Technical – Brownfield Sustainability Metrics
Federal – Welcome to the Class of 2020
Municipal – Chicago Helps Green Development
Community – Brownfields: Fundamentally Sustainable But Truly Sustainable
Academia – Brownfields to Green Buildings: Maximizing Sustainability

Technical – Brownfield Sustainability Metrics
by Ken Kastman
What we measure is what we think about, and we think about what we measure. Most people reading this magazine would agree that brownfield development is good, and sustainable brownfield development is better. So what sustainable aspects of a brownfield development should we measure? The answers depend on your perspective and role. Cities have focused on Smart Growth, urban redevelopment and the number of jobs created.

Federal – Welcome to the Class of 2020
by Deborah Goldblum
I recently sent my second child off to college. When we arrived on campus, there were signs posted that read, “Welcome to the Class of 2011.” Similarly, in May of 2007, EPA and the states officially welcomed many new RCRA facilities into the RCRA Baseline Universe or the Class of 2020. EPA’s RCRA Corrective Action program goal is to complete construction of the cleanup remedy at 95 percent of all facilities on the baseline by the year 2020. This includes approximately 2,000 high priority sites that the program currently manages, as well as an additional 1,777 new matriculating facilities. The vast majority of these rank as low or medium priority.

Municipal – Chicago Helps Green Development
by Dave Graham, P.G., and Michael Berkshire, LEED AP
Sustainability and green design are key to the redevelopment of brownfields within the City of Chicago. It is not enough to redevelop properties using standard architectural design and construction practices which do nothing to provide healthier environments, reduce operating costs, or conserve energy and resources. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has energized greener and more sustainable building and development practices through a unique combination of mayoral commitments, policy development and implementation, and incentives. All of these are incorporated into redevelopment and associated new construction on Chicago brownfield sites.

Community – Brownfields: Fundamentally Sustainable But Truly Sustainable
by Kelly Novak
Even though the concept of sustainability was born in the late 1970s, today it seems that everyone from movie stars to large corporations to government and non-government organizations, and, yes, even brownfield redevelopers, are touting and promoting the concept of sustainability. But how truly sustainable is all this valiant new rhetoric? Is it just lip service? Are these sustainability campaigns living up to the true meaning of sustainability, which is by definition “economic development that takes full account of the environmental consequences of economic activity and is based on the use of resources that can be replaced or renewed and therefore are not depleted?”

Academia – Brownfields to Green Buildings: Maximizing Sustainability
by Barry Hersh
An important strength of brownfield redevelopment has always been its contribution to sustainability—reusing contaminated land makes great sense as an alternative to sprawl. As concerns about global warming fuel interest in everything that saves energy and reduces carbon footprint, the brownfield market has a unique opportunity to expand by maximizing the many ties between brownfields, green buildings and sustainability.