Greenfields Brownfields And Housing Development

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.

"The conference explores past and future approaches to managing and designing for growth, development and decline. This goes beyond debates over density, frontier development and renewal. It includes new fields of historical, policy and social research which inform discussion of heritage, growth, environmental, economic and other issues of urban life and urban form."--Page iii

While industrial and chemical innovations have contributed extensively to human advancement, the darker part of their legacy has been the hundreds of thousands of polluted sites left behind. Governments at all levels have rallied to support the remediation and reuse of these land resources and put many of the nation’s brownfields back into productive use. This book presents two dozen brownfield projects in the United States that have incorporated sustainability, highlighting project features, best management practices, and lessons from the field regarding the underlying policies and practices that enabled these projects to be completed or, in some cases, stalled, altered or abandoned. The case studies represent an array of brownfield projects that aimed to go beyond conventional practice and include a range and variety of end uses (e.g., corner gas stations, industrial, office, residential, brightfields, green space, mixed-use, and transit-oriented developments). The cases investigate site histories, planning and development and examine sustainability characteristics to understand how projects overcame the barriers to brownfield reuse and the implementation of sustainability features and derive a series of lessons learned, including innovative policies, programs, and/or funding mechanisms that helped make these projects work. Sustainable Brownfield Development will be of interest to developers, planners, consultants and community representatives interested in environmental policy, urban planning, community development, ecological restoration, economic development, and parks planning by providing direction and inspiration for those eager to erase the blight of the past and build a more sustainable future.

While industrial and chemical innovations have contributed extensively to human advancement, the darker part of their legacy has been the hundreds of thousands of polluted sites left behind. Governments at all levels have rallied to support the remediation and reuse of these land resources and put many of the nation’s brownfields back into productive use. This book presents two dozen brownfield projects in the United States that have incorporated sustainability, highlighting project features, best management practices, and lessons from the field regarding the underlying policies and practices that enabled these projects to be completed or, in some cases, stalled, altered or abandoned. The case studies represent an array of brownfield projects that aimed to go beyond conventional practice and include a range and variety of end uses (e.g., corner gas stations, industrial, office, residential, brightfields, green space, mixed-use, and transit-oriented developments). The cases investigate site histories, planning and development and examine sustainability characteristics to understand how projects overcame the barriers to brownfield reuse and the implementation of sustainability features and derive a series of lessons learned, including innovative policies, programs, and/or funding mechanisms that helped make these projects work. Sustainable Brownfield Development will be of interest to developers, planners, consultants and community representatives interested in environmental policy, urban planning, community development, ecological restoration, economic development, and parks planning by providing direction and inspiration for those eager to erase the blight of the past and build a more sustainable future.

Brand new case studies.Strong links to Geography television programmes.Shows real people in real places.Integrates print and television resources.

The environmental legacy of past industrial and agricultural development can simultaneously pose serious threats to human health and impede reuse of contaminated land. The urban landscape around the world is littered with sites contaminated with a variety of toxins produced by past use. Both public and private sector actors are often reluctant to make significant investments in properties that simultaneously pose significant potential human health issues, and may demand complex and very expensive cleanups. The chapters in this volume recognize that land and water contamination are now almost universally acknowledged to be key social, economic, and political issues. How multiple societies have attempted to craft and implement public policy to deal with these issues provides the central focus of the book. The volume is unique in that it provides a global comparative perspective on brownfield policy and examples of its use in a variety of countries.

Sustainable Brownfield Regeneration presents a comprehensive account of UK policies, processes and practices in brownfield regeneration and takes an integrated and theoretically-grounded approach to highlight best practice. Brownfield regeneration has become a major policy driver in developed countries. It is estimated that there are 64,000 hectares of brownfield land in England, much of which presents severe environmental challenges and lies alongside some of the most deprived communities in the country. Bringing such land back into active use has taken on a new urgency among policymakers, developers and other stakeholders in the development process. Frequently, however, policy thinking and practice has been underpinned by ‘silo’ mentalities, in which integrated and multidisciplinary approaches to problem-solving have been limited. The book has two principal aims. The first is to examine the ways in which science and social science research disciplines can be brought together to help solve important brownfield regeneration issues, with a focus on the UK. The second is to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of different types of regeneration policy and practice, and to show how ‘liveable spaces’ can be produced from ‘problem places’. The Thames Gateway in the south of England and Greater Manchester in the North of England are shown as examples of how brownfield regeneration projects are developing in an era where sustainability is high on the policy agenda. From the Foreword by Paul Syms, National Brownfield Advisor, English Partnerships: ‘Ensuring the effective and efficient reuse of brownfield land is an essential part of the British Government’s land use policies in support of sustainable communities. [This book] recognises that reusing brownfield land is not just about over-coming technical issues to remove contamination or other physical problems with the ground. It highlights the importance of engaging with the many different stakeholders whose opinions and concerns need to be taken into account if sustainable outcomes are to be achieved. The authors also recognise that brownfield land reuse is not just about building new homes or places of employment – the creation of new green spaces can be just as important.’