Smart Growth

Managing Vacant and Abandoned Property in the Green Zone of Saginaw, Michigan

In 2010, Saginaw requested assistance from EPA's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program to identify options for managing land use and infrastructure in the Green Zone, a 350-acre neighborhood in northeast Saginaw that has the city's largest concentration of vacant and abandoned property. City and county officials asked for EPA's help to develop a strategy to stabilize neighborhoods through sustainable reuse of abandoned properties, including redeveloping them as green infrastructure, and to create opportunities for long-term economic growth.

This report identifies policy options to help Saginaw and other communities around the country that are experiencing population loss and property abandonment develop in sustainable and economically resilient ways.

Learn more about smart growth and equitable development.

Learn more about green infrastructure.

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