Brownfields and Sustainable Development

Brownfields and Sustainable Development:
Building a Clean Future

Among the many opportunities presented in the restoration of Brownfields properties, none is as exciting as the chance to redevelop in ways that are both profitable for the community and restorative for the environment over the long term. In the language of our day, such (re)development is called "sustainable development."

Brownfields and Sustainability: Making the Link
Tools for Success

Sustainability indicators
Land use planning
Reuse and/or recycling of existing buildings, infrastructure, and on-site materials
Open space preservation, habitat restoration, and recreation
Green building design and construction
Eco-Industrial Parks
Local workforce training and development

Next Steps for Your Brownfields Community

Other Region 8 information about Sustainable Development

Brownfields and Sustainability: Making the Link

Sustainable development is a journey of sorts, marked by incremental advances in both thought and action. In essence, sustainable development is a way to redefine community prosperity by realizing that economic, environmental, and social issues are interdependent and of equal importance. This holistic approach considers numerous costs and benefits that are not included in the traditional decision-making process. Approaching redevelopment in this way helps ensure that past mistakes, such as the creation of brownfields, are not repeated. Sustainable development promises more efficient resource use and thus more profitable economic activity on former brownfields sites than is possible with traditional approaches. As a result, communities can turn brownfields into models of sustainability while still meeting and potentially surpassing their economic development goals.

Tools for Success

Across the country, property developments and redevelopments of all kinds - residential, commercial, industrial, recreational, and mixed-use - have generated a wealth of sustainable development success stories. Brownfields communities and other stakeholders can draw upon these success stories and adapt them to their own unique site characteristics and broad development goals. EPA is prepared to assist Brownfields Pilot partners in their efforts to identify and explore the full range of sustainable development tools available for consideration. Below are just some of the many opportunities that exist to sustainably reuse brownfields:

Sustainability indicators

Sustainability indicators can be utilized to examine community well-being within an integrated environmental, economic, and social framework. Sustainability indicators include costs and benefits of (re)development that are not included in the traditional decision-making process and can help to define community (re)development goals. These indicators often lead to the realization that sustainable development requires utilizing communities' assets more efficiently rather than simply trying to grow out of their problems.

Related links:
Sustainable Measures
EPA Green Communities
The Rocky Mountain Institute

Land use planning

Community development goals derived from the above process can be utilized as a framework to develop an overall land use plan that includes, but is not limited to, the targeted brownfield(s). Effective land use planning should shift the current development patterns of haphazard, inefficient, automobile-centered sprawl to higher-density, mixed-use development that creates and maintains efficient infrastructure, ensures close-knit neighborhoods and a sense of community, and minimizes both direct and indirect impacts on the environment.

(This excerpt adapted from the U.S. Department of Energy site listed below.)

Reuse and/or recycling of existing buildings, infrastructure, and on-site materials

Adaptive reuse of existing buildings, deconstruction, and reuse or recycling of on-site materials can not only divert materials from landfills, reduce pollution associated with the manufacturing and use of new materials, and capture the embedded value of used materials, but can create revenue and more jobs than utilizing traditional materials and methods (i.e. demolition).

Related links:
Smart Growth Network
EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response

Open space preservation, habitat restoration, and recreation

Creating open space, restoring natural habitat, or developing recreational areas can be a cost-effective way to reuse brownfields. Such reuses can be done in conjunction with or in place of other site uses or they can also be utilized as interim site uses if current conditions are not conducive to other forms of redevelopment. These reuses can help to mitigate adverse environmental impacts of development, such as the urban heat-island effect, stormwater runoff, habitat loss and fragmentation, etc.

Green building design and construction

Green building practices offer an opportunity to create environmentally-sound and resource-efficient buildings by using an integrated approach to design. Green buildings promote resource conservation, including energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation features; consider environmental impacts and waste minimization; create a healthy, comfortable and productive work environment; reduce operation and maintenance costs; and address issues such as historical preservation, access to public transportation and other community infrastructure systems. The entire life-cycle of the building and its components is considered, as well as its economic and environmental impact and performance. Existing buildings can be retrofitted to incorporate many of these features.

(This excerpt adapted from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) site listed below.)

Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs)

EIPs are a combination of manufacturing and service businesses designed to coordinate their collective resource needs and processes in order to increase efficient use of raw materials, minimize waste outputs, conserve energy and natural resources, reduce transportation requirements, and provide an aesthetically attractive place to work. Actual EIPs consist of co-located businesses, ideally forming a zero-emissions, closed-loop park while virtual EIPs consist of networks of regional businesses whose services and processes are also connected, but to a lesser degree than actual EIPs

(Excerpt adapted from the Smart Growth Network website listed below.)

Local workforce training and development

Since many brownfields are associated with areas that have high unemployment rates, job training and development programs should be established to allow local residents an opportunity to qualify for jobs created as a result of brownfields redevelopment efforts. Such programs not only benefit individuals who are employed, but can also help to reduce pollution associated with transportation to and from work and foster a greater sense of community.

Next Steps for Your Brownfields Community

EPA Brownfields and Sustainable Development staff are available to work with Brownfields Project communities to identify "green development" opportunities most compatible with restoration and redevelopment of brownfields properties.

For more information on sustainable development and Brownfields, please contact:

David Schaller,
Sustainable Development Coordinator
EPA Region 8
Email: schaller.david@epa.gov
Phone: (303) 312-6146

For more information on sustainable development visit:

EPA Sustainable Development of Brownfields page

| EPA National Brownfields | EPA Region 8 Superfund |