Grounds for Change: Activating Vacant Land | Explore | Cities

Railroad adjacencies and large tracts of vacant land act as large event spaces and take the place of traditional “commons.”

Biodelphia

Philadelphia, PA

Integrating biotechnology and the urban fabric.

Idea

Matthew Langan’s Urban Arboretum envisions a Philadelphia with trees lining every street and nurseries filling every vacant lot and odd corner.

The Urban Arboretum

Philadelphia, PA

Returning Philadelphia to forest.

Idea

Eastwick Alleywalk

Philadelphia, PA

Creating corridors and connecting parks and the city.

Idea

Vacancies as small as a single lot can host a hoop house full of greens.

Greening the Urban Appetite

Philadelphia, PA

Urban agriculture as a tool for economic recovery.

Idea

Embracing Fallowdelphia

Philadelphia, PA

Customizable ideas for direct action

Idea

The Produce Garden will sit side-by-side with a recreation field and basketball court.

Timescapes

Philadelphia, PA

Taking back the backyard

Idea

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Grow

Use the Grow section to explore innovative methods for planting, growing, farming, harvesting, reforesting, and building productive landscapes. This Category covers subject areas like urban agriculture, community gardening, and urban forestry. Issues addressed include food security, soil science, nutrition, and the socioeconomic importance of safe food production.

Water

In this category, creative solutions for managing stormwater and street runoff appear side by side with irrigation systems, canals, and fountains. Water solutions for cities range from networks of streetside swales to small-footprint greenhouses occupying single vacant lots. Emphasis is placed on reducing impermeable surfaces in cities—these include rooftops, sidewalks, and traditionally paved surfaces like playgrounds and basketball courts.

Power

Alternative energy sources available in urban contexts include solar power, wind power, and biofuels. Efficient green-building solutions and varied methods of bioremediation—preparing polluted urban soil for other uses—also appear in this diverse Category.

Play

Public space, education, recreation, and safety are serious considerations for anyone rehabilitating urban vacant lots. Explore the Play Category to find inspiring designs combining all of these elements in parks, community centers, playgrounds, and alternative transportation systems.

By Scale

Lots

Small solutions can often be the most accessible for individuals and communities, while producing the greatest positive impact. Explore our solutions for Lots to find compact architectural structures, mobile education units, pocket gardens, greenhouses, hydroponic beds, and many other projects for pocket-sized spaces.

Lots of Lots

More space means bigger opportunities: long-term, large-scale operations working to fit the needs of entire neighborhoods. Lots of Lots collects examples of—and ideas for—rehabilitating former industrial sites, entire blocks, and other big vacant sites requiring complex planning. Projects like these offer city governments and corporations the chance to support communities through funding, operational support, and policy change.

Corridors

Building Corridors brings together populations, businesses, and neighborhoods never before in close contact. Explore this Category to learn how urban networks of all kinds—from bicycle lanes to trail systems to small-scale barter economies—can capitalize on vacant properties to effect citywide change.

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