Architecture Commons^™

Reviving Troost: Reactivating Vacant Lots Through Urban Acupuncture, Ayana Belk

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Modern day cities are riddled with vacant lots that attract illicit activity and give a negative impression of the surrounding neighborhood. Vacant lots are born from an urban history of an increasingly privatized public realm and growing socio-political and economic polarization (Foo 2014, 176). Suburbanization, redlining, and urban renewal disproportionately affected lower income neighborhoods, which are rarely able to rebuild without outside financial assistance. “Urban acupuncture” is a theory that views cities as living, breathing organisms and a variety of projects can serve as “needles” that revitalize the community by healing the parts. When applied correctly this theory can help …