From Fallow

From Fallow is a curated collection of 100 ideas for abandoned property. Through drawing and text each idea is elaborated and each entry serves both as documentation and speculation.

The intention, here, is to think differently about pre-existing conditions and to be particular about them. I offer examples of different spatial characteristics around abandonment in North American legacy cities. The variations are mesmerizingly complicated and varied. A vacant lot is never one thing. Terrains have different scales, elevations, adjacencies, uses, climates and cultures. And just as no one territory is the same, so no one idea is sufficient. The goal, in considering these disparate ideas, is not to imagine any singular solution but to understand the many possibilities. Ideas can be tested, substituted and combined.

In creating this volume, I am indebted to the many talented individuals who have tackled the fallow landscape with vigor and optimism. This is a tribute to the people who live and work in the places others have given up on and to the many existing and proposed land-based practices that are viable visions for available land in American cities.