Brownfield development: A comparison of North American and British approaches

Adams, D. , De Sousa, C. and Tiesdell, S. (2010) Brownfield development: A comparison of North American and British approaches. Urban Studies, 47(1), pp. 75-104. (doi: 10.1177/0042098009346868)

Abstract

Over the past 30—40 years, urban change and deindustrialisation in advanced economies have created a legacy of vacant and derelict land that is increasingly seen as a development opportunity rather than planning problem. This paper investigates how the shared challenge of bringing such brownfield sites back into productive use has been interpreted differently in four countries: the US, Canada, Scotland and England. In each case, the particular policy environment has shaped the brownfield debate in distinctive ways, producing a different set of relations between the public and private sectors in brownfield redevelopment. Through this detailed comparison of the North American and British experience, the paper traces the maturity of policy and seeks to discover whether the main differences in understanding and tackling brownfield land can be attributed primarily to physical, cultural or institutional factors.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Tiesdell, Dr Steven and Adams, Professor David
• Authors: Adams, D., De Sousa, C., and Tiesdell, S.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Journal Name: Urban Studies
• Publisher: SAGE
• ISSN: 0042-0980
• ISSN (Online): 1360-03X
• Published Online: 03 November 2009
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2010 Urban Studies Journal Limited
• First Published: First published in Urban Studies 47(1):75-104
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher