With a 21 percent jobless rate in Motown, many people have taken advantage of empty lots to build community gardens. This AP article reports that within the city of Detroit, hundreds of urban vegetable gardens have popped up on abandoned properties. This kind of land grab has become common in the city where a house was famously purchased for 1 dollar.

In Los Angeles, a much more contentious story played out in the ashes of the 1992 Riots. The Garden Movie documents the story of an urban farm in South Central and the fight to preserve it from development. Here is a preview: