Abstract

Baltimore is a city that has faced significant decline since the 1950s. Its current population is 65% of its peak of 950,000, leaving a landscape of more than 30,000 vacant lots and abandoned buildings. However, there are strong signs that the city is turning around, and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake has made it a policy priority to address vacancy in Baltimore and work towards the goal of "10,000 new households in 10 years."

At the center of Baltimore's vacancy strategy is Baltimore Housing's recent Vacants to Value initiative, which looks to ways to both streamline the disposition and code enforcement processes to make it easier to redevelop blighted properties and ways to target redevelopment strategies at those areas of the city in transition, so as to build off existing assets. However, approximately 65% of the city’s vacant and abandoned properties are in areas without foreseeable development demand. This case study looks to the policies and programs Baltimore has developed for these longer-term vacant spaces.

QUESTION: How has Baltimore made it easier for communities to revitalize vacant lots in their communities? And how do the city's programs for the greening of vacant lots fit into a larger plan for the future of Baltimore?

The focus of this project is on three main programs for vacant lots in the city: Power in Dirt, which streamlines the adopt-a-lot process by which residents can use and maintain city-owned lots; an Urban Agriculture Request for Qualifications for farmers to participate in the development of a pre-selected 35 acres of city-owned vacant land for the purpose of urban agriculture; and the transfer of lots to Land Trusts for their long term preservation as open space.

This case study of a successful adaptation of nature in an urban environment seeks to understand transferrable lessons from Baltimore's vacancy strategy, as well as suggest where it might be improved upon.