Brownfields

Virtually every city in the nation's older industrial regions, no matter its size, grapples with the challenge of unused or abandoned manufacturing facilities and other industrial sites. Local public officials, economic development practitioners, and site owners who have sought to revitalize fallow industrial properties face daunting challenges: contamination of the buildings, equipment, and surrounding land and water. Public concern about health effects from hazardous chemicals, changing environmental law, and evolving private sector development and financing priorities have made it increasingly difficult for communities to restore and reuse former manufacturing sites. This study, sponsored by the Northeast-Midwest Institute, offers analysis and practical guidance on how these blighted areas—brownfields—have been and can be brought back to life.

CHARLES BARTSCH is Senior Policy Analyst for Economic Development at the Northeast-Midwest Institute in Washington, D.C., and is co-author of New Life for Old Buildings (1991).

ELIZABETH COLLATON is Senior Policy Analyst for Pollution Prevention and Waste Reduction at the Northeast-Midwest Institute in Washington, D.C.