Vacant Property Research Initiative

Hasse, Dagmar (2008). Urban Ecology of Shrinking Cities: An Unrecognized Opportunity? Nature and Culture, 3(1), 1-8. Abstract: "Whereas environmental and social impacts of urban sprawl are widely discussed among scholars from both the natural and social sciences, the spatial consequences of urban decline are nearly neglected when discussing the impacts of land transition. Within the last decade, "shrinkage" and "perforation" have arisen as new terms to explain the land use development of urban regions faced with demographic change, particularly decreasing fertility, aging, and out-migration. Although shrinkage is far from being a "desired" scenario for urban policy makers, this paper argues that a perforation of the built-up structure in dense cities might bring up many positive implications."

Fullilove, Mindy Thompson, M.D. "Psychiatric Implications of Displacement: Contributions from the Psychology of Place." The American Journal of Psychiatry, 1996: 1516- 1523. OBJECTIVE: "The purpose of this article is to describe the psychological processes that are affected by geographic displacement. METHOD: The literature from the fields of geography, psychology, anthropology, and psychiatry was reviewed to develop a "psychology of place" and to determine the manner in which place-related psychological processes are affected by upheaval in the environment. RESULTS: The psychology of place is an emerging area of research that explores the connection between individuals and their intimate environments. The psychology of place posits that individuals require a "good enough" environment in which to live. They are linked to that environment through three key psychological processes: attachment, familiarity, and identity. Place attachment, which parallels, but is distinct from, attachment to person, is a mutual caretaking bond between a person and a beloved place. Familiarity refers to the processes by which people develop detailed cognitive knowledge of their environs. Place identity is concerned with the extraction of a sense of self based on the places in which one passes one's life. Each of these psychological processes- attachment, familiarity, and place identity-is threatened by displacement, and the problems of nostalgia, disorientation, and alienation may ensue. CONCLUSIONS: As a result of war, decolonization, epidemics, natural disasters, and other disruptive events, millions of people are currently displaced from their homes. Protecting and restoring their mental health pose urgent problems for the mental health community."

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.

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