Brownfield Redevelopment
Brownfield redevelopment refers to the process of revitalizing and reusing abandoned or underutilized industrial or commercial sites, often contaminated by hazardous substances. This redevelopment aims to promote sustainable land use, economic growth, and community revitalization. It involves remediation of environmental hazards, infrastructure improvements, and repurposing the site for residential, commercial, or recreational purposes.
6 Key excerpts on "Brownfield Redevelopment"
eBook - ePub(Re)Generating Inclusive Cities
Poverty and Planning in Urban North America
- Dan Zuberi, Ariel Judith Taylor(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...As neoliberal urban planning embraces brownfield development as part and parcel of urban livability—and indeed sustainability—we ask how low-income populations are uniquely impacted. We find that while the threat of dislocation remains substantial, some communities have begun to demand a vision of sustainability that includes not only environmental, but also social considerations. In the context of widespread suburbanization beginning in the 1960s, it made little financial sense to appropriate what was widely perceived as potentially hazardous urban land for alternative use. The term ‘brownfield’ distinguishes these former industrial sites from greenfield areas, under-developed suburban and rural lands on which real estate developers have historically preferred to build due to lower cost and lack of environmental contamination. However, as many North American cities have embraced a renewed process of urbanization, the sprawl associated with greenfield development is now largely understood as contributing to social, economic and environmental costs including poor air quality, gas consumption and ecological deterioration (Tang & Nathanail 2012; Eisen 2009). As demand for revitalized and creative urban spaces continues to grow across North America, brownfield land now offers an attractive and potentially lucrative opportunity for development. This chapter explores trends in urban brownfield development across North America beginning in the mid-1980s. As a celebrated component of many Smart Growth urban initiatives, we argue that brownfield sites should be understood in the broader context of neoliberal urbanization and the gentrification of urban communities. Brownfield sites uniquely map the legacy of social-spatial dislocation across North American cities, epitomized by urban blight and the ghettoization of many established urban communities...
eBook - ePubEconomic Revitalization
Cases and Strategies for City and Suburb
- Joan Fitzgerald, Nancey G. Leigh(Authors)
- 2002(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
...3 The Brownfield Redevelopment Challenge Introduction to the Brownfield Problem Brownfields pose one of the most significant forces for unleveling the economic development playing field between, on the one hand, central cities and older suburbs and, on the other hand, young suburbs, edge cities, and the exurban fringe. Defined as previously used parcels of land where knowledge, or merely the suspicion, of contamination hinders future redevelopment potential, the label “brownfields” distinguishes such sites from never-before-developed sites, or, greenfields (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 1995; Bartsch, 1996; Leigh, 1996). Knowledge and suspicion of a site’s contamination typically results in its no longer being considered for redevelopment and can even taint prospects for contiguous sites. This is due to the liability that owners of a contaminated site assume by law, whether or not they were the actual contaminators, and the costs—which may not be fully calculable at the outset—incurred to clean up the site for reuse. The resulting “environmental redlining” or “brownlining” (i.e., identifying areas to be excluded from redevelopment considerations) could significantly dim the economic prospects for the population residing near the site, as well as hurt the municipality’s tax base (Leigh, 1994). Heavy industrial facilities, such as steel mills, as well as chemical and other types of processing plants, are among the best-recognized sources of environmental contamination. However, brownfields can result from ubiquitous service-oriented facilities such as gas stations, auto repair shops, and dry cleaners, which have been prime contributors to the pollution of land, water, and air. Furthermore, the U.S...
eBook - ePub- Elisabete A. Silva, Gert de Roo(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Chapter 15 Rethinking Brownfields: Discourses, Networks and Space-Time Nikos Karadimitriou, Joe Doak and Elisabete Cidre 1 This chapter argues that the current UK policy fixation on Brownfield Redevelopment is built on a particular conceptualisation of the land redevelopment process which intertwines the economic logic of neo-liberalism with the emphasis placed on environmental efficiency by proponents of sustainable development. By focusing on the heritage dimension of Brownfield Redevelopment, the chapter notes the apparent conceptual contradictions of policy discourses. In the same way that certain sites are deemed ripe for redevelopment as ‘Previously Developed Land’, certain other sites are deemed as worth preserving as ‘Heritage’. The chapter explores the economic logic underlying this apparent contradiction and conceptualises policy discourse formulation as an outcome of the interactions of socio-spatial webs of interacting actors whose communicative interaction gives rise to meanings, attached to spaces. Therefore, land development and redevelopment can be seen as a complex dynamic social and temporal network process that creates and uses places and physical structures ‘inscribed’ into time and space. By exploring the evolving socio-spatial relations attaching meaning to space the chapter highlights the contingencies of spatial planning and the fragile role of planners in their efforts to mediate spatial change. 15.1 Introduction It has been more than a decade since the redevelopment of previously developed land assumed a central role in Britain’s urban policy. This shift was based on the argument that by re-using brownfield land government policy is simultaneously achieving multiple environmental, social and economic goals with the minimum cost. Although this argument has not been without criticism the view that the redevelopment of previously developed land is a sustainable approach to urban development is now dominant...
eBook - ePubEnvironmental Consulting Fundamentals
Investigation, Remediation, and Brownfields Redevelopment, Second Edition
- Benjamin Alter(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...The appearance in the definition of brownfields of terms such as “expansion,” “redevelopment,” and “reuse” identifies them by their economic rather than their technical or scientific condition. The definition implicitly states that brownfields are properties that currently are unused, underutilized, or not being used to their best economic advantage. As such, they are contributors to urban blight and its associated sociological problems. 11.2.2 Practical Definition of a Brownfield For practical purposes, brownfields can be separated into two categories. The first category includes properties for which property expansion redevelopment (which will be called “redevelopment” for the rest of this chapter) likely is economically viable. Typical economic evaluations of such a property are shown in Tables 11.1 and 11.2. The complications in redeveloping the property consist of uncertainties in timing, budget, liability relating to the presence or potential presence of contamination. The second category includes properties whose redevelopment is complicated because of economic considerations. Such properties, common in areas of urban blight, might be worthless or even have a negative worth (colloquially known as an “underwater” or “upside-down” property) due to environmental contamination...
- Steve Tiesdell, David Adams(Authors)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
...In some instances, the definitional approach finds its origins in environmental protection, whereas elsewhere the term may be used primarily in relation to land use. Having regard for the international audience for this book, it is important to define what we mean by the term ‘brownfield’ in this chapter. Syms first defined ‘brownfield’ in the UK context in a conference paper in 1993 and then in a book chapter in 1994, as ‘any areas of land which have previously been the subject of a man-made or non-agricultural use of any type. This would include industrial uses such as chemical works, heavy engineering, shipbuilding and textile processing, together with unfit housing clearance sites and docklands, both inland and coastal, as well as mineral extraction sites and those used for landfill purposes.’ (Syms, 1994: 63) As will be appreciated, this is a very broad definition, especially when viewed against a contemporary US definition: ‘brownfield: abandoned, idled or underused industrial and commercial facility where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.’ (Fields, 1995). The US definition, which is generally applied throughout North America and in a number of other countries, therefore links brownfield with specifically industrial and commercial sites, synonymous with contamination, whereas the UK approach includes housing sites and land that is lying derelict without there necessarily being any concerns regarding contamination...
eBook - ePubPrinciples of Brownfield Regeneration
Cleanup, Design, and Reuse of Derelict Land
- Justin Hollander, Niall Kirkwood, Julia Gold(Authors)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- Island Press(Publisher)
...Local politics matters most in any brownfield project and the ability of a project team to navigate a neighborhood’s power structure is essential. While local regulatory authority rarely extends to governing the investigation or remediation of brownfields, in most states, localities exert strong controls over the ultimate reuse or redevelopment of a site. Additionally, local governments can (with state approval) offer great flexibility with respect to taxation for a brownfields project, funnel federal and state monies to projects, help with off-site infrastructure, and assist with site assembly by invoking eminent domain. 7 A recent favorite policy tool for local brownfields redevelopment has been Tax Increment Financing, a mechanism that allows cities and towns to borrow money with the aim of paying it back with the increased taxes that an economic development project is intended to generate. 8 The borrowed money can pay for infrastructure related to a project or can even assist with redevelopment costs. Local governments can also delay or reduce property taxes for brownfields developers as an incentive to make projects happen. As a project draws on federal, state, and private resources, such local support can fill in the final funding gaps. The best place to start is with town or city officials where a brownfield is located. A brownfields coordinator is an ideal first point of contact for information, but not all cities and towns have someone in such a position. Otherwise, it is best to reach out to city planners who are knowledgeable about federal and state programs. Legal Liability and Insurance Considerations Liability is the single most important concept to understand in approaching a brownfield project. The very reason that so many brownfields exist is that property owners are too concerned about the risk of legal liability they may be exposed to when they own contaminated property...
