Benefits of Brownfield Reuse (2024)

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Environmental Economic Social

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Benefits of Brownfield Reuse

Left abandoned and unaddressed, brownfields can serve as barriers between neighborhoods, an impediment to local investment, eyesores, and potentially have health risks associated with contaminated land or water. On the other hand, cleaning up and reusing brownfields can create a number of local environmental, economic, and social benefits for a community.

Environmental

Cleaning up and addressing brownfields can improve local environmental quality by remediating contaminated soil and water. Redeveloping brownfields in urban areas, also known as infill, can have additional environmental benefits such as reduced vehicle miles traveled and the associated air emissions, as well as reduced energy consumption. Reusing brownfields also reduces the need for additional greenfield development, thus conserving undeveloped land elsewhere in the community.

Economic

Brownfields reuse and redevelopment can create local jobs, provide additional tax revenue, and grow the local tax base by increasing area property values. Investing in the cleanup and reuse of brownfields often attracts new private investment in an area that would not have otherwise existed.

Social

Cleaning up and addressing contamination at brownfields can remove the risk of exposure, protecting human health and improving the safety of the local community. Reusing brownfields can also create new commercial, residential, and recreational opportunities, improving the quality of life for the local community.