A python script for longitudinally measuring the duration of vacant land uses

ABSTRACT

Populating and depopulating cities have some degree of underutilised land. The duration of vacancy, or length of time a property remains unused, more strongly influences urban decline than the amount of vacant land. Assessment of the duration of vacancy is seldom conducted, due to a lack of linking longitudinal data. This research creates and applies a Python script to track the duration of vacancy in Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A, to create a tool that can be utilised by cities with vacant land inventories. The tool can be used globally to prioritise treatment areas for urban regeneration plans.

KEYWORDS:

• Vacant land
• urban decline
• geographic information systems
• spatial analysis
• python script

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

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Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund [P42ES027704-01].