Labeling lots in New Orleans, September 2013
Collaborations with 596 Acres
The 596 Acres team has collaborated on a number of related projects with advocates in other cities. We’re really proud of these partnerships:
Grounded in Philly | Philadelphia
Grounded in Philly facilitates the transitioning of vacant land into community-controlled green spaces, gardens and gathering places. The site was built in collaboration with the Garden Justice Legal Initiative at the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, and funded by the Merck Family Fund and the Claneil Foundation. It is built on the Living Lots® platform.
LA Open Acres | Los Angeles
LA Open Acres launched in 2014 to provide a much-needed database of the open, accessible lands in Los Angeles. The site was built in collaboration with Community Health Councils (LA) and C-Lab (NYC), with funding from the Goldhirsh Foundation LA2050 competition. It is built on the Living Lots platform.
Living Lots NOLA | New Orleans
Living Lots is a prototype vacant lot activation tool for any city supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. We put the prototype together to meet the needs of the New Orleans Food and Farm Network‘s FarmCity Toolbox and create Living Lots NOLA.
Parkdale Neighborhood Land Trust | Toronto, Canada
In May 2015, Eric Brelsford of 596 Acres served as consultant for the development of Parkdale People’s Map, a mapping tool for the Parkdale Neighborhood Land Trust in Toronto, Canada.
Neighborhood Academy at Prinzesinnengarten | Berlin, Germany
In August 2015, 596 Acres Executive Director Paula Z. Segal was a resident at Neighborhood Academy at Prinzesinnengarten in Berlin, Germany. The goal of the residency was to begin the process of making Berlin’s hidden commons visible to residents for potential reclamation. Together they created an online map and placed signs on Berlin’s potential “commons.”
If you’re interested in collaborating with us or hiring us to build a map for your city, please see Bring Our Tools to Your City. Our code base, Living Lots, is open source and free to use; just be sure to attribute and make your improvements available for us and others to use. Code and detailed instructions available on GitHub.
Projects Inspired by 596 Acres
We have also been thrilled to see advocates around the world building their own tools inspired by our work:
H-MTL Platform | Montreal, Canada
Heritage Montreal, an organization that works to promote and to protect the architectural, historic, natural and cultural heritage of Greater Montreal, adapted the Living Lots approach to vacant and vulnerable built sites on the H-MTL Platform. The project allows people who live in Montreal to identify buildings that they believe should be preserved and then work together to preserve them.
Lande | Montreal, Canada
Lande is a tool based on 596 Acres’ best practices for resident-led transformation of vacant lots.
Lots to Love | Pittsburgh
GTECH Strategies, a leading land access and activation organization in Pittsburgh, liked the approach so much they captured it in a request for proposals with the City of Pittsburgh’s Planning Department to build a customized tool using municipal data.
Love Old Trafford Lots | Manchester, United Kingdom
After learning about 596 Acres’ map, Love Old Trafford Lots created a their own using available technology modeled on ours. They started by making their own data through a series of organized walks. The map is helping neighbors see possibilities and seize them.
3000acres | Melbourne, Australia
3000acres borrowed our strategy and created their own tool. Instead of starting with municipal data, they started with a few sites that users submitted and explored the opportunities they presented by researching each one by one, then posting and acting on their findings. These opportunities are turning into growing spaces with the support of 3000acres staff.
