Micro Green Corridors for Transforming Underutilized Privately owned Micro Lots into Urban Green Infrastructure

Underutilized privately-owned micro-lots (UPMLs) represent a largely untapped resource for sustainable urban development but are often overlooked due to fragmented ownership, limited collective visibility, and regulatory constraints. This study introduces Micro Green Corridors (MGCs) —a landowner-centric, incentive-driven, and design-oriented framework that repositions these parcels as distributed components of urban green infrastructure. Unlike conventional green corridor approaches that often rely on large, contiguous land and centralized planning, MGCs leverages buildability constraints as opportunities for adaptive reuse and flexible planning approaches in dense urban areas. The framework provides practical design guidelines and assessment tools to help landowners evaluate parcel potential, navigate zoning regulations, and engage constructively with local authorities. It positions design as a negotiation tool that can facilitate dialogue between landowners and local authorities while supporting more flexible planning responses. A New York City case study demonstrates how non-compliant micro-lots can be converted into multifunctional landscapes that enhance flood and food system resilience, urban biodiversity, and neighborhood livability. Diverse lot types—including very small, irregularly shaped, non-conforming, and flood-prone parcels—demonstrate potential for adaptation within the proposed framework. By emphasizing distributed, bottom-up transformation, MGCs raises awareness of the cumulative benefits of these transformations and provides a scalable, proactive, and replicable model for advancing networked urban sustainability.