cities growing smaller 71 (Terry Schwarz) - Cleveland Urban Design ...

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2. Susan Wachter, “The Determinants of Neighborhood Transformation in Philadelphia: Identification and Analysis—the New Kensington Plot Study,” Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, the William Penn Foundation, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, 2005. 76 cities growing smaller to address the challenge of 1,100 parcels of vacant land in the New Kensington neighborhood. Through Philadelphia Green, lawns and perimeter fencing have been installed on vacant land throughout the neighborhood. Susan Wachter at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania analyzed the impact of this greening strategy. 2 Her analysis was based on more than 50 variables adjusted for factors (other than greening) which affect residential real estate values. After examining the sales records of thousands of homes, she determined that: • The clean-up and landscaping of vacant lots can increase adjacent property values by as much as 30% • Planting a tree within 50 feet of a house can increase its value by about 9% • Location of a house within ¼ mile from a park increases its value by 10% • Neighborhood blocks with many unmanaged vacant lots result in lower residential property values, a reduction of about 18%. This research provided a basis for public funds to be spent on landscape beautification strategies for vacant, privately-owned sites. The value of this public investment extends beyond the intangible benefits of urban green space because it results in a quantifiable economic return in the form of increased property tax revenues from surrounding properties. Deriving a quantifiable benefit from vacant properties is at the heart of the Cleveland Land Lab. Vacant land and buildings drain value from city neighborhoods. This is one of the most challenging aspects of the foreclosure crisis—that the surfeit of foreclosed houses being sold at fire sale prices devalues all of the housing in the city. And while substandard houses throughout Cleveland are being demolished at a record pace, it is also important to realize that vacant lots can be as damaging to neighborhoods as deteriorated houses, especially when the resulting land is not needed or cared for. Currently, there are an estimated 15,000 vacant sites in the City of Cleveland. The Cleveland Land Lab is seeking productive new uses for this expanding inventory of vacant sites within the city in order to derive a tangible economic return, a public health benefit, or an improvement to residents’ quality of life. Agriculture is one such use. Community gardens have emerged in cities across the country and are especially useful in cities with declining and impoverished populations. Gardens provide a source of fresh produce to city residents who often lack access to affordable, healthful, locally grown food. The abundance of vacant land in Cleveland enables agricultural uses to permeate deeply into urban neighborhoods, returning surplus and derelict land to productive use. Through the efforts of the Ohio State Extension, Cleveland currently has over 150 community gardens. The
city also has a commercial-scale farm, the Blue Pike Farm in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood. Research in urban agriculture and what has been deemed “The New Ruralism” identifies the mechanisms for connecting farmers to urban neighborhoods with ample amounts of reasonably-priced land because agriculture within the urban core can foster a local, sustainable food system. 3 To advance the potential for agriculture in Cleveland, the Land Lab is looking at soil types, environmental pollutants, micro-climates, and market conditions across the city to identify the most feasible and productive locations for growing food in Cleveland. A farmers market in the Tremont Neighborhood (Gauri Torgalkar) 3. David Moffat, “New Ruralism: Agriculture at the Metropolitan Edge,” Places 18.2, 2007. cities growing smaller 77
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