ABSTRACT
Efforts to manage the cleanup and redevelopment of potentially contaminated sites in the US are approaching a 30th anniversary and continue to evolve in scope and character. Initial actions in the late 1970s were spurred by pollution disasters such as Love Canal and the Valley of the Drums, which forced government to understand the human and environmental risks posed by contaminants better, develop suitable methods for efficient site remediation, and begin to tackle high risk sites. In the mid-1990s, the focus shifted to developing, testing, and implementing tools to promote the economic redevelopment of all types of “brownfields” in an effort to bring jobs, investment, and taxes back to ailing cities. Over the last few years, however, there has been an emerging shift in attention to redeveloping brownfields in a manner that continues to address contamination and economic development issues, while also seeking broader goals of improving community health and sustainability. But what does this mean? Unlike earlier periods where “success” could be easily measured on the basis of a few variables (e.g. acres of land remediated, number of jobs created, and property values), defining and measuring well-being and sustainability outcomes, both on-site and neighborhood-wide, is a significantly more complicated proposition.
