Brownfield land

Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use. Expansion or redevelopment of such a facility may be complicated by real or perceived environmental contaminations.[1] Cf. Waste (law).
Example of brownfield land at a disused gasworks site after excavation, with soil contamination from removed underground storage tanks.

In the United States city planning jargon, a brownfield site (or simply a brownfield) is land previously used for industrial purposes or certain commercial uses. The land may be contaminated by low concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution, and has the potential to be reused once it is cleaned up. Land that is more severely contaminated and has high concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution, such as a Superfund site, does not fall under the brownfield classification. Mothballed brownfields are properties which the owners are not willing to transfer or put to productive reuse.[2]

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In the United Kingdom and Australia, the term applies more generally to previously used land


… read New Report Shows Brownfield Redevelopment in Cities Leads to More Jobs, Increased Tax Revenue - 99 Cities Surveyed on the Merits of Recycling America`s Land