Community Participation in Brownfield Redevelopment

Brownfields are industrial properties, often contaminated, that are no longer in use. Redeveloping brownfields, which are many times well located in city centers, can help revitalize communities and fight sprawl – without destroying more open space.

While much attention has been paid to developing incentives and policies to promote brownfields redevelopment, most efforts have focused on reducing the legal and financial barriers to redevelop properties. Community involvement is often touted as important, but there is little attention to how this might be achieved, and meaningful and effective community partnerships continue to be lacking in many plans.

To remedy this, the Pacific Institute authored, “Brownfields Redevelopment: Meeting the Challenge of Community Participation.” This report was meant as a resource for community groups who want to participate in brownfields redevelopment and it summarizes lessons learned.

Brownfields are an important resource that cities and towns must make better use of. But to ensure that development is fair, the community must be involved.