Monitoring and evaluation practice for brownfield, regeneration to greenspace initiatives: A meta-evaluation of assessment and monitoring tools

Brownfield regeneration and greenspace creation are increasingly promoted by national and EU policy in support of sustainable development principles. There is increasing pressure for the evaluation of brownfield greening initiatives because of their cost, competing funding priorities and evidence of unsustainable practice. Assessment of sustainability requires monitoring and evaluation throughout the life cycle of a project and requires commitment from the many different bodies involved. This paper examines whether tools are available to enable brownfield greening stakeholders to carry out sustainability evaluation for brownfield regenerated to greenspace. To this end, we present the criteria that an ‘ideal’ brownfield greening sustainability monitoring and evaluation tool should fulfil, based on a study of stakeholder needs and the Bellagio Principles. The proposed criteria are used to evaluate 28 tools considered potentially relevant to brownfield regenerated greenspace. For each tool, the research identified limitations to its use for evaluation of brownfield regenerated greenspace sustainability. Recommendations are made for measures required for the greater adoption of monitoring and evaluation practice as well as directions for tool development.