July 15, 2021 - Other News

New Book: Sustainable Brownfield Development: Building a Sustainable Future on Sites of our Polluting Past

By: Chris De Sousa

Dear CBN members,

If you have some free time this summer, please check out my new book Sustainable Brownfield Development: Building a Sustainable Future on Sites of our Polluting Past, published by Routledge and due out on July 15 2021.  Before returning to Canada in 2011, I had initiated a multi-university and multi-year research project examining brownfield developments in the United States that aimed to go beyond conventional and incorporate sustainability. The book tracks two dozen cases, some trendsetting and some just starting, and covers a range of end uses (e.g., corner gas stations, industrial, office, residential, brightfields, green space, mixed-use, and transit-oriented developments).  The case studies highlighting project features, best management practices, and lessons from the field regarding the underlying policies and practices that enabled these projects to be completed or, in some cases, stalled, altered or abandoned.

Synopsis: While industrial and chemical innovations have contributed extensively to human advancement, the darker part of their legacy has been the hundreds of thousands of polluted sites left behind. Governments at all levels have rallied to support the remediation and reuse of these land resources and put many of the nation’s brownfields back into productive use. This book presents two dozen brownfield projects in the United States that have incorporated sustainability, highlighting project features, best management practices, and lessons from the field regarding the underlying policies and practices that enabled these projects to be completed or, in some cases, stalled, altered or abandoned.

Contact: Chris.DeSousa@Ryerson.ca