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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Recent Release: “The City After Abandonment”

  The City After Abandonment (Margaret Dewar and June Manning Thomas, Editors, University of Pennsylvania Press) is a collection of essays from top urban planning experts that address three questions essential to understanding cities plagued with abandonment: What have such cities become?  What makes a difference in what cities become after abandonment–what policies, politics, social
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Tensions of Abandonment and “Letting it be”

The Artisphere (Arlington, VA) hosted an event in early October showcasing the highly publicized exhibit, “Beyond the Parking Lot: The Change and Re-assessment of our Modern Landscape.” Attendees of the special event, “Placemaking and Revitalizing Neighborhoods: Going ‘Beyond the Parking Lot,” enjoyed an exhibit tour lead by curator Cynthia Connolly, followed by a presentation from
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Mounting Costs of Demolition

Demolition of vacant and abandoned housing is a topic of growing importance, especially for legacy cities in the industrial heartland.  In some cities the controversy is over whether to mount a major demolition program, while in others the question is how to get more resources to accelerate demolition efforts. In Alan Mallach’s new report published
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Sunflowers and Reforestation with Detroit Works

Detroit seems to be a place where sunflowers sprout through cracked pavement and forests reclaim long deserted city blocks, or at least that’s what Mayor Bing’s Detroit Works has planned for its neighborhoods. Vocabulary like “green residential” and strategies of using reforestation and experimental green fields to detoxify contaminated industrial land are being tossed around
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