EPA Definition

EPA - Brownfields Glossary of Terms

The term `brownfield site' means real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

To speak, as one reader has done in a comment to another post, of "brownfields as any non-greenfield sites, i.e. any piece of land that has been previously developed in any way" is not any usage I have ever heard. Brownfields sites must have some haz-mat issue. The great majority of urban infill sites have no such problem.

Development of urban infill sites is not particularly more complex than development at the urban fringe except insofar to the degree it involves more complex building types such as a multi-story multi-family building as opposed to a single-family ranch-house.

Cleaning up a true brownfield site preparatory to construction adds a great deal of complexity and risk. Building on an infill site which has had nothing on it but single-family houses or small retail (much less office) spaces is not significantly more complex than building on a farm field. Yes there may be a residential oil tank to remove and one has to do a good environmental assessment to determine if one of those shops at one time had, say, a dry cleaner as a tenant. But if the historic and site investigation turns up a null set, it's fairly safe to go forward. In fact some things are simpler in cities. There is usually a municipal water and sewer system so the 'perking' capability of the land and digging wells are non-issues.

And development everywhere is tough. Development within any desirable market ---some place where lots of other people want to live and where there is intense development --- is going to be complex; that's the nature of healthy metropolitan areas.

Comments

[Brandon]

Well, here's another definition, from John M. Levy's textbook Contemporary Urban Planning:

"A greenfield is a site, usually suburban or rural, that has never been used for industrial or commercial purposes. A brownfield is a site, usually urban, that has been or is in commercial or industrial use."

Okay, so this leaves out residential, but according to this definition the corner grocer is a brownfield site... just to let you know there are indeed other uses floating around.

[JRoth]

I was the sloppy user of brownfield in the previous post - I took Schwarzenegger's comments about infill and extended that to brownfield. Habit born of building in the Rust Belt, I suppose, but inappropriate here. Tho' I would add that, virtually by definition, any urban site suitable for large-scale development is bound to be a brownfield, since virtually the only reason a large tract of developable land would exist in a city would be prior industrial use.

OTOH, your statement that "Development of urban infill sites is not particularly more complex than development at the urban fringe" is simply wrong. Most urban infill sites (in old cities, at least) have been cleared by bulldozing the building into its own basement and then loosely covering with dirt. Foundation costs are usually double what they would be for any greenfield site. Furthermore, compare the practicalities of building, say, 50 (essentially) identical houses on a former farm with no current residents or infrastructure with building a houses on scattered sites with existing, ageing infrastructure and streets and sidewalks in heavy, ongoing usage. Site control is typically much more complex (an area where gov't intervention, not through eminent domain but through good data availability and smooth ownership transfer are helpful).

Now I personally believe that developers and financers exaggerate these problems & risks, as I indicated in my previous post. Part of the reason greenfield development is easier is market meddling by governments (state, local, & federal) that socialize the costs while permitting developers to provatize the profits. But regardless, I still disagree with your basic assertion that the real estate market is an equally efficient mechanism for promoting infill and greenfield developments.