Key Steps of a Regeneration Process

Because of their inherent complexity, urban brownfield regeneration projects are long-term operations. The study of the evolution from urban brownfield site to a new—and ideally sustainable—neighbourhood through a regeneration process has led to the identification of five key steps: Backgrounds, Initiators, Guidelines, Legal Basis, and Realization. This chapter highlights the specific issues encountered during these different steps. Thus, our early reflections on the future of an urban brownfield at the regional and metropolitan levels concern the Background and Initiator steps. The formulation of a coherent project to overcome negative perception and foster a shared vision relates to the Guidelines steps. The transition from the urban to the architectural project is dealt with during the Legal Basis and Realization steps. Finally, issues concerning the multiple forms of participatory processes and the evaluation of sustainability objectives must be taken into consideration throughout the regeneration process. These reflections provide a foundation for developing a series of measures and more concrete lines of action.

Application to a Case Study

We present an application of the operational monitoring tool SIPRIUS+ to an ongoing case study representative of urban brownfield regeneration projects: the Pôle Viotte neighbourhood, located in Besançon (France). We start with a description of the brownfield site, followed by the regeneration project. Then, we evaluate 52 indicators linked to the context, project, and governance. Each monitoring result is illustrated by a graph showing the evolution of the performances. Then, we analyse the overall results, which allows us to assess the sustainability strategy of the regeneration project. Through this analysis, we identify four actions to improve sustainability objectives. Finally, we conclude that SIPRIUS+ has the potential to contribute to the integration of sustainability issues into the dynamics of neighbourhoods in transition. The operational monitoring tool is expected to contribute to decision-making in a multi-disciplinary manner, without giving ready-made solutions. Interactions with project stakeholders reveal that, while the use of such a tool would require a change in project management, the evolutions to adopt to include this practice appear not only feasible but realistic and desired.

BROWNFIELD SITES AND PROPERTY MARKET SENSITIVITY

The existence of Brownfield sites is one of the main challenges that Malaysia must face due to financial, administrative and policy problems. The negative environmental and social impacts of Brownfield sites jeopardise residents’ health and well-being, causing nearby areas to be less desirable for occupation and investment. These impacts result in price discounts. Hence, this research aims to establish the sensitivity of the property market towards Brownfield sites through a critical review. An overview of previous studies shows that property prices are sensitive towards Brownfield sites. This indicates that the proximity to a Brownfield site is considered when making property purchase decisions. Thus, property valuers, planners and developers should consider the Brownfield factor during property planning, development and valuation.

Brownfields over the years: from definition to sustainable reuse.

Urban development is often confronted with a lack of available space. Brownfield sites offer great potential for sustainable urban planning because of their often-central location and the benefits associated with their redevelopment. Although the interest in brownfield regeneration has led to a lot of research on this topic, there is not yet a comprehensive review of brownfield research. In this review, we analyze the research on brownfields and provide a picture of the published case studies. We focus primarily on brownfields research in the United States, Europe, and China. This exploratory research is based on an analysis of the published scientific literature available in the Web of Science database. Initially used in North America, the term brownfield quickly became popular in the rest of the world, particularly in Europe. However, with the exception of the United States, there is no specific legislation for these sites; their protection is often based indirectly on directives or laws related to soil pollution, biodiversity or the environment. The perception of the potential use of brownfield sites varies considerably from one part of the world to another, and international collaborations between researchers from different parts of the world remain limited. Most of the described reuses of brownfield sites are forms of soft reuse (53%), and the type of reuse of a site depends more on the surrounding urbanization levels and the specific region than on the past use of a brownfield site. Despite the continued interest in the rehabilitation of these sites, especially due to the increasing demand for nature in the city following the Covid-19 crisis, many questions regarding the future of brownfield sites remain unanswered. The factors influencing their successful redevelopment are unclear, and further research is urgently needed to ensure a truly sustainable re-use of these sites.

Remediation Architecture - A Spatial Approach to Bioremediation

<p>Phenomena such as industrialisation and urbanisation </p><p>are associated with the built environment. Both contribute to </p><p>pollution of urban soil, water and air in various ways. This in turn </p><p>contributes in part to climate change and biodiversity loss. It </p><p>is therefore the responsibility of the built environment, and the </p><p>professionals associated with its design and functioning, to </p><p>remediate the aforementioned effects. </p><p>This research investigates the spatial arrangement of </p><p>bioremediation techniques (the process of using fungus, </p><p>bacteria, and plants to break down and purify environmental </p><p>pollutants) within architecture in order to remediate brownfield </p><p>sites to a state where they contribute to a regenerative built </p><p>environment. </p><p>This investigation utilises a design-led research approach </p><p>of examining the spatial arrangement of bioremediation </p><p>techniques within architecture and proposes a series of design </p><p>interventions at one of New Zealand’s most contaminated </p><p>sites. This research proposes practical methods of applying </p><p>restoration design to remediate brownfield sites to move </p><p>towards a regenerative development model. The land and </p><p>waterways that make up brownfield sites should be celebrated </p><p>for their ecological significance, and remediated, rather than </p><p>ignored so as to build positive human-nature relationships. </p><p>Research findings include that bioremediation and </p><p>architecture cannot exist separately if brownfield site </p><p>remediation and development is to contribute to a regenerative </p><p>built environment. It is critical to use architecture itself as one </p><p>means of educating users about the ecological processes </p><p>of brownfield site bioremediation. This is important in order </p><p>to establish a stewardship role within individuals and local </p><p>communities as a way to work towards the protection and </p><p>successful restoration of these degraded sites. This research </p><p>also found that the restoration of brownfield sites towards </p><p>regenerative development requires architecture and built </p><p>environment infrastructure to be adaptive to future climate </p><p>change conditions. The bioremediation techniques examined </p><p>in this research could be used to retrofit existing buildings and </p><p>designed into new additions and/or retrofits so that architecture </p><p>can adapt to climate change impacts, particularly sea-level rise </p><p>and increased storm surge.</p>

Remediation Architecture - A Spatial Approach to Bioremediation

<p>Phenomena such as industrialisation and urbanisation </p><p>are associated with the built environment. Both contribute to </p><p>pollution of urban soil, water and air in various ways. This in turn </p><p>contributes in part to climate change and biodiversity loss. It </p><p>is therefore the responsibility of the built environment, and the </p><p>professionals associated with its design and functioning, to </p><p>remediate the aforementioned effects. </p><p>This research investigates the spatial arrangement of </p><p>bioremediation techniques (the process of using fungus, </p><p>bacteria, and plants to break down and purify environmental </p><p>pollutants) within architecture in order to remediate brownfield </p><p>sites to a state where they contribute to a regenerative built </p><p>environment. </p><p>This investigation utilises a design-led research approach </p><p>of examining the spatial arrangement of bioremediation </p><p>techniques within architecture and proposes a series of design </p><p>interventions at one of New Zealand’s most contaminated </p><p>sites. This research proposes practical methods of applying </p><p>restoration design to remediate brownfield sites to move </p><p>towards a regenerative development model. The land and </p><p>waterways that make up brownfield sites should be celebrated </p><p>for their ecological significance, and remediated, rather than </p><p>ignored so as to build positive human-nature relationships. </p><p>Research findings include that bioremediation and </p><p>architecture cannot exist separately if brownfield site </p><p>remediation and development is to contribute to a regenerative </p><p>built environment. It is critical to use architecture itself as one </p><p>means of educating users about the ecological processes </p><p>of brownfield site bioremediation. This is important in order </p><p>to establish a stewardship role within individuals and local </p><p>communities as a way to work towards the protection and </p><p>successful restoration of these degraded sites. This research </p><p>also found that the restoration of brownfield sites towards </p><p>regenerative development requires architecture and built </p><p>environment infrastructure to be adaptive to future climate </p><p>change conditions. The bioremediation techniques examined </p><p>in this research could be used to retrofit existing buildings and </p><p>designed into new additions and/or retrofits so that architecture </p><p>can adapt to climate change impacts, particularly sea-level rise </p><p>and increased storm surge.</p>

Ultrafine Magnetic Particles: A DIET-Proxy in Organic Rich Sediments?

In this work we present results of the magnetic properties characterization of sediment samples from a brownfield site that is generating methane biogas in São Paulo–Brazil. We applied interpretation procedures (frequency dependent susceptibility and time-dependent Isothermal Remanent Magnetization) appropriate to study the ultrafine magnetic fraction response of the samples. The higher content of superparamagnetic (SP) particles correlates well with the detected biogas pockets, suggesting that the methanogens activity produces these ultrafine particles, different from the magnetic particles at other depth levels. We propose the use of two simple measurement and interpretation techniques to identify such magnetic particles fingerprints. The results presented here support the use of environmental magnetism techniques to investigate biogeochemical processes of anaerobic microbial activity.

Why and how central Europe's largest logistics complex developed on a brownfield site

The aim of the article is to explain the dependence on key factors and development path in the expansion process of the largest Central European logistics complex situated on postmining brownfield. Here, a highly original example is the city of Sosnowiec in the Katowice conurbation (Poland). In the article, the development of this complex and its model of spatial diffusion, with an indication of both facilitating and restricting aspects of its further expansion is discussed. The following issues are also brought to light: spatial location, urban policy, transport accessibility and local labour market. In the article, the development of this complex is discussed according to model of spatial diffusion.