Brownfield Redevelopment
Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re‐use. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines brownfield sites as “real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant” (Brownfields Definition, 2011). In the United States urban planning jargon, a brownfield site is land previously used for industrial purposes or certain commercial uses. The land may be contaminated by low concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution, and has the potential to be reused once it is cleaned up. Land that is more severely contaminated and has high concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution, such as a Superfund site, does not fall under the brownfield classification. According to estimates made by the United States General Accounting Office, there are as many as 425,000 throughout the U.S.; however, it is difficult to estimate with any certainty the number of brownfield properties. Other estimates suggest that there are 5 million acres of abandoned industrial property in urban areas (Brownfields Basics). For this paper, I will be arguing that brownfield sites, if carefully examined and cleaned up, can be valuable sources for urban revitalization efforts that bring about economic and social prosperity to that immediate area.
Generally, brownfield sites exist in a city's or town's industrial section, on locations with abandoned factories or commercial buildings, or other previously polluting operations. Small brownfields also may be found in many older residential neighborhoods. For example, many dry cleaning establishments or gas stations produced high levels of subsurface contaminants during prior operations, and the land they occupy might sit idle for decades as a brownfield. Typical contaminants found on contaminated brownfield land include hydrocarbon spillages, solvents,...