Promoting community involvement at brownfields sites in socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods

Abstract

Brownfields programmes provide environmental justice to distressed communities by applying private sector remediation and real estate expertise to abandoned and contaminated properties. This study examines how brownfields developers and community support organisations operating in socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods work to increase awareness of projects in the community, build trust between stakeholders and create mechanisms for community members to participate in brownfields decision making. Analysis of case study data from brownfields sites in four US cities shows that developers and non-governmental organisations can play important roles in fashioning redevelopment outcomes which benefit both developers and communities. When standard required outreach efforts are combined with non-traditional community involvement mechanisms, the result is often long-term support for redevelopment projects.brownfields, public participation, environmental justice, stakeholders, VCP,

Increasing the capacity of community development corporations for brownfield redevelopment: an inside-out approach

“…While almost all brownfield projects include community involvement activities (e.g. Powers et al 2000, McCarthy 2002, Bartsch 2003, Gallagher and Jackson 2008, there are few examples of brownfield redevelopment decisions being made through strong participatory actions (Solitare 2005). Instead, most US brownfield redevelopments have followed a technocratic decision-making process (Renn et al 1993, Fischer 2000, which we define as a process that has limited participatory planning and proceeds without the meaningful inclusion of most affected stakeholders, including CDCs (Powers et al 2000, Solitare 2005, Perkins 2007, Spiess 2008.…”

Strategies of Policy Advocacy Organizations and Their Theoretical Affinities: Evidence from Q‐Methodology

“…Multiple streams theory (Kingdon, 1984) Setting the policy agenda; Policy adoption Engaging and mobilizing the public Public participation (Bryson & Anderson, 2000;Gallagher & Jackson, 2008;Kastens & Newig, 2008;Xu, 2005) Democratic environment; People-centered policymaking characterized by the actions it entails, such as research and public education, coalition building and direct actions (Almog-Bar & Schmid, 2013), developing consensus among experts, pursuing issues in court, and aiding in the election of particular candidates (Hoefer, 2000(Hoefer, , 2001. Walker (1991) took a broader view of advocacy approaches by looking at how organizations may use multiple activities as part of an overall "pathway to influence" (p. 103).…”

Brownfield regeneration in Europe: Identifying stakeholder perceptions, concerns, attitudes and information needs

“…Moreover, at the institutional level, the awareness of the importance of an effective stakeholder involvement led to the promotion of public participation at brownfields and contaminated sites (Gallagher and Jackson, 2008), especially at local and site specific levels. A notable example is the REVIT project (REVIT, 2007a), which encouraged stakeholder involvement, public discussion and local participation in some European cities and urban areas affected by the presence of brownfields (Stuttgart in Germany, Nantes in France, Tilburg and Hengelo in the Netherlands, Medway and Torfaen in the United Kingdom).…”