Bringing Buildings Back

by Mallach, Alan

• ISBN13: 9780813549866
• ISBN10: 0813549868
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-01
• Publisher: Rutgers Univ Pr

Summary

Written by a distinguished urban planner and practitioner with three decades of experience, the original volume of Bringing Buildings Back provided both a detailed toolkit and a call to rethink the way America carries out urban redevelopment. This second edition of Alan Mallach's now classic work contains new material that directly addresses the issues that have arisen as communities across the country try to stabilize their neighborhoods in the wake of the foreclosure crisis. It discusses both the fundamental "big picture" issues and the technical and practical questions that have emerged. Mallach explores the concept of neighborhood stability and explains how it relates to the economic forces affecting a community, city, or region. As in the prior volume, this updated edition of Bringing Buildings Back does not seek simply to provide technical guidance to practitioners; it also suggests creative ways of thinking about local policies, strategies, and actions. Ultimately, no plan for dealing with problem real estate is about just the properties themselves; it is about how to build stronger, healthier neighborhoods, towns, and cities.

Author Biography

Alan Mallach, FAICP, is a senior research fellow of the National Housing Institute and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He has written widely on planning, housing, and community development, while working in business, government, and academe.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. vii
Preface to the Second Edition	p. ix
Preface: Using This Guidebook	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Understanding abandonment	p. 1
Preventing Abandonment	p. 11
Introduction: Thinking strategically	p. 13
Property information and early warning systems	p. 17
Improving the economic viability of at-risk absentee-owned properties	p. 24
Preventing abandonment of owner-occupied housing	p. 31
Enforcement and intervention	p. 40
Receivership	p. 49
Resources for further information	p. 66
Taking Control of Abandoned Properties	p. 69
Introduction	p. 72
Making tax foreclosure work	p. 75
Other property acquisition tools	p. 86
Property disposition	p. 103
Setting up an abandoned property management system	p. 117
Designing and establishing land bank entities	p. 128
Getting action on privately owned properties	p. 143
Maintaining, securing, and removing abandoned properties	p. 166
Resources for further information	p. 183
Fostering Sustainable Reuse of Abandoned Properties	p. 187
Laying the groundwork for the city's future	p. 191
Making markets for abandoned properties	p. 197
Using incentives to further community investment	p. 217
Building reuse strategies around neighborhood market dynamics	p. 233
Neighborhood revitalization planning and abandoned property strategies	p. 245
Principles for abandoned property reuse	p. 266
Greening the urban environment: Open space as a reuse strategy	p. 283
Stabilizing neighborhoods after the foreclosure crisis	p. 302
Resources for further information	p. 345
Appendix: Estimating the number of abandoned properties in American cities	p. 349
Select Bibliography	p. 353
Index	p. 355
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