OH/LEX: Ohio Land Exchange

The Ohio Land Exchange is an action-research project that seeks to test the feasibility of a new collaborative site-planning framework, in which community groups and other stakeholders jointly develop and design new approaches to vacant land reuse in cities with high levels of vacant and abandoned land. Lima was the first city in Ohio in which this new framework has been tested. The OH/LEX team is currently collaborating with OSU Extension to explore the possibility of bringing this program to other jurisdictions in Ohio. During the Community Engagement Conference, we are organizing a panel to introduce interested members from the Ohio State community to the tools we have developed in Lima. The panel will consist of a brief overview of the results of our pilot test in Lima with key local partners, a discussion of the potential for implementation of the approach in other jurisdictions, and Q&A. If you are curious about vacant land reuse and/or community engagement in legacy cities in Ohio, please consider attending this panel.AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Nancy Bowen Ellzey, Associate Professor, Community Economics, The Ohio State University Extension, bowen-ellzey.1@osu.edu (Corresponding Author); Mattijs Van Maasakkers, Assistant Professor, City Planning, Knowlton School; Susan Crotty, Community Development Director, City of Lima, Department of Community Development; Phil Downing, Administrator, Lima Land Bank Program; Jeeson Oh, Graduate Student, Knowlton School of City and Regional Planning.The Ohio Land Exchange is an action-research project that seeks to test the feasibility of a new collaborative site-planning framework in which community groups and other stakeholders jointly develop and design new approaches to vacant land reuse in cities with high levels of vacant and abandoned land. This project includes students and faculty with Knowlton School, Extension and Lima stakeholders who will introduce the program and how it has been implemented in the first city in Ohio in which this new framework has been tested