The book describes the history and role of local community organizations in revitalizing distressed neighborhoods in major cities around the United States.

Hoffman, Alexander von. House by House, Block by Block: The Rebirth of America's Urban Neighborhoods. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

 

Gale, Dennis E. Neighborhood Revitalization and the Postindustrial City: A Multinational Perspective. Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company, 1984.

 

 

 

 

Revitalizing the City: Strategies to Contain Sprawl and Revive the Core examines attempts at controlling urban growth and reviving central city economies- treated as not mutually exclusive endeavors.  Rather than re-hash theories of urban development, the chapter authors describe and evaluate real-world approaches to sustaining the metropolitan economy."

 

Wagner, Fritz W., Timothy E. Joder, Anthony J. Mumphrey Jr., Krishna M. Akundi, and Alan F.J. Artibise, eds. Revitalizing the City: Strategies to Contain Sprawl and Revive the Core. Richard D. Bingham and Larry C. Ledebur,eds. Cities and Contemporary Society. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2005.

Book presents a policy approach that cities can use to improve the physical condition of their neighborhoods and help urban residents compete for good jobs in the metropolitan economy.  Kromer's experience in Philadelphia reveals challenges and opportunities that can decisively influence the future of neighborhoods in many other American cities."

 

Kromer, John. Neighborhood Recovery: Investment Policy for the New Hometown. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2000.

This report by the Urban Land Institute focuses on the potential uses and advantages of flexible zoning over traditional zoning techniques.  The research in the publication focuses on the successes and failures of flexible zoning by focusing on seven communities around the United States as case studies.

Porter, Douglas R., Patrick L. Phillips, and Terry J. Lassar. "Flexible Zoning: How It Works." 1- 200. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Land Institute, 1988.

This article reviews the ways in which the public land banking process can affect residential land prices.

Carr, Jack, and Lawrence B. Smith. "Public Land Banking and the Price of Land."

The report is a summary of the "Deconstructing Flint" research project that was conducted by the author in 2006 and early 2007. It highlights Flint, Michigan in an effort to recommend methods of organized demolition and deconstruction for cities at large.

Janz, Wes. "Deconstructing Flint." 1-14: Submitted to Genesee Institute, Genesee County Land Bank, 2007.

This article focuses on the cost of police services that are associated with vacant properties, specifically in relation to Baltimore, MD. 

 

Winthrop, Bob, and Rebecca Herr. "Determining the Cost of Vacancies in Baltimore." Government Finance Review 25, no. 3 (2009): 39-42.

"Urban Ecology: Detroit and Beyond" compiles projects by the International Center for Urban Ecology (iCUE). Essays on Detroit and several other troubled cities are combined with non-urban and anti-architectural perspectives and community collaboration processes to encourage discourse on the decomposition and possible revitalization of cities.

Park, Kyong. Urban Ecology: Detroit and Beyond. Map Book Publishers, 2005

This article reviews the potential for brownfield sites to become the center of greening strategies for cities, including the creation of parks, playgrounds and trails. Ten brownfield- to - green space projects in Toronto were reviewed to identify the benefits of greening for communities and the role of the planning process in the greening projects.

De Sousa, C. A. (2003). "Turning brownfields into green space in the City of Toronto." Landscape and Urban Planning 62: 181-198.

This book presents twenty brownfield case studies that exemplify the economic benefits of brownfield reuse.

Pepper, Edith M. Lessons from the Field: Unlocking Economic Potential with an Environmental Key. Washington, D.C.: Northeast-Midwest Institute, 1997.

 

The book presents the opportunities and provides case studies of greyfields, including abandoned regional centers and malls that have been put into productive reuse through creative design.

Sobel, Lee S., Ellen Greenberg, and Steven Bodzin. Greyfields into Goldfields: Dead Malls Become Living Nieghborhoods. Pittsburgh: Congress for the New Urbanism, 2002.

"This paper was prepared pursuant to a Cooperative Agreement between the Economic Development Administration and The E.P. Systems Group, Inc. for a "Review of Economic Development Literature and Practice in Reclamation and Economic Regeneration of Brownfields." It draws on the practical experience of its authors and a broad literature that spans scholarly and policy analysis, state and federal guidance and application materials, trade journals, manuals and case studies relating to the problems of brownfield redevelopment. Our purpose is to demystify the mass of legalistic, technical, and often contradictory or out-of-date writings on the brownfields issue. Our goal is to inform the local economic development organization (EDO) or municipal agency charged with economic and/or community development in an area with potentially contaminated sites." (written by the authors) organization (EDO) or municipal agency charged with economic and/or community development in an area with potentially contaminated sites." (written by the authors)

Meyer, Peter B., and H. Wade VanLandingham. "Reclamation and Economic Regeneration of Brownfields." In Reviews of Economic Development Literature and Practice, 1-44, 2000.

The report discusses the usefulness of land use controls (LUCs) in brownfield cleanup and redevelopment, including state/ federal regulation, and methods that local governments are adopting to successfully utilize institutional controls.

Schilling, Joe, Christine Gaspar, and Nadejda Mishkovsky. "Beyond Fences: Brownfields and the Challenges of Land Use Controls." ICMA.

This report focuses on the various Brownfields Showcase Communities, highlighting the specific and more universal challenges that the communities faced when implementing the program.

Many authors. ICMA/ NEMW Research. "Brownfields Bleuprints: A Study of the Showcase Communities Initiative." 357. Washington, D.C.: International City/ County Management Association and Northeast- Midwest Institute, 2001.

Abstract: "Whether they are growing, shrinking, or just standing their ground, cities throughout the United States are looking for ways to reinvent and reinvigorate their urban landscapes. More and more, planners are employing urban greening strategies as tools to enhance the quality of life and create more sustainable metropolitan environments. This is especially true in places that have suffered the consequences of deindustrialization and economic decline over the past 50 years. This paper begins by briefly discussing the evolution of urban greening and the vast array of associated benefits. It then examines expanding efforts to use brownfield sites as opportunity spaces for greening, focusing on project types, planning activities, stakeholder involvement, and redevelopment outcomes. The paper ends with some key lessons from the field that can help planning professionals realize a greener future for our nation's cities."

De Sousa, C. 2010. "From Brown Liability to Green Opportunity: Reinventing Urban Landscapes," Carolina Planning (35): 3-12.

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.