596 Acres

596 Acres built tools to help neighbors see vacant lots as opportunities and create needed green spaces that become focal points for community organizing and civic engagement.

We turned our original online map into a sophisticated interactive organizing tool, Living Lots NYC, which provides information about vacant land across NYC and is supported by signs and other print materials. These materials go hand in hand with our ongoing organizing and advocacy work.We harness technology and policy expertise to strengthen local campaigns that transform cities one block at a time. With this approach, 596 Acres fills the gap between policy and the people in our neighborhoods in a way that neither the government nor other non-profit projects do. While policy makers work toward prioritizing urban agriculture and public space, we connect people with new and emerging opportunities to make local change now.Our tools help neighbors see vacant lots as sites of opportunity for green spaces in neighborhoods that lack them. We activate imaginations, initiate campaigns to legally get the keys to previously inaccessible vacant lots, and ultimately unlock more than just the gates. Through collaborative organizing residents become active stewards of urban land.By changing the way people see the land in their neighborhoods, we transform their relationships to power. We spur bottom-up development that compensates for uneven growth when we help people create their own lasting vibrant institutions in our shared land.