en.Wedoany.com Reported - A record number of former public school buildings are being repurposed into housing, creative centers, and other new uses to address the hollowing out of communities caused by a wave of school closures in the United States. Driven by factors such as declining enrollment, lower birth rates, expanded school choice, and pandemic-era disruptions, these vacant buildings often sit idle for years, eroding community ties and potentially accelerating population outmigration.

Linda Jacobson, senior reporter for The 74, reports that the number of former schools converted into housing has reached an all-time high. Paola Aguirre Serrano, an urban designer and partner at Borderless Studio, drawing from her experience tracking the closure of 50 schools in Chicago in 2013, explains why redevelopment has progressed rapidly in the North Side but stalled for years in the South and West Sides. Lindsey Scannapieco, managing partner and founder of Scout, recounts the process of transforming the former Bok Vocational High School in Philadelphia—spanning 340,000 square feet—into a creative center housing over 700 workers, while resisting pressure from financiers who wanted it turned into luxury residences.

"Can you imagine what it's like for a young person to walk past a school that has been closed for 10 years?" Aguirre asked. "What does that mean for their city? And what does it mean for all of us?"

Scannapieco noted that school closures come with a great deal of community pain that needs to be acknowledged; change is difficult, and schools carry a vast amount of institutional memory that requires consideration of how to preserve it during the transformation.

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