Assessing Vacant Lot Eligibility for Green Space

Data and Programming for Public Policy II

Final Project: Autumn 2021 This project was built in collaboration with Isabelle Hirschy and Kashif Ahmed.

Project Description:

Vacant lots are a persistent problem in the city of Chicago. The City holds thousands of pieces of property throughout its jurisdiction, many the result offoreclosures and systemic disinvestment. Our project attempts to address some of the information concerns plaguingvacant lot disposition in Chicago, particularly the lack of clear standards fortransfer eligibility. Using the existing City-Owned Land Inventory, we createdan index by which lots are "scored" on their candidacy for disposition and trans-formation into green space.

Data

In order to determine which vacant lots would be most suitable for turninginto green-space, we looked at the following variables that could influence parkquality:

1. Amount of heavily polluted sites nearby
2. Amount of green space nearby (parks)
3. Amount of ’L’ train stops nearby
4. Amount of bus stations nearby. We used a subsection of bus stations that are considered EquitableTransit Oriented Development (ETOD) corridors.