than to construct something useful and attractive). They take their video cameras to the streets, and read the fine print fine on the signage, noting that the lot owners are usually absentee suburbanites."