‘There’s land if you want it’: how a hand-drawn map is transforming vacant lots in Brooklyn

596 Acres is a non-profit organisation that seeks for community empowerment and sustained local action. A team of design, law and information technology professionals aims to help citizens transform vacant public land in the city of New York into community resources. 596 Acres began by analysing open data on vacant land provided by the city, after which they developed online tools that transformed city data into ‘readable’ information for citizens. This was done by mapping all publicly owned, vacant pieces of land in the city of New York and by designing a physical intervention; posters were put up on the fences surrounding the vacant lots containing provocative texts (e.g. ‘This Land Is Your Land’), basic information about the city agency owning the lot and their contact number. These posters, in combination with digital information (numbers, figures and maps on the 596 Acres website), triggered local neighbourhood inhabitants to contact the organisation or the local council and take action.

Full article can be read here: http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/dec/12/vacant-lots-brooklyn-596-acres-new-york

The 596 Acres posters visualise all the publicly owned vacant land in Brooklyn and encourage neighbours to organise to request access

The 596 Acres posters visualise all the publicly owned vacant land in Brooklyn and encourage neighbours to organise to request access