Abandoned Properties

Exploring the Ethics of Private Property Buyouts
Learn more about the various impacts of buying out private property with the intent of furthering urban development.

How Abandoned Properties Can Be Used for Redevelopment
Abandoned properties can be a burden on a community, bringing everything from negative curb appeal to an increase in crime. Using these properties for positive community development can kill two birds with one stone.

Effective Strategies for Tackling Vacant Properties
Urban homesteading as a response to hypervacancy is in the news after South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg proposed the Douglass Plan while on the presidential campaign trail.

Japan Offers Up Free Abandoned Houses
Due to an aging populace, lackluster construction quality, and other factors, Japan is facing a glut of abandoned homes. For those with the ability to live there, these homes can be had for next to nothing.

St. Louis Lawsuits Focus on Delinquent Properties
Special suits give property owners an opportunity to fix up rundown properties before the city sells them.

Federal Agencies Investigating the Rising Costs of Detroit's Blight Program
Detroit's aggressive blight reduction strategy, to demolish vacant homes by the thousands, is coming under scrutiny for rising costs. The FBI and the U.S. Inspector General are investigating.

Managing Abandoned Homes in North Braddock
The usual litany of Rust Belt woes hit North Braddock, Pennsylvania particularly hard. The Pittsburgh suburb has shed two-thirds of its population and is burdened with 350 abandoned properties.

Detroit Receives Funding for Another Demolition Push
A recent influx of money to Detroit for demolitions of abandoned properties brings the city's total to $107 million. That money has established Detroit as the country's proving ground for the idea that demolitions stabilize struggling neighborhoods.
Report Collects and Shares Lessons from New York's Land Banks
Practical lessons and best practices will be helpful in empowering land banks to curb the spread of blight, foreclosures, and abandoned properties.
New Jersey Communities Build Coalition to Track Abandoned Properties
The residents of Camden County in New Jersey, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, banded together to catalog the abandoned properties in their neighborhoods, where the problem of abandoned, or "zombie" properties, is growing.
Preservation Concerns Raised Over Milwaukee’s Blight Reduction Plans
Although Milwaukee had been insulated from population loss compared to many other legacy cities, the Great Recession has required the city to launch an $11.6 million blight reduction program.
Georgia County Banks on Vacant and Abandoned Properties
Plagued by foreclosures, DeKalb County Georgia is buying up properties and creating a land bank in hopes of spurring redevelopment.
Trying To Reclaim and Reuse Abandoned Land in Philadelphia
Community groups in Philadelphia are trying to remake blighted vacant properties into community gardens and neighborhood amenities.
Abandoned Power Plants, Amusement Parks, and More
Device Magazine features photos of places with deserted technology like the former Soviet nuclear submarine base in Balaklava, Ukraine and a ship graveyard in Lisbon, Portugal.
Quantifying the Impact of Abandoned Properties in Philly
A new study suggests that Philadelphia's 40,000 vacant buildings reduce home values by as much as $8,000 and cost the city $20 million per year in maintenance.
Blight Camouflage?
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the city has begun covering the broken windows and doors of abandoned homes with plywood painted to look like functioning doors and windows as part of a program to fight blight.
Cities Creating Land Banks to Deal with Vacant Properties
Abandoned and foreclosed properties are plaguing many cities. Now some are trying to turn the blight into prosperity by creating land banks to hold, remodel or demolish the properties -- and pull in some revenue while they're at it.
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.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
City of Bakersfield
Standridge Inc.
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service