Abandoned Buildings

LA’s Abandoned Towers Loom as a “$1.2 Billion Ruin of Global Capital”
Oceanwide Plaza, shuttered mid-construction after its developer filed for bankruptcy, has stood vacant on prime Los Angeles real estate since 2019.

Why Are These Prime Boston Properties Sitting Vacant?
Even though they often occupy valuable real estate, some Boston properties have sat vacant in various states of limbo for years.

In Mobile, an Institutional Revamp to Tackle Blight
Mobile, Alabama, has changed the way it deals with blight, and the results have been substantial.

Philadelphia Goes High-Tech to Monitor Vacant Properties
The city of Philadelphia has deployed high-tech sensors and a new statistical model in its ongoing fight against the blight and health problems that follow vacant and abandoned properties.
A Simple Approach to Abandoned Buildings Improved Crime in Philadelphia
The city of Philadelphia's Doors and Windows Ordinance applied the Broken Windows Theory to positive results.
Reducing the Number of Abandoned Properties in Louisville
Louisville, like many other cities around the country, has been working hard to reduce the number of abandoned buildings. Recent efforts have provided the city with a new road map for blight reduction.
Website Provides Tools to Resurrect Abandoned Buildings
The world is full of millions of abandoned buildings; unused resources that drag down their surrounding communities. One website aims to provide advocates with the tools to reactivate them, writes Ben Schiller.
The Art of Abandonment
Artists are using the vacant buildings of the Rust Belt to create their art, and to comment on possibilities and visions for the future.
Asking Locals What To Do With Abandoned Buildings
Artist Candy Chang has taken an old building in Fairbanks, Alaska and turned it into a public idea board that asks locals what they think should be done with it.
Inside Bangkok's "Ghost Tower"
Photojournalist and blogger Dr. Hank Snaffler, Jr. documents the Sathorn Unique, an abandoned skyscraper at the heart of Bangkok.
Funds to Demolish Abandoned Buildings Grow
The city of Youngstown, Ohio, is heavily reliant on funding from grants and outside sources to help pay for the clearing of abandoned properties. Those funds have grown since last year.
Against 'Ruin Porn'
The city of Detroit is increasingly characterized through imagery of its abandoned and decaying buildings. This piece from The New Republic says it's time to stop.
Inside Detroit's Abandoned Iconic Buildings
This slideshow from The Guardian looks inside some of Detroit's historic and decaying buildings.
Dealing With Vacant Mansions in London
In a posh borough of London, empty homes are causing problems for officials, who are tasked with finding the owners of these vacant or abandoned mansions.
A Look Inside the Busted Building Market
This slideshow from The New York Times Magazine takes a look at the abandoned and stalled buildings form around the country that epitomize the bust of the building market.
Friday Funny: Elected to the House, But Abandoned Her Own
Congresswoman Laura Richardson has gotten on the nerves of her Sacramento neighbors, mainly because she's never around. As a result, her home has gone untended and turned into a blight on the neighborhood.
One in Nine U.S. Homes Empty
Empty homes are littered in cities across the country. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, one out of every nine U.S. homes is unoccupied.
What Can Cities Do About 'Property Outlaws'?
More homeless people are squatting in abandoned suburban housing. Eduardo M. Peñalver, co-author of the forthcoming book "Property Outlaws" thinks cities should acquire these properties and allow the former owners to live in them as renters.
Rebirth Through Art in Abandoned Detroit
This piece from NPR looks at what artists are doing in Detroit to snatch up abandoned homes and convert them into community centers and art spaces.
Urban Explorers Venture into the Abandoned and Unknown
A growing group of people in Britain have taken to breaking into abandoned buildings and facilities. But they're not breaking in to steal things, or to squat. They just want to check the places out, which they call "urban exploring".
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research