Leader Profile: Terry Schwarz

A Conversation with Terry Schwarz VPRN recently spoke with advisory board member Terry Schwarz about her work with Cleveland’s Urban Design Collaborative, passion for vacant properties, and plans to explore the space next to Ohio’s largest men’s emergency shelter. Below is an excerpt. For Terry’s thoughts about Cleveland’s “gray” sewer infrastructure and how vacant property
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Zombie Neigborhoods: Searching for a Cure

Many of America’s Rustbelt and Sunbelt communities have experienced rising vacancy and abandoned homes or properties beyond just one or two, sprinkled throughout the urban landscape, but recently in terms of entire neighborhoods. The effects of urban decline on these cities has brought new urgency to practitioners and researchers alike. Although anthropomorphism and dramatic terminology has the
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The Successful Use of Vanguard Developers & Placemaking in CiTs

        Roanoke, once the thriving rail hub, would now be considered a medium sized legacy in terms of the Cities in Transition (CiT) typology (Cities in Transition: Guide for Practicing Planners, 2012). Experiencing both a decline in jobs and population from its peaks in the 1980’s it has seen challenges to it’s social
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Legacy Cities as Resilient Cities

A new report by the National League of Cities suggests that Michigan’s Legacy’s cities, impacted by economic decline, physical deterioration, population and job loss, may be rising to the challenge and showing resilience based on the responses of local actors. Building on two previous foreclosure resiliency studies (from 2010 and 2011), the current study sought to identify foundational
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