Transferring Vacant Lots to Private Ownership Improves Care and Empowers Residents

Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings

Several U.S. cities have implemented vacant lot greening programs as planning strategies to address decreased tax base, crime, and other issues associated with high land vacancy in marginalized neighborhoods, yet little is known about the benefits of programs that transfer city-owned lots to private owners. Using a mixed methods approach, we studied whether and how private ownership matters for vacant lot condition-care in Chicago’s (IL) Large Lot Program, which allows property owners to purchase vacant city lots on their block for $1. We compared visual changes in vacant lot condition-care between the purchased “treatment” lots and matched “control” lots through a difference-in-differences technique. Our findings demonstrate a causal effect of private ownership: Whereas condition-care of the control lots decreased between 2014 and 2018, it significantly increased for treatment lots in the year after sale (2015) and continued to rise through 2018. Also, increases in Large Lot condition-care did not vary based on whether owners lived on the block. Focus groups with Large Lot owners showed that ownership empowers residents by reducing illicit and dangerous behaviors, expressing an ethic of care through vacant lot improvement, and continuing a legacy of land tenure tied to family and neighborhood. Further research is needed to strengthen our understanding of spatial contagion effects from treatment to nearby control lots.

Takeaway for practice

Our findings show that ownership-based vacant land greening initiatives like the Large Lot Program effectively improve condition-care regardless of whether lot owners live on the same block. Focus group findings suggest that such initiatives could be integrated into community-based safety programs and could be boosted by funding to create community amenities.

Keywords:

• land ownership
• urban greening
• urban vacancy
• visual assessment

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the editor and the four anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions, which substantially strengthened the article.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

Supplemental data for this article can be found on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part through USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station Cooperative Research Agreement 15-JV-11242309-075.

Notes on contributors

Alessandro Rigolon

ALESSANDRO RIGOLON ([email protected]) is an assistant professor in the Department of City and Metropolitan Planning at The University of Utah.

Debolina Banerjee

DEBOLINA BANERJEE ([email protected]) is a PhD candidate in the Department of City and Metropolitan Planning at The University of Utah.

Paul Gobster

PAUL GOBSTER ([email protected]) is a research landscape architect in the Northern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service.

Sara Hadavi

SARA HADAVI ([email protected]) is an assistant professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional & Community Planning at Kansas State University.

William Stewart

WILLIAM STEWART ([email protected]) is a professor in the Department of Recreation, Sport, and Tourism at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.