Abstract: "The redevelopment of brownfields and the creation of green space in cities are two initiatives that are gaining support in the US, for they are perceived to be important elements for fostering urban revitalization and more sustainable development. Although these initiatives have evolved separately, the two have started to converge as governments, local communities and other stakeholders begin to consider brownfields as potential locations for green space. A barrier to this convergence, however, has been the focus of brownfield efforts on redevelopment that garners direct economic benefits, as well as the lack of information regarding the benefits that brownfield to green space projects can bring about. This paper examines the utilization and quality of life impacts of three brownfield to green space projects from the perspective of those using them and the affected communities. The perceptions of respondents (combined N ¼ 479) were assessed via three separate surveys, sharing common questions, which obtained written responses at the point of distribution or elicited mailed responses. The results indicate that these projects quickly achieve regular use and that users partake in a vast array of active and passive recreational activities. The projects also contribute in many ways to personal and community quality of life, particularly in terms of enhancing scenic beauty and neighborhood appeal, improving access to trails, recreation space, and nature, boosting community pride, removing blight, improving physical fitness and raising property values. In all, 90% of those surveyed felt that green space was a good use for brownfields."

De Sousa, C. 2006. "Unearthing the benefits of brownfield to green space projects: An examination of project use and quality of life impacts." Local Environment 11(5): 577-600.

Abstract: "Buffalo is among the cities with the highest vacancy rates in the US. Between 2000 and 2009, the number of tax foreclosure properties at the City's tax auction (in rem) increased. By 2009, the City owned more than 7000 vacant properties. In response to its vacancy epidemic, the City of Buffalo adopted an aggressive demolition plan with the goal of removing 5000 structures in five years. This effort, however, seemed futile since increased demolition efforts during the past few years have not resulted in a reduction in the total number of vacancies. High vacancy poses difficulties for neighborhood revitalization, management, public safety, and the delivery of vital services. The vacancy crisis is aggravated by continued job and population loses brought on by deindustrialization.

Vacant houses, buildings and land influence neighborhoods dynamically. For example, Yin (2009) concluded that homeowners decide whether to invest in or abandon their properties based on neighborhood conditions and other considerations (Yin, 2009). Silverman, Yin, and Patterson (under review) argued that the vacant properties in cities like Buffalo represent a permanent fixture of the urban mileu. Once established, they quickly spread in distressed neighborhoods impacted by job and population loss. The presence of these properties, which the authors label zombie properties, accelerates the downward trajectory of neighborhoods. In response to the growing problem of vacancy properties in declining cities scholars have forwarded a variety of policy recommendations. Bernt (2009) emphasizes the importance of new governance structures and public-private partnerships. Reese (2006) adds that substantial investment from state and federal government is necessary to mediate the impacts of property abandonment in cities. Shilling and Logan (2008) recommend that declining cities adopt green infrastructure in order to right size.

This study uses the agent-based approach to simulate how different types of owners (homeowners, speculative investors, and the city) decide on to the disposition of their property in response to neighborhood conditions and other property owners' decisions. After the model is validated, scenarios will be developed and simulated to demonstrate different policy effects (e.g. stepped up demolish, land banking, green infrastructure, rehabilitation, etc…).

The analysis will focus on a subset of neighborhoods in Buffalo. About two-third of the in rem properties are located on the city's East Side. This study will focus on the Fillmore District, which is located in this part of the city. This area has the largest concentration of in rem properties in Buffalo. Data used in the analysis include: parcel data and sales data from 2000 to 2009; in rem data for 2006 and 2010; crime data for 1996, 2006, and 2009 ; and HUD aggregate USPS address vacancy data. The model will reveal the dynamics of neighborhood decline and assists cities and policymakers in designing planning tools to address property vacancies. "

Yin, Li and Robert Silverman. "Do Vacant Properties Kill Neighborhoods? An Agent-Based Simulation of Property Abandonment." Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011.

Abstract: EPA's RE-Powering America initiative, DOE's Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy programs and HUD's Sustainable Communities efforts all are directed toward altering energy usage and/or generation at the local level. EPA's shift toward more area-wide approaches towards brownfield regeneration would appear to have the potential to complement those programs. However, in the absence of systematic community-based local energy plans, conflicts can arise and optimal energy policies may be missed.

For example, vacant lands, whether or not contaminated, might be used for local renewable energy generation directly (solar installations or wind farms), might be "greened" by growing biomass feedstocks and providing green open spaces, might serve as sites for geothermal heating/cooling pipe installation for the surrounding area, or might even serve as sites for small gas-fired electricity generating stations using waste heat for district heating. Existing businesses using heat in processing might be supported to cogenerate electricity. Derelict buildings may be found to be rehabilitated and retrofitted for energy efficiency if local initiatives took total energy consumption into consideration in the planning process, since demolition and new construction involve much more energy than retrofits.

All of these initiatives constitute potential contributions to sustainable communities, but they also could be considered Locally Undesirable Land Uses, depending on their neighborhood settings. That is, a wind farm might be appropriate on an abandoned site in an industrial zone, but a LULU in a residential area, while growing biomass feedstocks in a dense residential area with little greenspace is a positive, but may contribute to higher vehicle miles traveled if it extends distances between places of employment and residences. Providing community access to ground-heated and cooled water with a centralized geothermal system on a vacant site may help lower heating and cooling costs for surrounding residences, but may only serve as an overall positive if it did not contribute to displacement and gentrification of an area or pose excessive negative external effects in its installation.

Such efforts need to be planned. Planned NOT as individual projects, or developments for a single site, but considered as part of a broader planning process that integrates communities, residents, businesses and other stakeholders in the process. All too frequently, that community involvement is missing, causing environmental justice failures and leading to resistance to innovative land uses, causing the NIMBY response to what need not necessarily be LULUs.

This paper will examine the efforts of member localities of the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals that have pursued some energy plans for vacant lands and/or developed local energy plans. Findings on the integration of land use, energy and development planning in that sample will be derived, using survey results from NALGEP, with follow-up interviews. A further perspective on those findings will be drawn from a detailed case study of Kansas City, MO, a recipient of one of the DOE competitive grants under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program, an element of the ARRA. Kansas City's program is consciously neighborhood-focused, so it provides an excellent case, and access is facilitated by the author's role as financial management advisor to their planning and implementation efforts.

Conclusions will be derived about the extent to which needed community involvement and comprehensive planning efforts are being committed as part of local efforts to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy use.

Meyer, Peter. "Planning for Urban Regeneration and Energy Investments: Issues of Conflict and Compatibility." Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011.

Abstract: This paper analyzes the role of social capital and Community Development Corporations (CDCs) in Cincinnati's inner-suburbs as tools to combat suburban decline. Building off of previous research on social capital and community development, this research examines the social capital - community development link within three first-ring suburbs in Greater Cincinnati and presents the research methodology and preliminary findings. In doing so, it outlines the challenges of the first-suburbs, in light of suburban decline.

This analysis also addresses the role and function of social capital as a community development tool, including opportunities for urban non-profit housing CDCs in promoting neighborhood revitalization within the inner-ring suburbs. Over the last several decades' first-suburbs have experienced characteristics of suburban decline (i.e., shrinking business districts, declining residential neighborhoods, population loss, and the emergence of crime and deterioration) (Lucy and Phillips, 2006). The problems facing first-suburbs have been exacerbated with the current foreclosure crisis and economic recession. With elected officials and administrators of first-suburban communities facing budget constraints and increased threats to neighborhood stability, it is important to revisit the concept of social capital as a tool for community development.

The use of social capital as a mechanism of community development has been explored for over the last two decades (Gittell and Vidal, 1998; Temkin and Rohe, 1998; Putnam, 2000; Woolcock, 2001). However, much of the research on this topic focused on its role and function in the revitalization of low-income inner-city communities across the United States; and to a lesser extent on low to middle-income first-suburban communities within the US.

Research evidence from the literature indicates that some form of social capital is necessary for neighborhood revitalization to occur within the inner-ring suburbs. Yet, the extent to which social capital is able to address all the challenges of first-ring suburbs depends on the specific context in which it first-suburban communities mobilize their social capital to implement community development initiatives.

This research employs a case study analysis approach using semi-structured interviews and social network analysis of community based social capital networks (e.g., bonding, bridging, and linking) as well as photo-documentation of neighborhood conditions within the first-suburbs.

Mitchell Brown, Joanna.  "Combating Suburban Decline: The Role of Social Capital and CDCs."  Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011.

In this paper, shrinking cities refer to cities that have experienced decades-long sustained population loss and, in the United States, those that continued to lose population through the 2000s. Of the largest 50 U.S. cities, 12 lost population in consecutive decades from 1980 to 2000 (Beauregard, 2009). Population loss weakens property demand, resulting in vacant parcels and blight. At the single lot and block level, art, agriculture and adaptive reuse-whether permanent or ephemeral-demonstrate that community members creatively respond to their circumstances and new opportunities (Oswalt, 2006). In shrinking cities, however, parcel level interventions have been insufficient to alleviate all problems associated with abandoned property, and city agencies must still manage vacant land with limited resources in a weak real estate market (Dewar, 2006).

Abandoned property adversely impacts residents' life quality, and residents in neighborhoods with lower incomes and more rentals experience worse effects. No federal programs have been designed to specifically address citywide depopulation, but local and state governments use varied resources to manage vacant land and stimulate redevelopment. A large portion of federal aid comes in the form of subsidies for housing production, and as a result, federal housing programs become a key part of state and local government efforts to redevelop depopulated neighborhoods. Researchers have also investigated the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program as a source of neighborhood reinvestment (Deng, forthcoming). Drawing on the findings that the structure and implementation of vacant land management strategies impact how vacant land is reused, even when comparing cities that face similarly weak real estate markets (Dewar, 2006), this paper uses a counterfactual analysis to lay out possible alternative scenarios if similar public investment was deployed in different ways.

This paper analyzes possible outcomes from the 2006-2010 LIHTC projects in New Orleans. Most projects are large, multi-family, single-site developments and are concentrated in specific areas. We examine the following four scenarios. 1) The vacant lots or blighted property that would be occupied if the same number of units were developed in the neighborhoods that surrounds the tax credit projects in the form of the detached singles and doubles that characterize New Orleans neighborhoods. 2) The number of lots that could have been developed in scattered site, infill projects with the same total investment. 3) The impact of new units on anticipated housing demand with attention to the location of new housing in relationship to comparably priced housing. 4) A comparable investment in a small landlord oriented program for the rental housing market. The calculations include total project subsidies from any public source.

New Orleans is a useful city for a counterfactual analysis. In the period prior to Katrina, 65 of New Orleans' 72 neighborhoods had lost population. The total population had declined from a peak of over 627,000 in 1960 to an estimated 452,000 in 2005. The population fell dramatically to 343,829 in 2010 as a result of the 2005 flooding. The subsequent rebuilding shifted development patterns to reflect anticipated demand.

More attention to the impacts of federal policies and programs in shrinking cities is relevant to planning practice and theory. Planning scholars and practitioners alike celebrate community based responses to disinvestment but there are few examples to show how these transcend neighborhood scale improvements. A counterfactual analysis proposes different opportunities and envisions alternatives to existing programs. It also helps illuminate the limits of current programs and raises questions about what policies would help stabilize cities with sustained population loss as well as the neighborhoods within them.

Riekes Trivers, Ian and Renia Ehrenfeucht.  "The Possibilities of LIHTC Projects in a City with Long Term Population Loss: A Counterfactual Analysis of Post- Katrina New Orleans."  Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011

Abstract: Vacant and abandoned properties are not only an urban ill troubling shrinking industrial cities in the United States, they are also a problem facing many growing urban areas as new development sprawls outward at the urban fringes and leaves central neighborhoods increasingly plagued with vacant or underused lots. The emergence of declining neighborhoods in urban areas has been credited to several distinct, but not mutually exclusive causes, including suburbanization, deindustrialization, housing market discrimination, and racial segregation.

 

These explanations all focus on social or economic factors that have gradually weakened central cities over a period of several decades. Much less attention has been given to the impact that an abrupt natural disaster may have on land vacancy and abandonment. Nevertheless, understanding this relationship holds important relevance to the neighborhood transition theory. It also bears timely policy significance as natural disasters have become an increasing threat facing American metropolises.

 

This research aims to fill this gap in the literature. It examines the impact of an abrupt catastrophic natural disaster on residential property vacancy and abandonment. Using the discrete time hazard model with parcel level land use data in Miami-Dade county, Florida, from two years prior to and eight years after Hurricane Andrew (1991-2000), the analysis shows that Hurricane Andrew triggered wide spread property vacancy and abandonment in its impact area, especially in neighborhoods already in decline. Occurrence of vacancy and abandonment is determined by damage intensity, and the pre-event neighborhood socio-demographic characteristics. The analysis also shows that vacant and abandoned properties exert a negative spillover effect that can induce a succession of vacancy and abandonment over space and time. This research concludes with a discussion about its theoretical relevance and planning implications regarding neighborhood transition and disaster recovery.

Zhang, Yang.  "Will Natural Disasters Accelerate Neighborhood Decline?"  Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011

Abstract: Economic decline associated with the current economic recession has hit many places hard, but few have seen a whole shift in its physical form as New Bedford. Once the whaling capital of the world, New Bedford today is but a shell of its former self. Neighborhoods littered with foreclosed and abandoned homes, empty factories, and little hope for the future, New Bedford would seem an unlikely place for the application of one of the most innovative and creative strategies around. Albeit informal, New Bedford's local government has adopted a strategy to shrink the physical plant of the city to better match its declining population. New Bedfordians are embracing the language and policies of an emerging group of practitioners and scholars working under the umbrella of "shrinking cities." They reject the growth-based paradigm that feeds much of urban planning and local government intervention in North America (Oswalt 2006; Pallagst 2007; Hollander et al. 2009). Rather than trying to grow every declining city, the shrinking cities approach argues that not all cities must grow back to their former glory. Instead of chasing industry with hefty incentives and the other standard economic development tools, for some cities it might be prudent to just focus on improving the quality of life for those left behind. For New Bedford, like most American cities the idea would appear heretical, but its message today is salient and holds the potential to transform disaster into hope and promise.

Looking closely at New Bedford is important because this port city is not alone in facing depopulation. Over the last three years, growing public attention has centered on the fall-out from the sub-prime lending debacle that has resulted in massive foreclosures, widespread housing vacancy, and depopulation in the throughout the U.S. (Packer 2009; Florida 2009; Goodman 2007; Leland 2007). With economic conditions uncertain, employment levels unstable, and the high likelihood for greater population loss, what can local government do to help? This paper begins to offer an answer through a detailed analysis of the history, politics, environment, and planning strategies of one such shrinking city, New Bedford.

This paper is based on background and historical study of the city - charting its past population booms and busts, and describing current political and planning affairs. The empirical portion of this project has three components, the first is the basis of this paper. It involves a spatial analysis of the historical and present land use conditions in New Bedford, with particularly close attention paid to three case study neighborhoods. The research begins with a collection of historic Sanborn maps, Geographic Information System (GIS) data, and photographic evidence to examine how building location, density, and form have changed over the last half-century. That data was then cross-validated against the results from an extensive historical analysis of local government policy and planning reports during the same period.

Hollander, Justin. "Urban Shrinkage and City Responses: How New Bedford, Massachusetts Physically Changed From 1930- 2010." Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011.

Abstract: Many cities around the country combat increases in abandoned properties, as these properties often become an eyesore in urban landscape. In particular, old industrial cities where a large number of abandoned lots are left behind try to convert the lots into productive or beneficial uses. Community gardens are gaining popularity as an alternative use for abandoned vacant lots, as they can contribute to revitalizing the communities by eliminating blight and nuisance from abandonment and by increasing food security.

While some abandoned lots are successfully converted into community gardens if not redeveloped to other uses, some lots remain vacant even after cleaned up. What makes such a difference in the use of abandoned lots? This study tries to answer this question by identifying the factors that determine the conversion of abandoned lots into community gardens. Generally, one can expect that abandoned vacant lots in disadvantaged neighborhoods, where income is low, unemployment rate is high, and groceries are absent, are more likely to be converted into community gardens than elsewhere. It is because in those neighborhoods, demand for food and labor supply for gardening is high while demand for other productive uses on vacant lots is relatively low. The characteristics of an individual lot will play a role in determining the conversion, including ownership, lot size, market price of land, and accessibility. Policy environments such as tax incentives and public-private partnerships will also influence the development of community gardens.

In order to identify these determinants of conversion to community gardens, we look at community gardens and vacant lots in the City of Philadelphia. The city has about 40,000 vacant lots, but only fraction of them has turned into community gardens. Using a discrete choice model, we model different uses of abandoned lots at the individual parcel level. Specifically, we identify the abandoned vacant lots that have been converted into community gardens, and examine the determinants of the conversion in terms of individual lot and neighborhood characteristics, and policy environments.

A wide range of data is used for characteristics of lots and neighborhoods. For lot characteristics such as land use, size, ownership, taxes, and market price, we use the Philadelphia Neighborhood Information System (NIS) and a city-wide survey conducted by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in October, 2004. For neighborhood characteristics, we use published data such as the Philadelphia NIS, Census of Population and Housing, and Census Transportation Planning Package.

The results can be applied to deal with abandoned property problems and to choose suitable location for community gardens in practice. While identifying the abandoned vacant lots that are likely to be greened, the study in effect uncovers the determinants of demand or need for community gardens, and finds the cost factors for greening abandoned lots. This information will be useful in analyzing feasibility of converting an abandoned lot into a community garden.

Park, In Kwon, and Patricia Ciorci. "To be Abandoned, or to be Greened." Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011.

Farris, J. Terrence. "Evolution from Urban Renewal to Community Development- Implications for Shrinking Cities." Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011.

Abstract: Urban redevelopment policy continues to evolve based on the experience of many programs and attempts at revitalization, primarily since the 1949 Housing Act. Various programs have created building blocks to learn successful approaches. We have learned many of the key issues, and yet there are still competing and conflicting strategies as to how to approach urban revitalization, especially in Shrinking Cities. Strategies need to vary based on the market potential of the community and individual neighborhoods within that community. Many public-private partnerships of today are urban renewal under a new name.

I will focus on various key historical aspects from 1949 (start of slum clearance program) through 1990 (Cranston Gonzalez Act) pertaining to conflicting goals and strategies. Specifically, I will discuss perspectives on clearance vs. rehab and conservation, displacement, citizen participation, local administrative organization, housing strategies, triage concepts/site selection, evolution of public private partnerships from land assembly through direct finance, national urban market trends, integration, and related political debates on the nature of community organization. I intend to show the weaving of ideas that truly started with our experiences in urban renewal-that program laid the foundation of experiences that have affected policy ever since-positively and negatively.

I intend to lay out key strategies for Shrinking Cities to pursue or consider based on this historical evolution, including the possibility that the urban renewal program concepts might be more workable today, given the level of abandonment, than when they were originally pursued in crowded cities of the 1950s.

I am presently on sabbatical researching urban renewal history focusing on St. Louis within a national context. I will be analyzing peer reviewed literature; recent books on renewal history in Boston, New York City, Detroit, Baltimore, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and St. Louis; renewal archives in St. Louis; early HHFA archives regarding early policy deliberations; and early ASPO and NAHRO documents on urban renewal.

I have a unique understanding of renewal history. My father was the Deputy Director of urban renewal nationally for the Housing and Home Finance Agency (predecessor to HUD) when the program was founded in the 1949 Housing Act and served as Executive Director for redevelopment in St. Louis from 1953-1966 and 1969-1988 for five mayors and for the St. Louis Housing Authority from 1955-1966-he was a national leader in the redevelopment arena. And I had a 17-year professional career in public-private partnerships prior to joining academia in 1991, working in over 40 communities in ten states on urban renewal and community development. I worked on national HUD studies on closing out the urban renewal program and the start-up of the CDBG program as a consultant with Real Estate Research Corporation under Dr. Anthony Downs. I was also Director of Development supervising 40 staff for the St. Louis Development Corporation for five years.

References
Ballon, Hillary and Kenneth T. Jackson, ed. 2007. Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York. W.W. Norton and Company.von Hoffman, Alexander. 2000. "A Study in Contradictions: The Origins and Legacy of the Housing Act of 1949." Housing Policy Debate, 11 (2), 299-326
Farris, J. Terrence. 2001. "The Barriers to Using Urban Infill Development to Achieve Smart Growth," Housing Policy Debate, 12 (1), 1-30.
Teaford, Jon C. 2000. "Urban Renewal and Its Aftermath." Housing Policy Debate, 11(2), 443-465
Thomas, June Manning. 1997. Redevelopment and Race: Planning A Finer City in Postwar Detroit. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
von Hoffman, Alexander. 2000. "A Study in Contradictions: The Origins and Legacy of the Housing Act of 1949." Housing Policy Debate, 11 (2), 299-326

Mallach, Alan. "Meeting the Challenge of Distressed Property Investors in America's Neighborhoods." 1- 91. New York, NY: LISC, 2010. Introduction: "The mortgage crisis that has gripped the United States since 2007 has resulted in property owners losing millions of properties through foreclosure, with a loss of hundreds of billions of dollars in individual and community assets. Through the foreclosure process, the majority of these properties have been taken back by the mortgage lender and become 'real-estate-owned' or REO properties. For the first year or so after foreclosures took off in 2007, with lenders unprepared to deal with these properties and few buyers of any sort in the marketplace, REO properties often went begging. By the end of 2008, however, that was no longer the case. Private property investors - from "mom & pop" investors buying one or two properties to Wall Street firms and consortia of foreign investors buying entire portfolios - had moved back into the market in large numbers. Since early 2009, the ranks of investors have steadily grown, while it has become less accurate to refer to them as 'REO investors'. Rather than waiting for properties to come into lenders' REO inventories, distressed property investors - as they are more appropriately known - have been increasingly buying houses through short sales, buying non-performing mortgages, or bidding against foreclosing lenders at foreclosure sales. Today, their presence is a major factor in the marketplace of nearly every metropolitan area experiencing large numbers of foreclosures. Their activities are having a powerful effect on neighborhoods generally and on the neighborhood stabilization efforts of cities and non-profit community development corporations (CDCs) in particular. Their effect, however, is a matter of considerable disagreement and even controversy. The purpose of this report is twofold: first, to offer insight into how distressed property investors operate, and how their activ

Walker, Chris, Sarah Rankin, and Francisca Winston. "New Approaches to Comprehensive Neighborhood Change: Replicating and Adapting LISC's Building Sustainable Communities Program." New York, NY: LISC, 2010. In 2006, LISC issued in-house requests for proposals to select 10 cities to participate in the Building Sustainable Communities program, a national expansion of its comprehensive approach to community development, which it had piloted in Chicago through the New Communities Program (NCP). Adopting the core elements of comprehensive community development in a varied set of cities would further test the ability of the approach to offer transferrable lessons for LISC and the field as a whole. This report by LISC's Research and Assessment team is the first installment of a long-term assessment of how the NCP platform has been replicated in the first 10 demonstration cities of the Sustainable Communities program. The authors conclude that a large majority of the 38 neighborhoods involved in Sustainable Communities are replicating the NCP model, based on examining the following elements: * Target neighborhoods and their challenges * Supportive and effective community leadership * Quality-of-life planning and comprehensive programs * Intermediation and systemic support "Some sites are blessed with ample foundation support for neighborhood development; others less so. In some neighborhoods, leadership is highly concentrated in one of two organizations that work well together; in others, leadership is diffuse and fractious. Nevertheless, the approach has proven adaptable enough to work well across different neighborhoods in Chicago. Can it be adapted to different neighborhood and city contexts simultaneously?" The report's findings are based on the LISC research staff's review of program documents, neighborhood-level statistics, and reports from LISC staff members and technical assistance consultants.

United States Government Accountability Office. "Mortgage Foreclosures: Additional Mortgage Servicer Actions Could Help Reduce the Frequency and Impact of Abandoned Foreclosures." 1-86. Washington, D.C.: U.S. GAO, 2010. Summary: "Entities responsible for managing home mortgage loans--called servicers--may initiate foreclosure proceedings on certain delinquent loans but then decide to not complete the process. Many of these properties are vacant. These abandoned foreclosure--or "bank walkaway"--properties can exacerbate neighborhood decline and complicate federal stabilization efforts. GAO was asked to assess (1) the nature and prevalence of abandoned foreclosures, (2) their impact on communities, (3) practices that may lead servicers to initiate but not complete foreclosures and regulatory oversight of foreclosure practices, and (4) actions some communities have taken to reduce abandoned foreclosures and their impacts. GAO analyzed servicer loan data from January 2008 through March 2010 and conducted case studies in 12 cities. GAO also interviewed representatives of federal agencies, state and local officials, nonprofit organizations, and six servicers, among others, and reviewed federal banking regulations and exam guidance. Among other things, GAO recommends that the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) require servicers they oversee to notify borrowers and communities when foreclosures are halted and to obtain updated valuations for selected properties before initiating foreclosure. The Federal Reserve neither agreed nor disagreed with these recommendations. OCC did not comment on the recommendations. Using data from large and subprime servicers and government-sponsored mortgage entities representing nearly 80 percent of mortgages, GAO estimated that abandoned foreclosures are rare--representing less than 1 percent of vacant homes between January 2008 and March 2010. GAO also found that, while abandoned foreclosures have occurred

Follain, James R., PhD. "A Study of Real Estate Markets in Declining Cities." 1-84. Washington, D.C: Research Institute for Housing America of the Mortgage Bankers Association, 2010. From Executive Summary: "The "Great Recession" of 2007 to 2009 has taken a great toll on housing markets in most cities and metropolitan areas in all parts of the country. Though the pace and extent of the overall economic recovery of these markets is still far from certain, many places will likely resume growth and fully recover within the next decade or so. This is almost certainly not to be the case for all metropolitan areas. In fact, a number of large metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) experienced severe recessions during the latter half of the 20th century and prior to the Great Recession and never fully recovered or took many years to do so. Even among those metro areas with relatively bright long-run prospects for growth, certain submarkets within them may remain well below recent house price peaks for many years to come. What is a declining city? Simply put, a declining city is one in which the people have left, but the houses, apartment buildings, offices and storefronts remain. At the extreme, think of a ghost town from the Old West, a town that lost its reason for being. Are there cities or large metro areas in the United States at risk of disappearing back into the desert (or the swamp) today? Probably not, but there are certainly neighborhoods and submarkets within metro areas that have passed a tipping point, and have little prospect of returning to anything close to their previous peaks. Lastly, another type of declining city may also be emerging - places that grew substantially during the housing boom and are now experiencing unprecedented declines in house prices and increases in foreclosures. The primary goal of this paper is to offer insights on the potential future evolution of real estate markets in cities that are in the midst of a severe and persistent

NeighborWorks America. "Implementing the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP): Community Stabilization in the Neighborworks Network." 1-84. Washington, D.C.: Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation d/b/a Neighborhworks America, 2010.

Kim, Joongsub. "Role of Contemporary Urbanisms in a Shrinking Cities Syndrome." Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011.

KIM, Joongsub [Lawrence Technological University] jkim@ltu.edu

Paper Abstract: The shrinking cities syndrome is a worldwide phenomenon impacting major cities, but especially cities in the United States, Japan, and Europe. Suburbanization, declining urban populations, and the decline of the manufacturing industries are among the major factors contributing to this phenomenon. As the shrinking cities syndrome has swept over cities around the world over the last few decades, several urbanisms or urban theories have been emerging. Proponents of these emerging urbanisms have claimed that their models offer a better approach to handling suburbanization and other urban ills. While the emerging urbanisms address suburban sprawl and related urban challenges, there is little research investigating any meaningful relationship between the syndrome and the theories. This paper aims to investigate whether the emerging urbanisms have had any success in addressing a shrinking cities syndrome, and if so, how. Five contemporary urbanisms that are among the most frequently debated by scholars are chosen for this research. They include Landscape Urbanism, New Urbanism, Critical Regionalism, Everyday Urbanism, and Integral Urbanism. These urbanisms are selected because they are more relevant to two issues that this paper focuses on: sustainability and revitalization of underserved urban communities in the United States. While these urban paradigms claim their models promote sustainability to address suburbanization, this paper argues that they have neglected disadvantaged urban communities in the United States. Moreover, despite the fact that population loss and vacant land crisis are among the key phenomena of a shrinking cities syndrome, and that these phenomena are taking place mainly in distressed urban communities, both the emerging urbanisms and a shrinking cities model have not paid enough attention to crises facing underserved urban neighborhoods. This paper aims to assess the selected contemporary urbanisms. This study discusses strengths and weaknesses of each urbanism, focusing on how well each addresses the shrinking cities syndrome, how well each promotes sustainability, and how successfully each responds to key crises affecting underserved communities in the United States. The paper concludes by suggesting agendas of further research in the shrinking cities syndrome, and ways in which the emerging urbanisms can contribute toward a constructive solution.

References
Hollander, J.B. (2010). Moving Toward a Shrinking Cities Metric: Analyzing Land Use Changes Associated With Depopulation in Flint, Michigan. Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research 12(1)
Waldheim, C. (2006). Landscape as urbanism. In C. Waldheim (Ed.), The landscape urbanism reader (pp. 35-53). New York: Princeton Architectural Press
Larice, M. and Macdonald, E. (2007). The urban design reader. London and New York: Routledge
Ellin, N. (2006). Integral urbanism. New York: Routledge
Chase, J., Crawford, M., and Kaliski, J. (1999). Everyday urbanism. New York: Monacelli Press

Vidal, Avis. "Can Anchor Institutions Save Midtown Detroit: Early Evidence from '15x 15' Initiative." Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011.

VIDAL, Avis [Wayne State University] a.vidal@wayne.edu


Paper Abstract: Anchor institutions in distressed urban neighborhoods have become increasingly visible as agents of neighborhood improvement. The University of Pennsylvania is probably the best known example of such an anchor institution, but is by no means alone. As early as the 1950s, universities like the University of Chicago and Yale decided to make significant investments in their surroundings to keep them safe and attractive to mainly white students as the cities around them became increasingly black and poor. More recently, universities as varied as University of Illinois at Chicago, Trinity College, Howard University, and University of Southern California have committed to major investment programs. These institutions are attracting partners - including city governments and major foundations - who see them as key entries in the "short list" of major employers that are committed to remaining in the city and dependent on improved neighborhood environments to compete successfully. The Ford Foundation, the Casey Foundation, the Cleveland Foundation, and CEOs for Cities are prominent among the supporters of what many have labeled the "eds and meds" strategy.

This approach has now found its way to Detroit at a critical time in the City's history. Faced with massive abandonment and vast tracts of vacant land that the City cannot afford to serve, Mayor Dave Bing has launched the Detroit Works Project, which seeks to identify neighborhoods that can survive and thrive despite the wrenching economic restructuring facing the region and provide incentives to consolidate housing and investment in those neighborhoods. One such neighborhood is Midtown, home to Wayne State University, the Detroit Medical Center, and Henry Ford Health System, as well as to a host of major cultural institutions. The three lead anchors have launched the "15x15" initiative, which aims to bring 15,000 educated young people to live in the neighborhood by 2015. While the initiative was announced in 2009, recent receipt of matching funds from local foundations has stimulated each of the three anchors to create an attractive and well- publicized package of incentives to entice employees and students to live in the surrounding community.

This paper will examine this initiative and assess its early performance. It will be based on interviews with key staff of the anchors institutions involved, their funders and advisors, realtors and developers with whom they have been working, and a sample of early participants. Key issues include whether the funds are fully subscribed (including the incentives to new home purchasers), how many individuals and households are affected, who takes advantage of the program, and whether the incentives are adequate to stimulate rental or purchase of market-rate dwellings.

References
David C. Perry and Wim Wiewel, eds. The University as Urban Developer: Case Studies and Analysis. (M.E.Sharpe, 2005).
Judith Rodin. The University and Urban Revival: Out of the Ivory Tower and Into the Streets. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007).

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Nasar, Jack, Victoria Morckel, and Jennifer Cowley.  “Save that House! An Examination of Demolition Ordinance.”  Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011.

 

Paper Abstract: To deter home demolitions or tear downs replaced with McMansions, communities may adopt demolition delay or moratorium ordinances. A delay ordinance delays a demolition but ultimately gives the property owner the right to demolish the structure. A moratorium stops or suspends all demolitions in the given area for a set period of time, perhaps, while the community considers a change in code or an update to a comprehensive plan. The property owners must demonstrate to the community why they should be permitted to demolish the building. Although tear-downs and demolitions happen regularly, there is little scholarly attention to them.

 

To learn more about these ordinances and their effectiveness, we e-mailed a survey to officials in 331 U.S. communities which had such ordinances (68.0 % had delay ordinances, 28.4 % had moratoriums, and 3.6% had both) and contact information. The survey had questions about the types of ordinances communities have to control demolitions, the length of the ordinances and what triggers enforcement of the ordinances, the number of applications for demolitions and actual demolitions that occurred in a set period, challenges to the ordinances, revisions to the ordinance, other regulations that control demolitions, as well as questions about background information on the participant and their community. Only 12.7% responded, possibly because participants had to do some detailed research.

 

Most of the ordinances were in states east of the Mississippi and most of them covered historic places, but approximately one third covered a broad community without any historic places or districts in it. As expected, demolition delay ordinances were more common than demolition moratoriums. We also found that the number of delay ordinances has been increasing over time. Delay ordinances on average suspended the demolition of a structure for six months. The length of the delay was not correlated at a statistically significant level with measures related to the number of demolitions before and after the ordinance. None of the communities that had data available on demolitions prior to and after passage of a delay ordinance experienced an increase in demolitions after the passage of the ordinance; 50 % reported a decrease in demolitions, and 50 % reported no change. Older ordinances were neither more nor less effective than newer ones. Tracking and collecting data from a larger sample of communities is necessary, as is further research on whether an ordinance is effective at raising community awareness about demolitions.

 

Qualitative data suggested other alternatives or variations for communities to consider, such as a demolition tax used by a community in Illinois, which reduced demolitions from 13 per year to nine per year, requiring a building permit before allowing a demolition to occur, or requiring fees to be paid for vacant buildings and having those fees increase each year the building is vacant.

 

Overall the verdict is still out. Some respondents had positive comments on the ordinances others were more skeptical. Context may affect the impact of the ordinances. An older declining community may see demolitions as a way to get rid of “eyesores,” whereas an area with high demand may experience demolitions as a way to upgrade structures. The increase in the number of ordinances highlights a need for better data on their effectiveness. For that, one would need a larger sample of places with each control. Thus, we hope that communities that adopt demolition regulations track the number of demolitions and applications per year prior to and after adopting the ordinance. We also believe that research might also do well to consider other measures.

 

References

Gale, D. (1991). The impacts of historic district designation: Planning policy implications. Journal of the American Planning Association, 57, 127-142.

Langdon, P. (1991). In elite communities, a torrent of teardowns. Planning, 57, 25–27.

Nasar, J. L., Evans-Cowley, J. S., & Mantero, V. (2007). McMansions: The extent and regulation of super-sized houses. Journal of Urban Design, 12, 339-358.

Szold, T. (2005). Mansionization and its discontents: Planners and the challenge of regulating monster homes. Journal of the American Planning Association, 71, 189-202.

Weber, R., Doussard, M., Dev Bhatta, S., & McGrath, D. (2006). Tearing the city down: Understanding demolition activity in gentrifying neighborhoods, Journal of Urban Affairs, 28, 19-41.

Langegger, Sig. "Community Gardens as New Forms of Public Space." Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011.

LANGEGGER, Sig [University of Colorado, Denver] slangegger@gmail.com


Paper Abstract: Vacant lots present city managers and neighborhood residents with myriad problems. They are often trash strewn, tangible signs of neighborhood decay, and thus negatively affect the assessed values of adjacent properties Additionally, they often serve as locations for dangerous or illicit activities. As part of neighborhood revitalization strategies, cities in financial straits often allow, even encourage, neighborhood-driven gardening efforts to morph vacant lots into verdant community gardens. By producing healthy foods and engaging residents, these community-driven, community-funded efforts impact neighborhood well-being and health. But they often do more. Community gardens raise the property values of surrounding parcels (Voicu & Been, 2008). Interestingly, certain community gardens serve their neighborhoods as de facto pocket parks, replete with landscaping, benches and even BBQ grills.

Since many scholars deride the erosion of the publicness of existing parks and plazas through behavior-regulating rules, increased surveillance and a more general privatization and commodification of space (Nemeth, 2010), the emergence of neighborhood-driven public spaces proves an interesting phenomenon. Nonetheless, despite their ostensible public benefits, community gardens are always considered temporary land uses and thus always face eventual destruction by the exchange-value logics of urban development. Communities struggle to save gardens threatened by development. Yet efforts rarely center on benefits to publics wider than a community of gardeners.

In this paper, I ask two related questions. First, can the legitimation of certain types of gardens as public spaces help save them from destruction? And second, how can planners and city managers learn to consider the publicness of community gardens in land-use decisions and comprehensive planning? Answering these questions necessitates empirical examination of the physical, legal and social factors that contribute to the publiness of community gardens. In this effort, I examine the property regimes governing three park-like community gardens in Denver, Colorado. Related to regime theory, property regime inquiry involves first considering public space as a specific form of property and then examining the various claims to property rights made by various actors along with the power asymmetries that obligate certain parties to recognize some rights while trumping others (Staeheli & Mitchell, 2008). Using Setha Low's (1981) Rapid Ethnographic Assessment Procedure to explore their publicness, I examine the neighborhood context of each garden; I conduct interpretive policy analysis on documents regulating gardens; I construct time-space behavior maps of activities in gardens at different times of day, week and season; I employ visual analysis of garden growth and behavioral-trace patterns; and I interview gardeners and neighborhood residents to gain insight into their perceptions of garden publicness. This paper will present the results of these analyses: I expect to find that garden publicness is affected most by: the non-gardening meanings of the garden to both residents and gardeners, the diversity of claims to occupy them, balanced power relations between those who claim rights and those who are obligated to recognize them, neighborhood gentrification and the garden's regulatory and legal framework.
This work serves as a central component of my dissertation at the University of Colorado Denver, which is supervised by Dr. Jeremy Németh.

References
Low, S. M. (1981). Social Science Methods in Landscape Architecture Design. Landscape Planning, 8, 137-148.
Nemeth, J. (2010). Security in public space: an empirical assessment of three US cities. Environment and Planning A, 42(10), 2487-2507.
Staeheli, L., & Mitchell, D. (2008). The People's Property?: Power, Politics, and the Public. New York: Routledge.
Voicu, I., & Been, V. (2008). The Effect of Community Gardens on Neighboring Property Values. Real Estate Economics, 36(2), 241-283.

Cleveland Community Research Partners and ReBuild Ohio. (2008). "$60 Million and Counting: The Cost of Vacant and Abandoned Properties to Eight Ohio Cities." Executive Summary: "This research documents the magnitude and cost of the vacant and abandoned properties problem in eight Ohio cities Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Ironton, Lima, Springfield, Toledo, Zanesville. The research found: * 25,000 vacant and abandoned properties * Widespread vacancies in both large and small cities * $15 million in annual city service costs * $49 million in cumulative lost property tax revenues to local governments and school districts * Weakened neighborhood housing markets with evidence of property flipping * Limited capacity of cities, on their own, to track and address vacant and abandoned properties

Samsa, Matthew J. (2008). "Reclaiming Abandoned Properties: Using Public Nuisance Suits and Land Banks to Pursue Economic Redevelopment," Cleveland State Law Review 56:189-232. Excerpt from Report: "This Note examines the methods of attacking abandonment. The next section, Part II, describes the problems presented by abandoned and vacant housing. Part III examines the effectiveness of code enforcement and traditional tax foreclosure. Part IV analyzes privatized nuisance abatement suits and receiverships. Part V discusses land banks. Part VI argues that using broadly empowered privatized nuisance abatement suits for individual parcels and land banks for mass acquisitions is the most effective means of addressing abandoned property, and Part VII concludes with a brief review of the overall abandonment discussion.