A call for papers went out for a thematic issue of Environmental Practice dedicated to brownfields redevelopment as defined in the broadest policy and technical sense. The response was extremely positive. The result is that the journal will have a two-part series on the subject of brownfields that includes both this September/October issue as well as the theme for the December issue. Brownfields is a field of interest to environmental professionals both across the United States and abroad. At its foundations, it is a field that requires a team of multidisciplinary experts. It is also a field that has contributions from both practitioners and scholars. This makes it an ideal thematic issue based on the mission and vision of Environmental Practice. This year, two national brownfield conferences have helped focus professionals and scholars alike on the topic. These conferences bring a wide range and increasing number of professionals together to deliberate on a wide variety of brownfield-associated issues. The first conference, titled ‘The Big Deal’, was held in Phoenix in March 2009 by the Chicago-based National Brownfield Associations. The second is sponsored by International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) which will be held in November 2009 in New Orleans. While there are many other statewide or regional brownfield conferences, it appears that interest in urban revitalization through brownfield redevelopment continues as a vibrant field. As a result, brownfield redevelopment is the focus for the next two issues of the journal. The editorial office invited two guest editors from the USEPA Region 5 Office who have many years of experience working in this area: James Van der Kloot and Joseph Dufficy. As a result of their efforts, together with the editor of the journal, Dr. Kelly Tzoumis, the issues reflect the collaboration and the balance between professionals and scholars who study and work in this field.

Many successful residential and other redevelopments have appeared at individual brownfield sites, yet the larger transformation of mixed-use urban neighborhoods distressed with numerous smaller, less marketable contaminated sites remains elusive. In this article, we discuss the use of three innovative mechanisms to move beyond a single parcel's boundaries to address larger-scale regeneration of contaminated areas: areawide brownfield approaches, community land trusts, and progressive financing. In addition to their conceptual appeal, each of these mechanisms has a record of implementation. For instance, community land trusts have helped revitalize communities burdened with contamination and other stresses for the benefit of lower-income and moderate-income residents, most notably in the context of affordable housing. Areawide brownfield initiatives under way in several states and municipalities have helped decrease environmental assessment costs through economies of scale. And progressive finance, although not yet applied in a contaminated-land context, has shown success in revitalizing distressed urban cores.

Environmental Practice 11:134–143 (2009)

This article presents a preliminary case study of the impacts of former gas stations on two mid-sized New Jersey cities: Trenton and Plainfield. Historic research reveals ten former gas stations for every one gas station operating in Trenton and nearly 28 former stations for every one current station in Plainfield. Only 38% of current and former gas stations in Trenton and 23% in Plainfield have any form of environmental record associated with the site. The largest category of site reuse is auto related, to include auto repair, current gas stations, used auto sales, and parking lots: 40% in Trenton and 53% in Plainfield. The largest single reuse category in each city was as unproductive land, with 19% of former Trenton gas stations and 26% of former Plainfield gas stations lying vacant. Despite this, current and former gas stations contribute annual tax revenues of over a half million dollars to Trenton and nearly $1.3 million in Plainfield, indicating that these properties can be redeveloped to provide an important contribution to the economies of these distressed cities. Attention to the environmental issues and development potential of these sites is likely to result in social, environmental, and economic benefit to communities.

Environmental Practice 11:144–152 (2009)

Many communities contain a number of underutilized and contaminated infill properties, known as brownfields, which often result from changing development patterns. Florida's program offers incentives, such as liability protection and tax credits, for job creation and cleanup costs in order to alleviate this problem. Although the program has continuously expanded, after more then ten years little research has been conducted evaluating the program's effectiveness. In this article, I review the relevant literature and interview stakeholders to evaluate the program. Although little empirical evidence exists, Florida's program is largely considered successful. An increasing number of areas are designated, cleanup agreements are signed, and properties are cleaned and redeveloped. I have narrowed down a number of ideas that will help promote local brownfield programs as well as policy recommendations that would increase the effectiveness of state programs. Specifically, I have isolated a number of factors existing on the local level that promote brownfield development, including infill demand, access to funding, trained staff, experienced developers and consultants, political and community support, and land use/zoning intensity. Although every program would benefit from increased funding, greater consistency in review, and more research and information, I recommend several development policies that would promote brownfield development, such as a state policy and amended planning requirements. Through these changes targeted at the local and state levels, I believe that brownfield redevelopment could reach a new level of achievement.

Environmental Practice 11:153–163 (2009)

This article provides an overview of the effort sponsored by the Genesee County Parks and Recreation Commission in Michigan to “develop [and implement] a vision and plan for increased diversity and inclusion of the broader community in conservation initiatives.” Genesee County includes the city of Flint, Michigan, which has the largest brownfield site in the United States from the closing of General Motors Corporation facilities. Flint has a predominantly African American population surrounded by predominantly white suburban and rural areas. The first phase of this project focused on understanding differences of awareness, understanding, and perception about environmental and conservation issues through structured interviews of 23 diverse community leaders. Themes from the interviews included emphasis on different environmental issues, with people of color focusing on environmental challenges in their neighborhoods. Perceptions of people of color about local environmental organizations ranged from uncommunicative and uninvolved in environmental issues affecting people of color to elitist and exclusionary. Themes also included an interest by people of color community leaders in environmental issues and willingness to serve or recommend others to serve on boards of local environmental organizations. The failure to provide opportunities and guidance for youth of color about environmental careers was also a theme.

Environmental Practice 11:164–169 (2009)

Brownfield redevelopment in many communities is now almost routine—a regular part of a larger community development strategy. Brownfield projects are treated in many instances as regular real estate transactions. Thus, for those brownfield properties in more attractive real estate markets, in communities with a high capacity for brownfield redevelopment, results are noticeable. This brownfield redevelopment scenario breaks down when applied to situations where there is low brownfield redevelopment capacity. Effective brownfield revitalization programs require substantial community support with public-private partnerships playing a critical role in building local brownfield capacity. The challenge lies in fostering these connections. This article reports on the findings from a case study in St. Louis, Missouri, that examined a regional effort to build brownfield capacity at the local level where community leaders brought together property owners and developers for a networking opportunity. Results show that direct intervention can help build brownfield capacity.

Environmental Practice 11:170–178 (2009)

Water-sensitive urban design (WSUD) is an integrated water management system that encompasses low-impact design (LID), water conservation and recycling, water quality management, and urban ecology. WSUD increasingly is becoming a key component in establishing appropriate sustainable supply planning in urban areas around the globe, as well as in contributing to flood prevention and water quality protection. Water resource management is one of the greatest challenges of the present century. As populations climb, per-capita use increases, and current water supplies grow shorter, water resources are becoming more critical globally. Most urban areas face difficult choices and expensive solutions to meet existing and future demand. WSUD provides one of the key approaches to resolving these dilemmas. This article describes newly emerging models of WSUD and its implementation. The discussion begins with an overview of key WSUD planning and design principles and regulatory drivers, which is followed by the WSUD toolkit and example selection process for its implementation, drawing on examples of urban areas grappling with a range of water resource management issues. This article also touches on how WSUD elements can serve the dual purpose of improving functional water infrastructure and beautification. These ideas are presented within the scope of urban current planning and design. This article then provides approaches to identifying targets and implementing WSUD in several model case studies.

Environmental Practice 11:179–189 (2009)

This commentary highlights efforts to promote health monitoring in brownfields communities. Both the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) recognize how public health may be improved by including a holistic approach to redevelopment that includes community health monitoring activities. Health monitoring goes beyond testing blood samples to address potentially toxic exposures and can be implemented to assess overall community health status throughout the course of community revitalization efforts. Examples of health monitoring activities include asthma or blood lead level screening, reviewing health statistics, environmental testing, and evaluation of community-specific health concerns. While health monitoring is encouraged as an activity within US EPA Brownfields funding, the number of communities that implement health monitoring programs is low. To encourage more communities to implement health monitoring activities, with or without Brownfields funding, this paper describes several projects by health agencies and communities to represent best practice examples. To facilitate more community health monitoring projects, the ATSDR has created and continues to create tools and resources to assist brownfield and land-reuse communities. In addition, the ATSDR and the US EPA are working together to build internal as well as community capacity to monitor community health through redevelopment activities.

Environmental Practice 11:190–195 (2009)

For climate stabilization, the United States (US) will need to cut its transportation carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 60%–80% by 2050. As we cannot accomplish this reduction through vehicle and fuel technology alone, the environmental and transportation communities are focusing on strategies to reduce growth in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), reversing recent trends. The majority of recent VMT growth is due, not to population growth, but to the effects of urban environment, such as increased auto ownership, longer trips, and driving alone. The US Department of Energy forecasts that driving will continue to increase at almost threefold the growth in population. Even under the most stringent vehicle and fuel standards, transportation-related CO2 emissions will be 40% above the target level. In response, climate-change legislation has been passed in California and is pending in other states and in the US Congress that places strict new requirements on mandated environmental impact documentation. One limitation on compliance has been the lack of a unified set of scientific information on the underlying relationships between development form and VMT generation. This article distills and reconciles various forms of prior research on the subject, producing a unified quantitative understanding of the mechanisms that relate urban development forms with VMT and CO2. The findings will help improve the insightfulness and accuracy of the next generation of environmental documents. The article provides results of research and planning studies from throughout the US that indicate the degree to which developments with higher densities, mix of uses, accessible destinations, and interconnected streets reduce vehicle trips and VMT. Sources include regional blueprint studies, as well as project-specific studies such as Atlanta's Atlantic Station development, whose predicted trip reduction was found to be so compelling that the development was deemed a transportation control measure and air quality benefit by the Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Highway Administration. The article identifies the emerging practices in transportation impact analysis for assessing the degree to which the characteristics of development can reduce VMT and carbon impacts. It presents the empirical evidence of how vehicle travel is affected by density, diversity, walkability, regional accessibility, and distance from transit. It also reviews tools that transportation planners and analysts have available to capture these effects, including simple elasticities and new trip generation rates under consideration by the Institute of Transportation Engineers.

Environmental Practice 11:196–208 (2009)

Historically, people and their governments have not understood or been prepared for the social, economic, and political instability that can result from energy scarcity or deterioration of the environment. Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is an example from centuries ago where an isolated population irreversibly damaged its finite resources. The cutting of trees to move stone statues had a cascade effect on other resources and led to a dramatic decline in both population and prosperity (Diamond, 2005; Fagan, 2008; Pointing, 1991). More recently, in Darfur, human struggle over access to oil resources, compounded by problems wrought by persistent drought, produced both socioeconomic isolation and regional ethnic disconnection, magnifying a conflict that displaced nearly 2.5 million people (International Crisis Group—Sudan). We contend that disasters such as these can be mitigated or even averted if the complex connections and dependencies of the issues involved can be revealed and if there is a social network to connect isolated areas of expertise and knowledge in order to fully understand and visualize the problems and consequences to leaders and policy makers. This article describes a developing international effort to create a strategic foresight capability addressing the intersection of increasing energy demand and global environmental issues, such as climate change and declining natural resources.

Successful redevelopment of lands with perceived or real contamination and left idle are commonly termed brownfield sites. These sites often require redevelopment that should consider the site's broader social, political, and economic setting. The parcel of land, which can range from a rural community to an urban neighborhood, is part of a larger ecosystem both scientifically and socially. Most of the urban brownfield literature focuses on the loss or underutilization of the property's function and resulting loss in economic value, sometimes neglecting this large social context of the location of the property.

Diffuse anthropogenic pollution (DAP) is derived from human activities, as opposed to those occurring in natural environments without human influences. The term is often used in the context of environmental externalities in the form of chemical or biological wastes that are produced as by-products of otherwise purposeful human activities. For instance, it is widely believed that the production of carbon dioxide is the primary factor driving anthropogenic climate change.

The long fight in the desert over a nuclear repository headed for Yucca Mountain between Nevada and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) is apparently over, and the man primarily responsible and who fought hardest to save Las Vegans from inheriting transported spent nuclear waste through their city is the state's senior senator, Harry Reid.

Environmental Practice 11:218–219 (2009)

In December of 2009, the nations of the world who contribute much of the greenhouse gas (GHG) that is emitted into the atmosphere will gather in Copenhagen to work collectively on a treaty to succeed the Kyoto pact. The last time they gathered was in Amsterdam in December of 2000 to put the final touches on what became the Kyoto Treaty. The United States (US) was something of an outlier in the drawn-out discussion that had preceded the meeting in Amsterdam. But the differences between the US and the vast majority of other nations were being worked out. At the end of the conference, the US delegation returned to Washington, DC, with a sprinkling of optimism. It reported to the president that a couple of more months of negotiations in the new year could lead to a document that the US could sign.