Brownfields

Written for real estate lawyers, environmental lawyers, property owners, lenders, environmental consultants, environmental regulators, state or local government leaders and developers.

The US. EPA defines brownfields as "idle real property, the development or improvement of which is impaired by real or perceived contamination." The authors of Principles of Brownfield Regeneration argue that, compared to "greenfields"-farmland, forest, or pasturelands that have never been developed-brownfields offer a more sustainable land development choice. They believe that brownfields are central to a sustainable planning strategy of thwarting sprawl, preserving or regenerating open space, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and reinvesting in urbanized areas. This is the first book to provide an accessible introduction to the design, policy, and technical issues related to brownfield redevelopment. After defining brownfields and advocating for their redevelopment, the book describes the steps for cleaning up a site and creating viable land for development or open space. Land use and design considerations are addressed in a separate chapter and again in each of five case studies that make up the heart of the volume: The Steel Yard, Providence, RI; Assunpink Greenway, Trenton, NJ; June Key Community Center Demonstration Project, Portland, OR; Eastern Manufacturing Facility, Brewer, ME; and The Watershed at Hillsdale, Portland, OR. Throughout, the authors draw on interviews with people involved in brownfield projects as well as on their own considerable expertise.

The location of new housing development has become one of the most intractable controversies of modern times. This book provides a powerful critique of the growing tendency to reduce the debate on the development of new housing to a mere choice between greenfield and brownfield locations. It calls for full account to be taken of such factors as the structure and organisation of the housebuilding industry, supply and demand pressures in the housing market, the contested nature of sustainability and the political character of the planning process if a truly effective housing land policy is to be devised. Drawing on theories from economics and political science, this book will provide an important reference point on the institutional context within which residential development takes place and on the concerns of planning authorities, environmentalists, housebuilders, and their customers in relation to the apparent choice between greenfield and brownfield development.

In urban planning, a brownfield is a former industrial or commercial site where environmental contamination hinders development. They exist in almost every community--there is probably one in your neighborhood--and state or federal resources can be used to facilitate assessment, cleanup and reuse. Drawing on a range of local and international experiences, this collection of essays focuses on cases where citizens, nonprofits, developers, cities, and state and federal agencies overcame challenges and mitigated risks to redevelop brownfields using leading-edge practices and simple innovations. The Covid-19 pandemic and mass civil unrest of 2020 underscores the importance of health and social justice considerations in future development initiatives.

Rehabilitation of brownfields, particularly those which are contaminated can be an expensive undertaking and requires not only technical solutions but the involvement of financial, regulatory and community stakeholders. Fundamental to this process is the analysis of the risks involved and the development of the appropriate strategies. Those need to be weighted against the economic and social benefits of brownfield development, to assess the general viability of the redevelopment. In most cases the demand for development land drives the process forward, while sometimes the rehabilitation is grounded on the wish to restore the landscape and the ecology of a region. This volume contains the proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Prevention, Assessment, Rehabilitation and Development of Brownfield Sites that was held in Cephalonia (Greece) in May 2008. Brownfield development is in most cases essential to attract new business to the locality and for the creation of healthy communities. Therefore, there is a great need for deeper research and study of all aspects of the problem - technical, institutional, financial, social - and an exchange of ideas, know-how and experience among experts and scientists. The proceedings have been arranged into the following sections: Rehabilitation of Brownfields; Development Issues; Remediation Studies and Technologies; Case Studies; Risk Assessment and Management; Community and Public Involvement.