About
The Large Lot Program is a housing land use approach that was developed as part of the Green Healthy Neighborhoods public planning process. The program is being piloted in community areas where the City owns large amounts of vacant land. The core goals of the program are:
- Give local residents greater control over vacant land in their neighborhood
- Dispose of some of the City-owned land in these neighborhoods efficiently, which returns the land to the tax rolls
- Create wealth in the community by allowing owners to sell land after five years
- Increase safety, build community, and raise home values by creating more neighborhood-level investment
LargeLots.org was built to make the process of purchasing City-owned land through this program easier for residents. It was initiated by Demond Drummer at Teamwork Englewood, built by DataMade, and funded by LISC Chicago with support from the Boeing Corporation, and the Knight Foundation for LISC's OpenGov for the Rest of Us project.
On December 10, 2014, LargeLots.org was officially adopted by the City of Chicago as part of the Large Lot Program. See the passed ordinance.
When Technology and Policy Work Together: Large Lots in Chicago
Demond Drummer and Derek Eder shared their experience combining community organizing and civic technology with LISC Chicago to make LargeLots.org at the 2014 Code for America Summit.
In the talk, Demond tells the history of the Englewood neighborhood, the community meetings that led to the Green Healthy Neighborhoods Land Use Plan and the creation of the Large Lots Pilot. Derek then describes the maturing civic tech community in Chicago and how we were able to put together a multidisciplinary team with LISC, the City of Chicago, Teamwork Englewood and DataMade to enable the policy to succeed.
You can watch the whole thing here:
Built with open data
This site was built using open data from Chicago and Cook County:
- Chicago - City Owned Land Inventory
- Chicago - Community Areas
- Cook County - Address Point Chicago
- Cook County - 2012 Parcels
We prepared some extracts of the above sources for this project. You can download those here:
Pilot 1: Greater Englewood Area- Available lots (CartoDB table)
- Boundary of the Large Lot Program area (Shapefile)
- Available lots (CartoDB table)
- Available lots (CartoDB table)
- 0 = not applied for
- 1 = applied for but not approved
- 2 = applied for and approved
- 3 = applied for and sold
- -1 = ineligible lot
Open source code
All the code for this site is open source and available on Github. We used the following open source tools:
- QGIS - graphic information system (GIS) desktop application
- PostGIS - geospatial database
- Django - web framework
- Bootstrap - Responsive HTML, CSS and Javascript framework
- Leaflet - javascript library interactive maps
- CartoDB - platform for rendering interactive map tiles
- jQuery Address - javascript library creating RESTful URLs
Press
Large Lots 7: Spring 2018
- Lot by lot, reviving Chicago's many Englewoods - Chicago Tribune | June 12, 2018
- New Large Lot owner to use property to build an early learning center in Englewood - City of Chicago | June 3, 2018
- Chicago's Large Lots Program Offers Vacant Lots For $1 - CBS Chicago | May 18, 2018
- Chicago selling 3000-plus properties through $1 vacant lot program - Chicago Tribune | May 17, 2018
- Chicago selling 3200 vacant lots for just $1 - WGN TV | May 17, 2018
Large Lots 6: Fall 2016 Expansion
- City of Chicago to expand $1 lot program to 4,000 vacant properties - Jay Koziarz, Curbed Chicago | Nov 29, 2016
- En venta miles de lotes en Chicago por tan solo un dólar - Telemundo Chicago | Nov 29, 2016
- City of Chicago Selling More Than 4K Vacant Lots For $1 - Charles Thomas, ABC 7 Chicago | Nov 29, 2016
- Speculative development: Here’s what you can build on your new $1 “Large Lot” - Steven Vance, Chicago Cityscape | Nov 29, 2016
- Salen a la venta más de 4,000 lotes en Chicago por un dólar - Univision | Nov 29, 2016
- Chicago selling 4,000 vacant lots for $1 starting today - WGNtv | Nov 29, 2016
- Emanuel selling 4,000 vacant lots in 33 neighborhoods for $1 each - Fran Spielman, Chicago Suntimes | Nov 29, 2016
- Chicago Expands Program to Sell Residents Vacant Lots for $1 - Shibani Mahtani, The Wall Street Journal | Nov 29, 2016
- More Than 4,000 Vacant Lots on Sale for $1 in Chicago - NBC Chicago | Nov 29, 2016
- You Can Buy Lots For $1 In More Than 30 Neighborhoods On South, West Sides - Kelly Bauer, DNAinfo | Nov 29, 2016
- 4,000 vacant lots on sale for $1 to Chicago homeowners - Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune | Nov 28, 2016
Large Lots 5: Auburn Gresham
- HURRY, Auburn Gresham $1 Large Lot Purchase Program Ends May 15th! - Auburn Gresham Portal | May 11, 2016
- Large Lots land sale program expands to the Auburn Gresham community - The Chicago Crusader | Feb 3, 2016
- City's Dollar Lot Program Moves to the Auburn Gresham Area - AJ LaTrace , Curbed Chicago | Feb 3, 2016
- Chicago Large Lots Program Offers Property in Auburn Gresham for $1 - Andrea V. Watson, DNAinfo | Feb 2, 2016
Large Lots 4: Roseland and Pullman
- Chicago to sell 306 more lots for $1 - Corilyn Shropshire, Chicago Tribune | Sep 11, 2015
- $1 Property Sale Program Expanding to Roseland, Pullman - Joe Ward, DNAInfo Chicago | Sep 11, 2015
- The City Is Selling More Vacant Lots For A $1 Each - Kate Shepherd, Chicagoist | Sep 11, 2015
Large Lots 3: Austin
- City of Chicago Selling Vacant Lots for $1 - Paul Meincke, ABC 7 Chicago | Dec 19, 2014
- Englewood Lots Bought for a Buck Cheered by Mayor, Plan Expands to Austin - Ted Cox, DNAinfo | Dec 19, 2014
- City Expands $1 Vacant Lot Purchase Program - CBS 2 Chicago | Dec 19, 2014
Large Lots 2: East Garfield Park
- 'Large Lots' program expanding in Chicago - Alderman Walter Burnett interview on WBEZ Tech Shift | Jul 31, 2014
- Large Lots and Double Dutch - Tina Harbin and Demond Drummer interview on the Barber Shop Show | Jul 25, 2014
- For Sale: Vacant Lots On Chicago Blocks, Just $1 Each - David Schaper | Jul 2, 2014
- Large Lots 2.0 - Derek Eder, DataMade | Jul 1, 2014
Large Lots 1: Greater Englewood Area
- More than 322 Lots Sold For $1 in Englewood - ABC 7 Chicago | Oct 8, 2014
- Empty Lots for Sale in Chicago - Brandis Friedman, WTTW Chicago Tonight | Apr 17, 2014
- Chicago-owned residential lots sell for $1 in Englewood, Washington Park, Woodlawn - Ben Bradley, ABC 7 Chicago | Apr 10, 2014
- Here’s How to Buy a City-Owned Lot in Englewood for Only $1 - AJ LaTrace, Curbed Chicago | Apr 7, 2014
- Website Helps Residents Buy $1 Vacant Lots - Patrick Barry, LISC Chicago | Apr 4, 2014
- Teamwork Englewood Launches LargeLots.org - Demond Drummer, Teamwork Englewood | Apr 4, 2014
- The Launch of LargeLots.org - Derek Eder, DataMade | Apr 4, 2014
Large Lot Program policy and implementation
- Lots to Love: Checking in with the Large Lots pilot projects - Andrew Koski, South Side Weekly | Nov 17, 2015
- Welcome to the Open Data Movement’s Turbulent Teenage Years - Andrew Zaleski, Next City | Jan 12, 2015
- Now what? Buyers of $1 Large Lots Get Tips on the Art of “Placemaking” - John McCarron, LISC Chicago | Apr 17, 2015
- Residents get behind $1 city lot program - Mary Ellen Podmolik, Chicago Tribune | Jan 7, 2015
- Crafting Civic Tech: A Kickstarter Guide for Community Collaboration on Civic Technology Laurenellen McCann | Nov 3, 2014
- When Technology and Policy Work Together: Large Lots in Chicago (video) - Demond Drummer and Derek Eder, Code for America Summit | Sep 23, 2014
- Largelots.org – A working app for the Englewood Neighborhood - Christopher Whitaker, Smart Chicago Collaborative | Apr 29, 2014
- Local hackers raise awareness through community-focused websites - Jennifer Wolan, The Columbia Chronicle | Apr 28, 2014
- How LargeLots.org became a reality - Chris Hagan, WBEZ Chicago Public Data | Apr 18, 2014
- Hackers fight neighborhood blight - Aysha Butler and Demond Drummer interview on WBEZ Tech Shift | Apr 17, 2014