Co-City Baton Rouge
In North Baton Rouge, an ambitious experiment in community-led redevelopment is exploring how neighborhoods can benefit from investment without losing the people and culture that define them.
Co-City Baton Rouge brings together residents, local government, universities, community organizations, and private partners to rethink how vacant land and neighborhood resources are developed and governed.
Led in part by urban commons scholar Sheila Foster, the initiative helped establish the Plank Road Community Land Bank and Trust, an innovative institution combining the redevelopment capacity of a land bank with the long-term community stewardship of a land trust.
Its first development, Erie Street EcoPark, transformed a vacant lot into a neighborhood green space with stormwater infrastructure, native landscaping, and places for community gathering. The park opened in June 2025.
Co-City Baton Rouge offers a working example of collaborative urban governance, creating structures through which residents can participate not only in planning their neighborhood's future, but in stewarding the resources that shape it.
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