As American cities fill with new and smaller households, school populations are shrinking. And that means a lot of closed schools in communities with no idea how to repurpose them.

Enter Lindsey Scannapieco, principal with Scout, Ltd. and now the enthusiastic developer of the Edward Bok Technical School in South Philadelphia. It is a mammoth undertaking – an eight-story, 340,000-square-foot hulk of a building with two gyms, one of the city’s largest auditoriums, science labs, a commercial kitchen and more.

We talked to Lindsey about her plans for the building and her Knight Cities Challenge award-winning project.

1. America’s cities are full of closed school buildings ready to be repurposed and reopened.

2. Even though these buildings are closed, they still have value.

3. Fresh eyes on these projects can help imagine uses that more experienced developers might not see.

4. Buildings like the Bok School can be developed in stages. Early-stage work should activate, ignite and build a community that can take on the development and occupancy of the space in future stages.

5. Consider a building’s context when considering its redevelopment. There is no point in shoving a square peg through a round hole. Use the assets you have, and find the value in them. Look at what the community needs and what it will appreciate.

Listen to my conversation with Lindsey here. And sign up for the “Knight Cities” newsletter to get alerts as soon as new conversations are posted.

Look for new “Knight Cities” content posted every week. You can follow us on Twitter at #knightcities or @knightfdn. And if you have ideas for people you’d like to hear from, please email me.

Carol Coletta is vice president of community and national initiatives at Knight Foundation. Follow her on Twitter @ccoletta.