There are over 10,000 city-owned vacant lots. The Available City hopes to change that. 

Established as a not-for-profit in 2023, The Available City believes Chicago’s city-owned vacant lots—an area the size of the Loop—can be transformed into a landscape of community-driven collective spaces. Working with neighborhood residents and community organizations, we help develop and implement plans for collective spaces that address local interests and needs through workshops, events, publications, and a collaborative design and construction process. 

By partnering local neighborhoods with architects, designers, and artists from around the world, we hope to strengthen the character and quality of life in and among 18 underserved Chicago neighborhoods that have the highest number of city-owned vacant lots and are home to predominantly Black and brown communities. Within an ongoing exposition format, where new spaces can be designed and constructed each year, we are attentive to developing individual collective spaces that enrich communities with new resources, and fostering, across those spaces, the urbanism that multiple collective spaces can promote. 

The Available City, NFP, is the continuation of David Brown’s ongoing research, which began at UIC over a decade ago. David served as the Artistic Director of the fourth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2021, also titled The Available City, which partnered local residents and organizations with architects and designers to create site-specific installations in Bronzeville, Englewood, North Lawndale, Pilsen, and Woodlawn. 



Board of Directors

President, David Brown
Vice President, Craig Stevenson
Treasurer, Lauren Van Damme
Secretary, Antonio Torres