CHICAGO- Urban school systems across the country have closed hundreds of schools and attendees at the American Planning Association's national planning conference, held here from April 13-17, say officials will find it difficult to dispose of or repurpose the properties.

“The challenge of finding new functions for these buildings is daunting,” says Emily Dowdall, a senior associate with the Pew Charitable Trusts, which studied the experiences of twelve cities and presented the results at the conference. Many of the school buildings are old, hard to maintain and located in troubled neighborhoods. And the interior spaces, with classrooms, gymnasiums and cafeterias, often can't meet the needs of many businesses and nonprofits. The recent decision by the Chicago Public Schools to close 54 additional schools, mostly on the South and West Sides, means the city will now struggle to find other uses for a vast amount of such real estate.

“It's really focused national attention on this issue,” Dowdall adds. Pew studied what was done in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tulsa, Washington and Chicago, not including the recent closure announcements. Officials in these cities managed to sell, lease or reuse 267 schools, researchers found. But more than 300 remain unused. Leaving such large structures vacant can create eyesores that further bring down already-struggling neighborhoods.