It can work, but the neighbors must be invested.
My hometown, which covers just 7 square miles, had over 700 vacant lots by 1991. Most of them were burned out shells the result of arson for insurance that swept the city in the late 1980s.
In 1992 the city hired lawyers and seized over 500 of them. All of the homes were bulldozed with some of the land being sold as house lots, others being split between abutters to relieve urban congestion. About 10 were turned into little parks maintained by the neighborhood residents. (No cost to a poor city budget)
Some of the new parks were used for community vegetable gardens. With a few, like one near where I grew up, becoming simple shaded areas with trees and grass.
