Land Banking

View of street in small town of Camillus, New York on a cloudy day.

Rural New York Explores Creative Housing Solutions

Rural communities and small cities are implementing affordable housing solutions at the local level, while the state budget prioritizes urban areas.

May 21, 2024 - Mark McNulty

Vacant home with foreclosure sign.

What Is a Land Bank?

Land banks are public or private organizations that purchase, hold, redevelop, or otherwise manage foreclosed or abandoned properties with the goal of achieving community objectives such as affordable housing construction or public park space.

July 3, 2022 - Diana Ionescu

A Gold Line AnsaldoBreda P2550 train enters Mission Station in South Pasadena on February 25, 2012.

Land Banking to Prevent Transit-Oriented Displacement in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) will implement a new land banking program to mitigate gentrification and displacement around future transit lines.

June 28, 2022 - Los Angeles Daily News

Mount Hood Clackamas

One Suburban County's Search for Land to Support Employment

Amid concerns about lackluster growth, Oregon's Clackamas County plans to create 10,000 new family wage jobs by 2019. But the county lacks the zoned land it needs to accomplish its goals.

May 13, 2015 - OregonLive

Office Park

Tech Giants Bank on Growth, Acquire More Space

To provide room for long-term expansion, companies like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn are buying up even more Bay Area real estate. Their flush cash reserves have them nudging out the traditional development and investment crowd.

March 24, 2015 - The Wall Street Journal

Turning "Redfields" Into Urban Parks

Jonathan Lerner gives an extensive analysis of the benefits of turning failed commercial properties, or "redfields", into strategically-picked park land for revitalization purposes. Some conversion would be permanent, some just land banking.

December 28, 2010 - Miller-McCune

Combining Pavement and Reusable Materials to Make Urban Parks

Allison Arieff argues that cities should look to reversible parks modeled on the Pavement to Parks program to prevent blight, combat the practice of land banking, and model sustainable practices.

September 28, 2009 - NYTimes: By Design Blog

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Websites

The best of the Internet—since 2002.

Top Apps

Planning apps for a brave new world.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.