No abstract

The purpose of this review is to survey the literature addressing the employment effects of brownfield redevelopment. Economic development has emerged as a potential goal of the environmental cleanup process. The evolving literature (1) addresses the redevelopment and job creation that has followed the numerous cases of environmental remediation; (2) continues to debate whether brownfield redevelopment creates new jobs or leads to the spatial reallocation of existing jobs; and (3) documents emerging efforts to tie brownfield redevelopment benefits to local residents and the un-or underemployed. The existing literature highlights the difficulties of moving from site cleanup to neighborhood revitalization. The literature is clear: site cleanup alone is typically not enough to stimulate neighborhood regeneration in the most distressed neighborhoods. There are tradeoffs between financial feasibility and tackling the most contaminated sites in the most distressed neighborhoods, and the redevelopment in these neighborhoods generally required large government subsidies. The literature highlights many positive developments and experiments. Apparent successes involve large scale plans that integrate site cleanup with wider community plans, the growing tendency to link jobs on brownfield sites to local residents, increasingly sophisticated subsidies and incentives, and the importance of design that integrates redevelopment with the existing neighborhood. To steer clear of gentrification, redevelopment strategies should focus on attracting employers who will hire local workers.

This article examines three case studies of brownfield redevelopment in Baltimore, Maryland, to refine understanding of the boundary between privately and publicly initiated brownfield redevelopments. The cases range from Camden Crossing, a city- initiated project that promised to turn an abandoned and contaminated site into middle-income housing, to Crown Cork and Seal, a privately funded site reclaimed for industrial use. The cases suggest trade-offs between the following three conditions: (a) the strength of local market demand, (b) the level of contamination, and (c) new use. When market conditions are strong, contamination relatively minor, and land use is remaining industrial, the private sector is more likely to be the sole initiator and implementer of redevelopment. When a project calls for a transfer from contaminated industrial to residential use, faces weak market demand for the final project, and con- tends with a complicated cleanup, the greater is the required public subsidy.

Two opposing views of service-led development contend, on the one hand, that services can be a propulsive force in rural economic development and, on the other, that services are neither independent of, nor a replacement for, older forms of rural industrialization such as agriculture, mining, and manufacturing. Both views fail to account for the dualistic nature of rural services growth, which does not mirror the developmental experience commonly associated with services in the nation's cities. This article reviews the literature on services and economic development, summarizes definitions, discusses national growth of rural services and recent trends, examines models of spatial distribution of services, and identifies gaps in existing knowledge.

This study examines the role that land contamination plays in hindering central city redevelopment. The author tracked all sales and selling prices and the presence of contamination in one industrial area of about 5,580 acres in southwest Baltimore. The results indicate that after the mid-1990s, contaminated parcels have been selling and the market has adjusted to contamination by lowering prices. Out of 144 parcels that sold over the past decade, positive, market-clearing prices have been found for 45 parcels with either confirmed or historical-reasons-to-suspect contamination. Interviews with owners and brokers of parcels on the market for 2 years or more and analysis of the data indicate that sites with above-market asking price; that are small and oddshaped; with inadequate road access for modern trucks; that have outdated water, sewer, and telecommunications connections; and with incompatible surrounding land uses are the most likely to remain unsold after 2 years.