Journal of Urban Design

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A current inventory of vacant urban land in

America

Galen D. Newman, Ann O’M. Bowman, Ryun Jung Lee & Boah Kim

To cite this article: Galen D. Newman, Ann O’M. Bowman, Ryun Jung Lee & Boah Kim (2016) A
current inventory of vacant urban land in America, Journal of Urban Design, 21:3, 302-319, DOI:
10.1080/13574809.2016.1167589

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2016.1167589

Published online: 19 Apr 2016.

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 Journal of Urban Design, 2016
VOL. 21, NO. 3, 302–319
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2016.1167589

A current inventory of vacant urban land in America

Galen D. Newmana  , Ann O’M. Bowmanb, Ryun Jung Leec and Boah Kimc
a
Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA; bGovernment
and Public Service, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA; cUrban and Regional Sciences, Texas A&M
University, College Station, TX, USA
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ABSTRACT
Vacant land is a significant issue in virtually every country across the
globe. This study presents a current inventory of vacant land and
structural abandonment in the urban United States. Using survey data,
it analyses vacant land trends by region and city type. Nationally, an
average 16.7% of large US cities’ land area is considered vacant, with
approximately 4% of city addresses unoccupied. The ratio of vacant
land to city size has increased by 1.3 percentage points since 1998
but decreased by 3 percentage points since 1963. Regional variations
exist in both the amount and kind of vacant land, suggesting that
any ameliorative actions should be designed to fit specific conditions.
Cities also reported that most vacant parcels are small, odd shaped,
and disconnected, making them difficult to regenerate. Disinvestment,
suburbanization and annexation are the primary causes of increases
in vacant land supply while growing local economies, population in-
migration, and city policies tend to help reduce the amount of vacant
land.

Introduction
The urban studies literature is full of descriptions of and prescriptions for vacant land and
abandoned structures (VLAS). Vacant land (VL) can be described as dead space (Coleman
1982), derelict landscape (Jakle and Wilson 1992), and/or wasteland (Mathey and Rink 2010).
Simultaneously, abandoned structures (AS) are typically considered symbols of neglect and
decline (Accordino and Johnson 2000). Prescriptions are equally abundant. VL can be trans-
formed into green infrastructure (Schilling and Logan 2008), implemented with public space
(Gough and Accordino 2013) or urban agriculture (Draus, Roddy, and McDuffie 2014).
Alternatively, land with AS can be redeveloped into urban villages (Hao et al. 2013) or indi-
vidual parcels suitable for commercial or residential development (Tappendorf and Denzin
2011). As insightful as these descriptions and prescriptions are, they signify that vast swaths
of space exist in urban areas whose potential is being limited (Schindler 2014). An important
first step to alleviate this condition would be determining just how much and what types
of urban VLAS exist.

CONTACT  Galen D. Newman  gnewman@arch.tamu.edu

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
 Journal of Urban Design   303

In cities rapidly growing in population and expanding their political borders (e.g. Orlando,
Florida) or cities with fixed boundaries that may be depopulating (e.g. Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania), existing VLAS can be a key competitive asset for urban growth. Sustainable
growth approaches such as Smart Growth, the strategic reuse and infill of urban VLAS, can
represent a major opportunity for encouraging greater density and reducing suburban
development. Information on US urban VLAS remains imprecise. There have been no com-
prehensive, systematic studies assessing these conditions in over 15 years and prior to that,
in nearly a quarter of a century. Consequently, current national data on amounts of VLAS do
not exist. This paper seeks to rectify this condition by reporting the results of a national
survey on urban vacancy in large American cities. Table 1 presents the primary results of the
survey broken down by region, population change, area change and city typology. These
categorizations are explained, in depth, in the following sections. The survey was designed
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to inform urban practitioners and scholars about the current supply and characteristics of
urban VLAS. Of interest are the amount, condition, designation, types and causes of increases
or decreases of urban VLAS.
The paper is presented as follows. The next section sets the stage by discussing the various
definitions and classifications of VL and city types, followed by a summary of the findings
of earlier research on the subject. The data collection methods are then explained. Following
that, the results of the research are presented and interpreted. The final section of the paper
considers the implications of the findings and offers some reflections about the significance
of VL in various types of cities.

Setting the stage

Defining and classifying vacant land
There is no nationally standardized definition of VL. The US Census Bureau, the principal
government agency responsible for producing data about the American people and econ-
omy, collects information on vacant residential structures but it does not collect data on VL.
Because definitions and typologies of VLAS vary across municipalities, it can be difficult for
researchers or government officials to study them accurately, comparatively speaking. VL
can be small or irregularly shaped, have physical limitations making them virtually unbuild-
able (e.g. steep slopes or flood hazards), only support a temporary land use or have none of
these characteristics. The most common designation of VL refers simply to underutilized
parcels (Pagano and Bowman 2000). This definition suggests that VL is not necessarily dam-
aged but can potentially have a productive quality.
Research on VLAS has generated a series of definitions (Table 2). In early research,
Niedercorn and Hearle (1964) presented it simply as undeveloped land that is not under-
water. Northam (1971) further clarified VL by defining it as remnant parcels, parcels with
physical limitations (e.g. small size, irregular shape, steep slope), corporate reserve parcels,
parcels held for speculation and/or institutional reserve parcels. Pagano and Bowman (2000)
expanded this definition by including all land unused or abandoned for extended periods,
including raw dirt, spontaneous vegetation and emergent ecologies, land with recently
razed buildings, perimeter agricultural land fallen out of cultivation, brownfields/contami-
nated sites or land supporting long-term, abandoned derelict structures. Bowman and
Pagano (2004) later adjusted this definition to include more diverse types of non-utilized or
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304 

Table 1. Vacant land and addresses by region, city type and typology.
  G. D. Newman et al.

Avg. vacant Avg. vacant residential Avg. vacant business

Avg. vacant land to addresses to total addresses to total addresses addresses to total Avg. pop. change Avg. area change
Reporting cities # of cities total land (%) addresses (%) (%) addresses (%) (2000–2010) (2000–2010)
Overall 124 16.7% 4.0% 3.3% 10.4% 9.4% 5.6%
Regional
West 46 12.2% 2.6% 1.9% 9.4% 10.0% 6.1%
South 45 23.5% 4.2% 3.5% 10.4% 13.1% 5.4%
North-east 14 9.3% 4.2% 3.6% 10.0% 1.4% −1.4%
Midwest 19 21.2% 6.9% 6.2% 13.4% 5.1% 9.8%
Categorizations
Elastic 89 19.0% 3.7% 3.0% 10.2% 12.7% 8.2%
Inelastic 35 11.7% 4.9% 4.2% 11.0% 0.9% −1.2%
Growing 103 17.2% 3.4% 2.7% 10.0% 12.4% 6.4%
Declining 21 14.1% 7.2% 6.6% 12.7% −5.6% 1.6%
Typologies
Inflating 81 18.9% 3.4% 2.6% 10.0% 14.4% 8.4%
Diluting 8 20.6% 7.1% 6.6% 12.2% −4.0% 6.5%
Compressing 22 11.9% 3.4% 2.7% 9.8% 5.3% −1.0%
Deflating 13 11.5% 7.3% 6.7% 13.1% −6.5% −1.4%
 Journal of Urban Design   305

Table 2. Vacant land definitions used in literature.

Author(s)
Niedercorn & Hearle
Northam
Baudry
Accordino & Johnson
Pagano & Bowman
Davidson & Dolnick
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Year Definition/Description
1964 • Land uses which are undeveloped and are not underwater
1971 • Remnant parcels, parcels with physical limitations, corporate reserve
parcels, parcels held for speculation, institutional reserve parcels
1991 • A less intensive pattern in land use or managing of the soil such that
the soil is left to its own spontaneous dynamics
2000 • A building or lot that has been vacant for two years or more
2000 • Unutilized or underutilized parcels including brownfields, empty lots,
land recently cleared of structures, greenfields or land that cannot be
built on for some reason an
2004 • Includes publicly-owned and privately-owned unused or abandoned
land, land that once had structures on it and land that supports
structures that have been abandoned, derelict, boarded up, partially
destroyed or razed
2004 • Lands or buildings that are not actively used for any purpose

• A lot or parcel of land on with no constructed improvements

Bielsa et al.
City of New York
Németh & Langhorst
2005 • Lands transforming from mixed crops and pastures to mono-cultural
crops; policy aided, set-aside land; managed afforestation; partially
or totally abandoned parcels; successional converted uncultivated
land
2010 • Land which no lawful structure exists and which is not otherwise
being used for any purpose for which it may lawfully be used
2014 • Underutilized parcels or lots that function below their functional or
capital-producing capacity
• Land where no structure exists where humans do not currently use
the property
• An unoccupied structure for 60 or 120 days or longer

Table 3. Classifications of vacant land used in literature.

Types Author Year Characteristics
Dead space Coleman1982 • Bare derelict land, roughly vegetated wastelands, abandoned
buildings, and various temporary uses such as materials
dumps and real or supposed construction sites
TOADS (Temporarily Greenberg, Popper, and • Deserted after development of industrial sites and housing
obsolete abandoned West 1990 projects
derelict sites) • Scattered, random and unused parcels of land of varying size
and shape
• Abandoned structures or empty lots no longer productive, or
never were
• Abandoned warehouses, plant facilities, homes, landfills, and
tracts of overgrown undeveloped land which may require
treatment for reuse
Derelict land Kivell 1993 • So damaged by industrial or other development that it is
incapable of beneficial use without treatment
Underutilized areas Pagano and • Perimeter agricultural or uncultivated land
Bowman 2000 • Recently razed land; derelict land
• Land with abandoned buildings and structures
Drosscape Berger 2007 • A landscape composed deindustrialized older city core areas
• A design pedagogy for reusing wasted urban space
Urban wasteland Mathey and Rink 2010 • Territories in developmental transition such as landfills,
post-industrial terrains, left over zones and peripheral areas
• Lands where social and environmental abuse is evident
Zombie property Silverman, Yin and • A type of abandoned structure in shrinking cities where
Patterson 2013 decline make abandonment an enduring fixture
• Boarded up structures containing health hazards with
extensive structural damage
 306    G. D. Newman et al.

underutilized land, comprising not only publicly and privately-owned lands, unused/aban-
doned land or land that once had structures on it, but also lands that supported abandoned,
derelict, boarded up, partially destroyed or razed structures. Taking a different perspective,
Németh and Langhorst (2014) implied that land could only be vacant if no structure existed
on it and humans did not utilize the property, thereby excluding underutilized parcels.
VL has also been subjected to various taxonomic efforts, generating many colourful and
evocative descriptors such as ‘dead space’, ‘TOADS’ and ‘drosscape’. Table 3 presents a list of
seven of these typologies in chronological order, providing a sense of how they build on
and diverge from one another. One feature that the descriptions capture is the transitory
nature of VLAS; vacancy is considered a temporary (albeit long-term in some cases) condition.
In addition, the descriptive labels project a negativity about vacancy.
Clearly, numerous definitions and taxonomies exist. At the operational level across indi-
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vidual cities, definitions and classifications vary, although with some similarity and overlap.
Each locality tends to focus on the types of VL most problematic to it, in an effort to better
regulate and develop policies to address the vacancy issue. However, the vacancy condition
is a function of multiple interrelated factors such as disinvestment, deindustrialization, sec-
toral shifts in technology, demographic shifts and intra-metropolitan locational changes
(Greenstein and Sungu-Eryilmaz 2004). Ultimately, urban expansion/contraction and pop-
ulation increases/decreases play a major role in the process of VL formation and
regeneration.

Elastic, inelastic, growing and declining cities

Civic boundaries frame the process of urbanization. Urban expansion or contraction can
have a profound effect on urban VLAS conditions (Treib 2008; Newman 2013; Newman and
Saginor 2014; Park and von Rabenau 2014). As a consequence, American cities struggle to
manage two opposing collections of land: the external and internal frontiers (Berger 2007).
The external frontier is composed of the lands on the urban periphery which urbanize as
cities expand; the internal frontier describes the leftover, unused spaces within the urban
core arising as population and land uses migrate to the urban edge. Elastic cities, described
by Rusk (1993) as those that have expanding boundaries, tend to use the external frontier
as a means of urbanizing (Meligrana 2007). Inelastic cities ‒ those with fixed territorial sizes
‒ are substantially less able to do so (Howe et al. 1998). In a national survey, elastic cities
reported higher ratios of VL to civic size while inelastic cities tended to report higher levels
of AS (Bowman and Pagano 2004). Elastic cities reported approximately two and a half times
the amount of VL (23%) than did inelastic cities (8%), on average.
Population change is typically considered one of the primary reasons for increases or
decreases in VLAS (Hollander 2010). It is generally assumed that as urban population
decreases, VLAS will increase. Depopulating cities range from those that are experiencing
minimal population loss to dense urban areas that are undergoing major shrinkage
(Wiechman 2007; Hollander et al. 2009; Martinez-Fernandez et al. 2012). Cities exhibiting
the most profound effects of the urban vacancy epidemic, such as Cleveland, Ohio and
Detroit, Michigan, typically serve as examples of shrinkage, but this is not solely a US phe-
nomenon (Mallach 2012). Fifty years prior to 2007, 370 cities throughout the world with
populations over 100,000 had decreased by at least 10% (Oswalt and Rieniets 2007) and as
of 2007, one in six large cities worldwide was substantially shrinking (Pallagst 2012).
 Journal of Urban Design   307

Despite instances of depopulation, most urban areas are increasing in population, with
approximately half of the world’s total population residing in urban areas (Cohen 2006;
Kourtit, Nijkamp and Reid 2014). The World Bank (2013) suggests that current urbanization
trends could transform larger cities into huge megacities. The United Nations (2011) projects
that between 2011 and 2050, the world’s population will increase by 2.3 billion, while urban
populations will rise from 3.6 billion to 6.3 billion, accounting for approximately 67% of the
world’s population. VL ‒ too much, too little, the wrong type, in the wrong place and so on
‒ is a significant issue in virtually every country across the globe.

Previous surveys on urban vacant land

Only three national inventories gauging VLAS rates have been conducted in US urban areas.
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Table 4 summarizes the key findings of each of the studies. The earliest survey, now more
than a half a century old, was developed by Niedercorn and Hearle (1964). Land use data
were collected from 48 cities and coupled with population and employment data. While the
study targeted urban land use patterns, VL was included as an important land use. On aver-
age, 20.7% of land in American cities was considered vacant. The study concluded that vacant
urban land was rapidly disappearing, land use densities were declining due primarily to net
manufacturing declines, and that a bulk of existing VL was located in city centres. Those
cities with low ratios of urban vacancy were also projected to have reached their limits of
population and employment.

Table 4. Results from previous surveys on US vacant urban land.

Author(s) Year No. of Case City Findings
Niedercorn & Hearle 1964 48 • On average, 20.7% vacant urban land per city
• Overall amount of vacant land declining
• Cities without large amounts of vacant land appeared
to have nearly reached their upper limits of population
and employment in commerce and manufacturing
Northam 1971 86 • On average, 24.5% of vacant land per city
• 37.9% of vacant land per city within cities with less
than 50,000 persons
• Amount of buildable vacant land in large cities was
large proportion
• The amount of vacant land has reverse relationship
with population
Bowman & Pagano 2000 70 • On average, 15.4% of vacant land per city
• Sunbelt cities, region of the US located across the
Southeast and Southwest, experiencing high levels of
population and land area growth with high levels of
vacant land
• Elastic cities had more vacant land than inelastic cities,
but an opposite relationship in regards to abandon-
ment
• Cities with low proportions of vacant land tend to have
high rates of abandoned structures
2004 48 • Cities with rapid population growth and boundary
expansion report large amounts of vacant land
• Amounts of vacant land vary by region with most
vacant parcels being relatively small, odd-shaped and
located in the wrong place
• Vacant land conditions restrict the potential of vacant
land redevelopment
 308    G. D. Newman et al.

Nearly 10 years later, Northam (1971) conducted a similar study using analogous measures
as its predecessor, but also applied population change as a measure. Surveys were distributed
to 130 American cities (86 replied with data) with over 100,000 persons in an effort to deter-
mine approximate amounts of VL and to estimate the share of vacant urban land that might
be considered buildable.1 Northam concluded that a significant amount of land was not
devoted to any functional use, with approximately 1.5 million acres of urban VL in large
American cities (24.5% VL per city, on average). This represents a 3.8 percentage point
increase in VL in an eight-year period, challenging Niedercorn and Hearle’s (1964) conclusion
that urban VL was disappearing. Some VL was considered unbuildable due to physical con-
straints, but more than three-quarters of vacant areas were deemed buildable VL. It was also
concluded that as populations decreased, VL amounts tended to increase.
The most recent attempt to provide systematic information about urban vacancy involved
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a survey sent to officials in cities with populations of 100,000 or more by Pagano and Bowman
(2000) and Bowman and Pagano (2004).2 An average of 15.4% (a decrease of 9.1 percentage
points from Northam) of each city was reported to be vacant, with a mean of 2.7 AS per 1000
persons. Cities reported varying types of VL, ranging from undisturbed open space to aban-
doned, contaminated brownfields. Cities in the South tended to have the highest ratios of
VL to city size while cities in the North-east had the least. Cities with low proportions of VL
tended to have high numbers of AS. For example, the North-east region, with the lowest
reported percentage of VL, reported the highest number of AS. Contrary to Northam’s (1971)
earlier finding, cities that were experiencing high levels of growth in both population and
land area reported high levels of VL.

Objectives and methods

Focus and approach
The purpose of this study was to gather a current inventory of VLAS in US cities with popu-
lations of 100,000 or more and compare these results by region and city growth type (e.g.
elastic/inelastic, populating/depopulating). The Pagano and Bowman (2000) survey instru-
ment was adapted for online use and was emailed to the director of the city planning depart-
ment (or the equivalent) in 215 cities from 2013 to 2014.3 The survey focused on: (1) amounts
of VL; (2) causes of increases/decreases of VL; (3) AS determination methods; (4) physical
characteristics of VLAS; and (5) types of land designated as vacant. To minimize the likelihood
of definitional disparities, the survey defined VL this way: “VL includes not only public-
ly-owned and privately-owned unused or abandoned land or land that once had structures
on it, but also the land that supports structures that had been abandoned, derelict, boarded
up, partially destroyed, or razed”. The study achieved a 58% response rate (124 cities in total)
with 79 cities reporting available VL data. Diagnostics show that responding cities are suffi-
ciently representative of the universe of large American cities.
As noted, AS and VL are inextricably linked. Designation of an AS is commonly based on
whether the structure poses an imminent danger to the community, threatens the city’s
health/safety or if it has been unoccupied for an extended period of time (usually 60 or
120 days or longer). Rapid changes in occupancy patterns and land use can also lead to
inaccurate counts of abandonment. Bowman and Pagano (2004), acknowledging that many
city officials had indicated that their counts of AS were approximate estimates, called for
 Journal of Urban Design   309

more systematic methods to determine more accurate abandonment rates. To address this
issue, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data provided by the United States Postal
Service (USPS) were compiled on vacant addresses (VA) at the census tract level and these
were utilized as a measure for AS. The USPS data were collected from the US Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and compiled to produce a total vacant address
count for each city, categorized by residential and business addresses as of March 2014. HUD
(2015) defines VA as addresses that delivery staff on USPS urban routes have identified as
being vacant (not collecting their mail) for 90 days or longer. Using this measure insures a
uniform application of the concept across the cities thereby increasing the accuracy of the
data. Given that many cities use lack of occupancy over an extended period to designate
abandonment, VA ‒ as defined by HUD ‒ are an appropriate equivalent measure. To provide
a comparative context for understanding VLAS, US Census data from 2000–2010 on land
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area change per city and population changes were also included in the analysis.4
To facilitate the presentation of the data, cities are grouped by region, population change
and land area change. The regional groupings follow the designations of the US Bureau of
the Census: North-east, Midwest, South and West. Cities are also classified according to
population change, whether they gained (populating) or lost (depopulating) population
from 2000–2010, and by their elasticity, whether their land area increased (elastic) or
decreased/ remained the same (inelastic) from 2000‒2010.
As noted, changes in population and land area have an interactive effect on cities. To
capture the interaction, the population change and land area change variables are combined
to produce four types of cities (see Figure 1). Cities that experienced both population growth
and land area increases are labelled ‘inflating’; those that lost both population and land area
(or the city’s territorial limits remained the same) are considered to be ‘deflating’. Cities where
the population increased but the land area did not are termed ‘compressing’ cities; those
with population loss but land area growth are labelled ‘diluting’. These interactive categori-
zations should prove to be more useful in understanding vacant urban land than looking at
population or land area changes in isolation.

Figure 1. A typology of population and land area.

 310    G. D. Newman et al.

Explaining the typologies

These typologies are strategically utilized because population and land area change are
commonly associated with fluctuations in urban VLAS. Inflating cities are typically charac-
terized by economic growth (Pettit 2014). Surprisingly, Bowman and Pagano (2004) found
that cities with expanding boundaries often reported high levels of VL. This pattern was
relatively similar in the findings here. For example, Moreno Valley, CA, a massively expanding
city, reported 57.4% VL but only 2.1% VA. This condition occurs when the aggressive acqui-
sition of new territory through annexation trumps efforts at infill development (Rusk 1993).
The result is often development increases on the urban periphery but increased VL nearer
to the city centre. Inversely, deflating cities such as Cincinnati, OH, which reported only 5.8%
VL but 10.9% VA in this study, are typically characterized by declining housing markets and
problematic AS. The inability to expand urban area to acquire a broader tax base and the
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limited demand need for infill development hinder economic gain while population out-mi-
grations dot the city with more abandoned lots.
Diluting cities, due to their ability to annex, can have more space for new development
but typically a less dense population; this can also create AS issues (Foo et al. 2013). For
example, Salinas, CA, had 21.9% VA and Cleveland, OH, recorded 13.9%. While the ability to
expand and reconfigure the tax structure can sometimes offset local population loss, the
degree to which abandonment occurs is generally proportional to the amount of lost pop-
ulation (Hollander and Németh 2011). Compressing cities also tend to experience economic
growth but they can take a more sustainable approach to urban growth by utilizing infill
development more than peripheral growth. They somewhat refute Rusk’s (1993) assertion
that there is a straightforward and positive correlation between the elasticity of a munici-
pality’s boundary and economic increase. Compressing cities such as Bridgeport, CT (10.9%
VL and 5% VA), Downey, CA (0.1% VL and 1.8% VA) and Alexandria, VA (10.8% VL and 1.3%
VA) clearly display this pattern.
As noted, many cities internationally are projected to either grow into megacities or may
be subject to intense depopulation or shrinkage. Although the research focus here is on US
cities, changes in urban population size and land area occurring globally make the typologies
used highly generalizable. Comparisons of each city typology at the municipal, national and/
or continental scale could potentially provide further insight as to the interaction of popu-
lation/boundary change on VLAS amounts as well as help characterize urban conditions
more broadly. For example, inflating cities are quite common in Africa and South America
as burgeoning populations push urban boundaries outward; both compressing and deflating
cities can be found in numerous European nations (Cohen 2006; Wiechman 2007). Constraints
on annexation in many countries may reduce the prevalence of diluting cities. It should be
noted that differences in municipal data collection/measurement or reallocations of what
each country considers an official municipality could limit generalizability. Simultaneously,
the typologies may not be applicable to smaller towns and cities due to relatively minor
changes, comparatively speaking.

Results
Responding city conditions
Because land area and population change have a profound effect on VL, it is important to
understand the current conditions in responding cities to contextualize the findings reported
 Journal of Urban Design   311
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Figure 2. Percent of responding cities by categorization.

in this research (see Figure 2). Overall, over 80% of the responding populating cities are
located in the West (40.8%) and South (39.8%). Nearly half of the responding depopulating
cities are located in the Midwest (42.9%). The North-east comprises an abundance of the
inelastic cities (40%) while the West and South have an abundance of elastic cities (85.4%).
Due to their high land area growth and population increases, the West and South comprise
approximately 87.7% of the inflating cities. Inversely, nearly 75% of diluting cities are from
the Midwest and Southern regions (37.5% each). No North-eastern city is characterized as
inflating or diluting, but compressing cities make up nearly one-half of its respondents
(45.5%); no Midwestern city reported as compressing. However, the Midwest is home to
nearly one-half (46.1%) of the deflating cities, while the North-east comprises nearly one-
third (30.8%).

Vacant land: national and regional

Nearly two-thirds of all cities (63%) reported having a GIS-based VL inventory but only 13%
stated that they have an inventory on AS. This finding further underscores the rationale for
using the USPS vacant address data to measure AS. In 71% of the cities, VL amounts were
said to have decreased during the past decade; 29% reported increases. Survey results sug-
gest that overall the ratio of VL to city territorial size has increased nationally by approxi-
mately 1.3% since the 2000 study but decreased by 3% since the 1963 study. The current
data show an average of 16.7% of the land area of large US cities is considered vacant,
suggesting that vacant urban land is on the incline, despite past decreases. Due to the dif-
ferences in measurement, numerical data on AS cannot be perfectly compared between
the 2000 survey and the current survey. For example, the number of AS reported in the 2000
study indicated an average of 2.6 AS per 1000 persons per city; the average number of VA
 312    G. D. Newman et al.

per 1000 persons per city in this study is 21.6. Because of the differences in data collection
methods and the prevalence of estimates in the 2000 study, these results cannot be directly
compared. It can be cautiously inferred that AS may be increasing, but this is not necessarily
confirmed.
The preponderance of VL tends to vary by region (see Table 1). Southern cities have the
highest average VL amounts (23.5%) and average vacant acres per city (14,040). The average
VL to total land ratio in Midwestern and Southern cities is nearly twice as high as the ratios
in the West or North-east. Cities in Kansas, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Colorado and Florida
report an average of more than one-quarter of their land area as vacant. Cities in the North-
east report the lowest amount of VL relative to city size (9.3%). While the North-east and
West have remained relatively stable in their VL ratios (and actually slightly decreased) since
2000, the Midwest and South have shown a 9% and 4.2% increase, respectively.
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Vacant addresses: national and regional

On average, 4% of all addresses in large American cities are considered vacant, with more
than 7400 VA per city. Residential addresses account for nearly 75% of the vacancy total,
businesses are 25%. At the individual city level when comparing identical land uses, business
addresses have a higher vacancy rate than residential addresses: 10.4% to 3.3%.
When compared by census region, Midwestern cities report the highest ratio of VA to
total addresses at 6.9%, the South and North-east both have 4.2% VA, and the West has the
lowest figure at 2.6%, nearly three times less than the Midwest. Cities in the North-east,
however, report the highest number of VA with regard to land area (per 1000 acres), sug-
gesting that the density of VA is higher there than in other regions. With over 280 VA per
1000 acres, North-eastern cities have more than twice as many VA per 1000 acres as the West
(93.3) and South (140.5) and approximately one-third more than the Midwest (191). The
highest proportion of vacant residential addresses to total addresses (6.2%) is found in the
Midwest, and is nearly three times as high as the West (1.9%) and two times more than the
South (3.5%) and North-east (3.6%). The Midwest also reports the highest proportion of
vacant business addresses to total addresses (13.4%), with all other regions around 10%.
In the 2000 survey, the North-east reported the highest rate of AS per 1000 persons (7.2),
nearly twice as much as the Midwest (3.2) and West (3.0). Currently, the Midwest shows the
highest rate of VA per 1000 persons (38.1), almost twice as much as the North-east (21.8).
Surprisingly, Southern cities show the second highest amount of VA per 1000 persons, while
cities in the West report low levels on both surveys.

Vacant land and addresses: categorizations

The second section of Table 1 categorizes the responding cities in terms of changes in pop-
ulation and land area from 2000 to 2010. The final two columns of Table 1 show the average
variations in both factors for the four categories of cities. The other columns report VL and
address data. In general, VL amounts are higher relative to land area in both elastic cities
and growing cities compared to either inelastic or declining cities. The opposite is true for
VA. Cities experiencing population loss and inelastic cities report a higher proportion of VA,
both residential and business. The impact of the VA figures is clearer when examining average
 Journal of Urban Design   313

number of vacancies by land area: inelastic cities report more than twice as many VA per
1000 acres than elastic cities (242 and 109.3, respectively).
The 2000 survey compared cities with expanding and fixed boundaries, while this study
compares elastic and inelastic cities. In the earlier study, cities with a 25% or more increase
in land area were considered expanding while anything less was considered fixed. The data
from the 2000 study were readjusted to allow for more accurate comparisons using elastic
and inelastic cities. As expected, elastic cities report an increase in VL (2.6%) since 2000 while
inelastic cities show a decrease (0.8%). In both surveys, inelastic cites show much higher
rates of AS.
The presentation becomes more granular in the third section of Table 1 where cities are
classified by the combined population change and land area change typologies. Inflating
cities, characterized by both population growth and land expansion, and diluting cities
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(population loss and territorial growth) report similar amounts of VL (18.9% and 20.6%,
respectively). The real difference between these two types of cities can be seen in terms of
VA. Inflating cities report a below average vacancy rate of 3.4% while diluting cities have a
much higher vacancy rate of 7.1%. Therefore, despite similar proportions of VL, the built
environments of these two types of cities differ. The VL rate for both types of inelastic cities
is fairly comparable: 11.9% in compressing cities and 11.5% in deflating cities. Here too, what
separates the two types of cities is the vacant address data. On average, compressing cities
have 3.4% VA while in deflating cities the figure is much higher at 7.3%.

Causes of increase/decrease, types, characteristics and designation

Changes in VL supply can have any number of causes. In the survey, respondents were asked
to specify the factors that contributed to both increases and decreases in VL amounts in
their cities, the types of lands that were considered vacant, the physical characteristics of
vacant lots, and how parcels were designated as either VL or AS. Cities reported a varying
set of factors contributing to increases in the supply of VL. Disinvestment (or lack of rein-
vestment of capital) was the most commonly cited reason for increases in VL (29%). Growth
patterns and urban boundary expansion were also frequently listed as key factors in VL
increases with suburbanization (16%), annexation (16%) and deindustrialization (13%) rou-
tinely cited. Less impactful were physical characteristics such as land assembly problems
(9%) and contamination (6%). Figure 3 compares responses from the 2000 survey to the
current one on three dimensions: causes of changes in the supply of VL, the conditions of
VL, and how cities determine land vacancy. Comparatively speaking, disinvestment and
suburbanization have remained the leading causes of vacancy since 2000. More cities now
recognize annexation as a reason for increases in VL supply whereas deindustrialization and
land contamination, while still important, have become less important. This finding suggests
that the spread of obsolete real estate may have displaced brownfield properties as a driver
of VL. The 1990s push for the reclamation of industrial and brownfield sites may have been
gradually replaced by housing market issues which produced structural and vacancy crises
of their own.
Causes of decreases in VL amounts seem to be strongly related to economic factors and
city policy. Growing local economies (38.7%) were listed as the top reason for decreases in
VL supply and private development initiatives (28%) were also highly cited. City land use
policies (32%) and regulations encouraging infill development (37.3%) were also deemed
 314    G. D. Newman et al.
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Figure 3. Comparison by respondent rank of causes of increase/decrease, conditions of vacant land and
abandoned structure determination.

important as methods for decreasing vacancies. Population growth, particularly in-migration

(36%), was another key factor in reducing the amount of VL. Local economic growth remains
a leading factor in decreased vacancy, as it was in the 2000 study. While policies to encourage
infill and population in-migrations are also consistent factors, emphasis on private develop-
ment initiatives has decreased slightly since 2000. This shift suggests that strategies for
promoting economic growth through private enterprises may have been overshadowed by
public policy. This may be explained by the relatively low (and slow) rate of return on invest-
ment in many of these areas.
Designation of a VL is highly variable by city and showed no clear regional pattern. Green
spaces proved to be the most common type of VL. Greenfields (61.9%), unused agricultural
lands (49.2%), brownfields (47.6%) and derelict open space (33.3%) were listed as four of the
top five types of VL. Another type mentioned frequently by respondents was parcels with
no clear function (52.4%). Southern cities reported a greater prevalence of unused agricul-
tural lands while the North-east was less likely to report these lands as vacant. Midwestern
cities had a higher preponderance of brownfield lands while Western cities had smaller
proportions of derelict open spaces. The physical characteristics of these parcels did produce
some shared attributes. Most vacant parcels in large US cities are small (70.7%), odd shaped
(39.7%) and disconnected or in the wrong location (41.4%), making them difficult to
 Journal of Urban Design   315

regenerate. Only 20.7% of responding cities indicated that they had an undersupply of VL.
What cities designate as a type of VL has remained almost constant since the 2000 survey.
Interestingly, the most noticeable change is that in 2000, VL was considered to be in under-
supply in many more cities, suggesting that cities now have more VL to manage.
No clear consensus exists across cities on the question of how to determine when a
structure is vacant, suggesting that mapping inventory criteria and amounts probably differ.
Vacant structure determination varied by city but was primarily determined by government
criteria, word of mouth or the length of time. On a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 = least frequent
method and 5 = most frequent method, city officials (4.05) were typically the persons in
charge of deeming lots vacant. Duration of vacancy (3.84) and resident feedback (3.67) were
other common methods to designate a structure as vacant. Building inspections and health
inspections (2.89 and 2.27, respectively) to determine vacancy condition were shown to be
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less common. Cities in the Midwest, West and South tended to rely on informal feedback
from officials and length of delinquency to determine vacancy while the North-east used
calls from citizens and building inspections more regularly. Compared to 2000, there is now
a stronger emphasis on duration of vacancy and inspections to determine structural vacancy,
while informal feedback and calls from neighbours continue to play a dominant role. This
finding suggests that cities are doing more to make inventories and monitor their current
vacant building stock. Perhaps increases in land banking and reallocation of properties have
played some role in this shift.

Discussion/conclusions
This study sought to determine how much and what type of VLAS exist in US urban areas.
The results of the analysis here show that the ratio of VL to city land area has increased by
1.3 percentage points since 2000. Currently, on average, nearly one-sixth of a city’s territory
is considered vacant and 4% of all addresses are vacant. It can be inferred from these findings
that both VL and AS are slightly increasing in American cities. VL supply has increased in
elastic cities since 2000 while decreasing in inelastic cities. Related to this, more cities have
come to view annexation as a primary cause for VL formation. Western and Southern cities
are typically growing in population and area while North-eastern cities are not growing in
land area but are not necessarily declining in population. The population trend in Midwestern
cities is mixed with some depopulation occurring, despite land area changes. While each
region suffered from either high amounts of VL or VA, the Midwest seemed to be character-
ized by both circumstances. Public policy seems to be fairly effective in addressing these
circumstances, complementing or perhaps in some cases, supplementing, private develop-
ment efforts. Moreover, it appears that more cities are increasing documentation and mon-
itorization of these lots over time.
Some of these findings call into question the increased emphasis on sustainable urban-
ization. Over the past several decades, metropolitan areas globally have engaged in a mul-
titude of initiatives aimed at upgrading urban form, infrastructure, services and land use
regulation in an effort to create better environmental, social and economic conditions while
enhancing cities’ attractiveness and competitiveness (de Jong et al. 2015). If this trend of
increased VL continues, some urban areas may begin to experience problems such as
blighted blocks, high maintenance costs and uncollectable taxes. Older neighbourhoods
may become distressed unless approaches seeking to improve properties and regenerate
 316    G. D. Newman et al.

blocks are implemented. In other cities however, increased VL may simply signify an abun-
dance of greenfields suitable for future development. Ultimately a city’s fate depends on
the type of VL it has at its disposal, the strength of the local economy, and the policies the
city enacts. A comprehensive inventory study like this one helps to advance both research
and practice in urban land policy.
Disinvestment, suburbanization and annexation appear to be the primary causes of
increases in VL supply. Regardless of the cause, city governments are expected to ‘do some-
thing’ to manage their expanding supplies of VL. However, it is not just the actions of city
governments that affect VL supply. In the US, the actions of governments at all levels have
a local impact whether it is federal funding for infrastructure projects that fuel metropolitan
deconcentration or state growth management policies that attempt to contain sprawl. City
governments have numerous policy instruments at their disposal; the challenge is knowing
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how to deploy them effectively. Which vacant parcels should city governments purchase?
Is land banking an effective development strategy in a deflating city or is it more appropriate
in communities that are compressing? Which redevelopment projects should be incentivized
with available tax subsidies? Should the city work with non-profit organizations to convert
vacant lots into community gardens and pocket parks? These are the types of questions
local officials wrestle with as they manage their growing supplies of VL.
Cities in which the supply of VL has decreased (in the last decade) point to a mix of expla-
nations, including initiatives undertaken by the city itself as well as those attributable to
actions of the private sector. Clearly, transitioning parcels from vacant to utilized can be
stimulated in several ways. However, this raises a foundational question: at what point is the
supply of VL too low to sustain a city?
Cities that are losing population, whether diluting or deflating, are dealing with higher levels
of AS. The degree of elasticity of these cities’ boundaries does not seem to have a major
effect on AS. Simultaneously, elastic cities ‒ both inflating and diluting – report higher levels
of VL than do inelastic cities, despite population increases or decreases, suggesting that land
area fluctuation can have a substantial impact on urban VL supply. Moreover, inflating cities
can handle more VL because their housing market is robust; diluting cities cannot. This
demonstrates another central point: addressing a city’s issues with VLAS requires that both
population trends and land area patterns should be taken into account. Consider, for exam-
ple, deflating cities. They have less VL and more AS than most cities. They are losing popu-
lation and cannot expand their territorial reach. Creative solutions designed for deflating
cities must be multifaceted; however, in compressing cities with similar amounts of VL but
far less AS, a different set of solutions would be advisable. Increased developmental densities
that might be the solution in compressing cities are not a cure all to resolve the urban vacancy
issue. The finding here that elastic cities have larger portions of VL while inelastic cities have
larger VA rates suggests that both undeveloped and developed areas are being left as
non-productive parcels. Therefore, methods of declining smartly, without pursuing devel-
opmental based approaches, may merit future implementation. Residential vacancies are
the most abundant type of vacant address nationally; however, proportionately, business
addresses are more prone to vacancy. This clarification of the extent and type of structural
abandonment should inform policy makers seeking to design more effective remedies.
Although the compilation of VL inventories has become increasingly popular for cities,
AS need to be monitored much more thoroughly. Digital databases and checklists of con-
ditions could create a more holistic system for managing and regulating the situation.
 Journal of Urban Design   317

Distinct regional patterns exist in the data, suggesting the need for regional solutions and
the opportunity for diffusion of successful approaches. Midwestern cities are confronting
major issues with both VL and abandonment. Cities in the South have large amounts of VL
but low rates of structural abandonment, while cities in the North-east have the opposite
problem, with large abandonment rates and low ratios of VL. Comparatively speaking,
Western cities are doing relatively well managing both VL and abandonment. Awareness of
the amount and location of VL and structures is an important first step. Of course, better
data can only take a city so far. The very important next step is the design and implementa-
tion of ameliorative policies. The ultimate goal in most cities is the promulgation of proactive
decisions by city officials that will keep spaces active and more effectively regenerate
non-functioning properties. For many cities, particularly those that have been characterized
as deflating here, this is no small task.
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Notes
1. 
The response rate to the Northam survey was 66%.
2. 
The response rate to the 2000 Pagano and Bowman survey was 50%.
3. 
The Bowman and Pagano (2004) survey was constructed in accordance with the survey
principles and techniques recommended by Dillman (1978). The survey was modified by
reformatting it for online use, using Qualtrics survey software and adding a question on vacant
land typologies.
4. 
A breakdown of the vacant land and structures data for individual cities is available in an
online appendix.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID
Galen D. Newman   http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4277-5931

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