Evaluating predictors for brownfield redevelopment

This paper quantitatively examines what drives brownfield redevelopment and what factors predict a completed brownfield redevelopment. This research investigated 200 brownfield properties that were listed with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and redeveloped between the years 2000 and 2015. Three significant correlations were found in this study: socio-economic factor (income level), green development, and tax incentives significantly correlated with brownfield redevelopment. The combination of six predictor variables was analyzed using multiple regression. Socio-economic (income level) [β = 0.27, t = 3.96, p < 0.001] and sustainable building practice (green development) [β = −0.17, t = −2.56, p = 0.01] significantly predicted brownfield redevelopment. Type of contamination (β = 0.07, t = 0.98, p > 0.05), political climate (β = −0.04, t = −0.52, p > 0.05) and stakeholder involvement (β = 0.04, t = 0.62, p > 0.05) did not significantly predict brownfield redevelopment. Hypothesis two and four assessed predictors of brownfield redevelopment. The findings indicated a significant relationship between brownfield redevelopment and two variables (a) socio-economic factor (income levels) significantly predicted brownfield redevelopment, and (b) green development significantly predicted brownfield redevelopment. The higher value of socio-economic factor, the higher value of brownfield redevelopment. The projects with sustainable development had high brownfield redevelopment value than projects without green development. Recommendations for practice include (a) developers and other stakeholders incorporate sustainable building practices in brownfield redevelopments, (b) government agencies involved in the building process such as building and planning departments provide narratives of best practices in sustainable building to help guide brownfield redevelopments and implement policies to mitigate the displacement of low income residents (c) creation of a centralized database of brownfields that have been redeveloped detailing the project attributes. Recommendations for future research may include (a) quantitative study of demographic factors such as age, gender, race, and education as possible predictors of successful brownfield redevelopment and (b) a study on the types of contamination that have been successfully remediated resulting in a successful brownfield redevelopment.