Philadelphia Vacant Lot Initiative Helps Manage Stormwater

A Philadelphia initiative is being lauded as a national model for reclaiming and managing vacant urban lots. 

Although the spaces are often small, by reclaiming many sites in the same area of North Philadelphia, the abandoned lots have been converted into green corridors. The vacant land program is run by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Philadelphia Green program. One of the key advantages of investments in greening vacant land is the increase in property values by as much as 30 percent. 

The Philadelphia program started as a greening program to renew small spaces in neighborhoods, one step at a time. Now PHS has added a stormwater management component, turning spaces that were neighborhood eyesores into places that now beautify the neighborhood and also provide shade and environmental benefits. http:// www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org/phlgreen/index.html