Chicago Repurposes Idle Land into Parks, Homes and Revenue

Source: chicagobusiness.com

Chicago leaders are creatively turning idle public land into valuable community resources through innovative partnerships. The op-ed by urban planner Tom Day argues for expanding these efforts to tackle the city's 17,000 acres of underutilized public property. It highlights successful pilots and calls for policy changes to scale up, showing how this can address housing shortages, green space deficits, and economic stagnation that matter to residents and taxpayers.