Urban Lot Regeneration Program  

The Urban Lot Regeneration program attempts to address environmental, health, and blight issues by cleaning up vacant lots and restoring the areas to green and open space.

The City of Bridgeport has served as a major industrial center for the United States for over 150 years.  As has happened in other cities, many sites now lay dormant and have left behind environmental concerns.  A major issue affecting the health and well being in the city are vacant properties.  The City of Bridgeport has a high rate of health disparities such as asthma and also struggles with crime and blight in a number of neighborhoods, especially those with a high number of vacant or abandoned lots.
 

Vacant lots such as these increase crime, encourage dumping, and pose health risks to many neighborhoods in Bridgeport.

In response to the various problems created by vacant properties, Groundwork Bridgeport has developed the Urban Lot Regeneration Program.  Project goals include:

1) transforming vacant lots into healthy green/open space in neighborhoods that are riddled with blight and urban decay;
2) involving the community, especially the East End, East Side, and South End, to transform blight into parks bringing a sense of community pride;
3) foster long-term benefits that include beautifying blighted areas, encouraging community pride and educating individuals on the effects of pollution; 
4) if possible, promoting environmental education by including elements such as signs on how contamination affects properties and their population.

While Bridgeport is dubbed the “Park City,” the East End, East Side, and South End are riddled with vacant lots and directly experience the negative impacts of such properties.  The removal of blight can improve air quality and stabilize neighborhoods for residents.  The creation of open/green space from vacant or abandoned lots is a benefit to the neighborhood, its schools, and the community.  Parks encourage exercise and give people a sense of connection to the environment and our natural resources.  A sense of ownership for a positive future and an understanding of community pride are also important benefits of the program.

By removing trash and overgrowth from this site along I-95 and adding plant material, students improved the safety, health, and attractiveness of the local neighborhood.

Groundwork Bridgeport’s Urban Lot Regeneration Program is part of a broader scope throughout Bridgeport.  The City of Bridgeport has partnered successfully with numerous organizations to create an inventory of vacant lots, assess brownfields, plan for the remediation and redevelopment of brownfields, initiate a Green Plan, and increase open/green space to offer healthy lifestyle alternatives to children with high asthma and obesity rates. 

The outcomes of the Urban Lot Regeneration program are many.  The planting of gardens and trees not only beautify an area, but also increase the air quality and reduce the incidence of asthma by removing carbon dioxide and other pollutants from the air.  Cleaner air will benefit people of all ages, especially residents of neighborhoods nestled on the I-95 corridor, and ties between community groups will be strengthened.  Children will be educated on the effects of contamination as well as how contaminants spread through the ecosystem.