Can Parks Fix the Real Estate Crisis?

Can Parks Fix the Real Estate Crisis?

  Tuesday, November 08, 2011    Julie Tappendorf

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A recent study by the City Parks Alliance advocacy group and Georgia Tech, financed by the Speedwell Foundation, suggests that they can.  The project, “Redfields to Greenfields” looked at the impact of empty commercial sites on communities and the potential for redevelopment of these sites as parks.  The group's position is that establishing parks on vacant commercial sites such as empty parking lots, abandoned big box stores, and vacant strip malls, is a quick way to increase property values in the surrounding area and the community.  Redevelopment is also a job creator. 

The group has partnered with 11 cities, using models to predict what might happen if a city were suddenly able to invest billions of dollars in buying up and converting commercial properties into parks. The participating cities – including Houston, Denver, Cleveland and Atlanta – pulled together reports on their oversupply of commercial property and the benefits of providing parks to neighborhoods that are lacking in public space.

Thanks to Adam Simon for forwarding this story to Municipal Minute.