In this Edition: Brownfield Redevelopment

Getting Smart! February 2010

23 February 2010

This month’s edition of Getting Smart! is focused on brownfield redevelopment. Brownfields play an important role in smart growth, providing an opportunity to use vacant sites and transform them into vibrant, mixed-use neighborhoods and community assets. Developing brownfields recycles both land and infrastructure, and can help revitalize communities. Increasingly, brownfields are also being redeveloped as sites for renewable energy, which adds to overall community sustainability.

The articles in this issue cover a wide range of topics related to brownfields and smart growth. The first article, by Marjorie Buckholtz, examines the potential for siting renewable energy generation facilities on brownfields. “RE Powering,” as it is called, has been successful on sites across the country. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working to create a RE Powering Action Agenda, partnering with the Department of Energy (DOE) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Jeanne Dubois’ article focuses on the Fairmount/Indigo Smart Growth Corridor, which has been chosen as one of five pilot communities for the EPA-Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-Department of Transportation (DOT) sustainable communities initiative. The Fairmount Corridor initiative is based on transit equity, sustainable development for both affordable housing and green jobs, and expanding green spaces with the Fairmount Greenway.

The third article, by Pat Downes, focuses on the redevelopment of Oklahoma City’s waterfront. As in many communities, the city’s waterfront was contaminated and underutilized. Through master planning, the waterfront has been transformed from a liability into a community asset. The Core to Shore initiative has also helped to link the downtown to the waterfront, revitalizing areas in between.

Isabel Boggs-Fernandez’s article, the final article in this issue, examines opportunities for brownfield redevelopment in Puerto Rico. The island, which is being consumed by sprawl that is undermining its tourist economy, has largely ignored the possibilities that exist for brownfield redevelopment. Boggs-Fernandez argues that focusing on these infill sites, rather than continuing to develop greenfields, is imperative to Puerto Rico’s economic and cultural sustainability.

There are also several smart growth-related events over the next several months. Coming up on March 23 and 24, the National Brownfields Association will be having its annual summit in Atlanta. This year’s conference, with its “Ready, Set, Revitalize” theme, will focus on new energy with sessions on the importance of brownfields, targeted development, and clean energy incentives. The Building Livable Communities Conference will take place March 19-21 at Yosemite National Park. In the more distant future, the Brownfields 2011 conference, cosponsored by EPA and ICMA, will take place April 3-5, 2011, in Philadelphia.

Happy reading,

Anna Read, Editor