Sustainable Brownfield Regeneration: CABERNET Network Report

Sustainable Brownfield Regeneration:
CABERNET Network Report
8
EU Policy Recommendations on
Brownfield Redevelopment
8
The international competitiveness of Europe’s towns and cities is to no small degree
influenced by the extent to which they offer an attractive and desirable living and
working environment – and so are capable of attracting and retaining residents and
investment. Their attractiveness is, in turn, influenced by the ability of these towns and
cities to re-invent themselves and their built assets in the face of economic, social and
technological change.
The extent to which brownfield land becomes re-used rather than remaining vacant
or derelict is a key indicator of this ability of cities to re-invent themselves and a major
contributor to the achievement of sustainable urban environments. Failure of such land
to be readily re-used is both a lost opportunity to achieve sustainable development
of Europe’s towns and cities, and creates an added burden on achieving desirable and
competitive cities to the extent that it blights the local area and its community.
It becomes obvious that the reuse of derelict sites plays a contribution to European
Cities realising the “Lisbon Strategy”: If the EU is to be “the most competitive and
dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by the year of 2010”, then the EU has to
offer high quality of life in its urban context.
A wide range of EU policies and initiatives influence the pace at which brownfield land
becomes re-used or, conversely, remains as vacant or derelict land and buildings further
degrading its surroundings. In addition, given the contribution that the better re-use
of brownfield land makes to the achievement of competitive and sustainable cities,
the successful re-use of brownfield land can positively contribute to the underlying
objectives of many of the EU policies and initiatives.
In other words, a ‘brownfield land dimension’ is critical to the pursuit and attainment
of many aspects of the EU’s structural change, cohesiveness and competitiveness
agenda. The various links between brownfield land and EU policies and initiatives
are set out, in turn, below, together with specific recommendations to improve the
synergy with brownfield land matters.
There is a shared desire within the brownfield Redevelopment sector for more clearly
articulated, consistent and practical policies and regulations on land reuse from the EC.
Generally, the policy and legal frameworks used for managing brownfield sites are those
associated with ‘contaminated land’, although this does not adequately encapsulate
the range of issues related to Brownfield Redevelopment (Grimski and Ferber, 2001⁷²).
Currently, a large number of EC activities impinge on brownfield Redevelopment, and
determining the EC’s position requires engaging with numerous diverse policy fields.
Yet a coherent approach to brownfield Regeneration is a prerequisite to successful
environmental, spatial, urban and economic development in Europe. Without such
⁷²Grimski D and Ferber U (2001) Urban Brownfields in Europe, Land Contamination and Reclamation, Vol 9 No 1,
pp. 143-148
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