Abandoned Buildings

Hotel Alexandra

Why Are These Prime Boston Properties Sitting Vacant?

Even though they often occupy valuable real estate, some Boston properties have sat vacant in various states of limbo for years.

July 2, 2019 - The Boston Globe

Vacant Home, Cleveland

In Mobile, an Institutional Revamp to Tackle Blight

Mobile, Alabama, has changed the way it deals with blight, and the results have been substantial.

June 17, 2019 - Fast Company

Philadelphia

Philadelphia Goes High-Tech to Monitor Vacant Properties

The city of Philadelphia has deployed high-tech sensors and a new statistical model in its ongoing fight against the blight and health problems that follow vacant and abandoned properties.

December 18, 2016 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

A Simple Approach to Abandoned Buildings Improved Crime in Philadelphia

The city of Philadelphia's Doors and Windows Ordinance applied the Broken Windows Theory to positive results.

July 22, 2015 - Pacific Standard

Reducing the Number of Abandoned Properties in Louisville

Louisville, like many other cities around the country, has been working hard to reduce the number of abandoned buildings. Recent efforts have provided the city with a new road map for blight reduction.

June 23, 2014 - The Courier-Journal

Website Provides Tools to Resurrect Abandoned Buildings

The world is full of millions of abandoned buildings; unused resources that drag down their surrounding communities. One website aims to provide advocates with the tools to reactivate them, writes Ben Schiller.

May 1, 2013 - Fast Company Co.Exist

The Art of Abandonment

Artists are using the vacant buildings of the Rust Belt to create their art, and to comment on possibilities and visions for the future.

September 12, 2011 - Rust Wire

Asking Locals What To Do With Abandoned Buildings

Artist Candy Chang has taken an old building in Fairbanks, Alaska and turned it into a public idea board that asks locals what they think should be done with it.

July 1, 2011 - Fast Company

Inside Bangkok's "Ghost Tower"

Photojournalist and blogger Dr. Hank Snaffler, Jr. documents the Sathorn Unique, an abandoned skyscraper at the heart of Bangkok.

June 20, 2011 - Abandoned Journey

Funds to Demolish Abandoned Buildings Grow

The city of Youngstown, Ohio, is heavily reliant on funding from grants and outside sources to help pay for the clearing of abandoned properties. Those funds have grown since last year.

April 15, 2011 - Vindy

Against 'Ruin Porn'

The city of Detroit is increasingly characterized through imagery of its abandoned and decaying buildings. This piece from The New Republic says it's time to stop.

January 24, 2011 - The New Republic

Inside Detroit's Abandoned Iconic Buildings

This slideshow from The Guardian looks inside some of Detroit's historic and decaying buildings.

January 3, 2011 - Guardian

Dealing With Vacant Mansions in London

In a posh borough of London, empty homes are causing problems for officials, who are tasked with finding the owners of these vacant or abandoned mansions.

July 17, 2009 - The Wall Street Journal

A Look Inside the Busted Building Market

This slideshow from The New York Times Magazine takes a look at the abandoned and stalled buildings form around the country that epitomize the bust of the building market.

July 7, 2009 - The New York Times Magazine

Friday Funny: Elected to the House, But Abandoned Her Own

Congresswoman Laura Richardson has gotten on the nerves of her Sacramento neighbors, mainly because she's never around. As a result, her home has gone untended and turned into a blight on the neighborhood.

June 12, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

One in Nine U.S. Homes Empty

Empty homes are littered in cities across the country. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, one out of every nine U.S. homes is unoccupied.

April 13, 2009 - USA Today

What Can Cities Do About 'Property Outlaws'?

More homeless people are squatting in abandoned suburban housing. Eduardo M. Peñalver, co-author of the forthcoming book "Property Outlaws" thinks cities should acquire these properties and allow the former owners to live in them as renters.

March 27, 2009 - Slate.com

Rebirth Through Art in Abandoned Detroit

This piece from NPR looks at what artists are doing in Detroit to snatch up abandoned homes and convert them into community centers and art spaces.

March 24, 2009 - NPR

Urban Explorers Venture into the Abandoned and Unknown

A growing group of people in Britain have taken to breaking into abandoned buildings and facilities. But they're not breaking in to steal things, or to squat. They just want to check the places out, which they call "urban exploring".

October 5, 2008 - The Independent

News from HUD User

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Call for Speakers

Mpact Transit + Community

New Updates on PD&R Edge

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Websites

The best of the Internet—since 2002.

Top Apps

Planning apps for a brave new world.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.