Alexander, Frank S. "Land Banks and Land Banking." 1- 120. Washington, D.C.: Center for Community Progress, 2011. This report discusses the evolution of land bank, the potential challenges that the tool faces during implementation, and possible solutions to address these challenges. The report also outlines the process for creating and operating a land bank.

This article reviews the potential for brownfield sites to become the center of greening strategies for cities, including the creation of parks, playgrounds and trails. Ten brownfield- to - green space projects in Toronto were reviewed to identify the benefits of greening for communities and the role of the planning process in the greening projects.

De Sousa, C. A. (2003). "Turning brownfields into green space in the City of Toronto." Landscape and Urban Planning 62: 181-198.

Vacant and abandoned properties pose challenges to city prosperity and economic health. However, these lands can be pursued as opportunities for economic and fiscal growth

Coulton, Claudia, Kristen Mikelbank, and Michael Schramm. "Foreclosure and Beyond: A Report on Ownership and Housing Value Following Sheriff's Sales, Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, 2000-07." Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development, 2008. "This study focuses on the cumulative effects of increasing foreclosure rates in Cleveland neighborhoods and suburban municipalities of Cuyahoga County and attempts to answer a number of questions: What entities take ownership of these foreclosed properties and for how long do they hold them? Who purchases these homes next, and how do the sales prices compare to the value of the homes prior to the time they entered the foreclosure process? And have these patterns changed as the number of properties being auctioned at sheriff's sale has skyrocketed?"

Coulton, Claudia, Michael Schramm, and April Hirsh. "Beyond Reo: Property Transfers at Extremely Distressed Prices in Cuyahoga County, 2005-2008." Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development, 2008. This report examines the trends of extremely distressed properties in Cuyahoga County between 2005- 2008 after being sold out of REO.

Immergluck, Dan. "Community Response to the Foreclosure Crisis: Thoughts on Local Interventions." Atlanta: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, 2008. This paper describes the basic responses to the foreclosure crisis, including constraints and opportunities faced by the local government and the community as they respond to the crisis.

This book presents twenty brownfield case studies that exemplify the economic benefits of brownfield reuse.

Pepper, Edith M. Lessons from the Field: Unlocking Economic Potential with an Environmental Key. Washington, D.C.: Northeast-Midwest Institute, 1997.

 

The book presents the opportunities and provides case studies of greyfields, including abandoned regional centers and malls that have been put into productive reuse through creative design.

Sobel, Lee S., Ellen Greenberg, and Steven Bodzin. Greyfields into Goldfields: Dead Malls Become Living Nieghborhoods. Pittsburgh: Congress for the New Urbanism, 2002.

Immergluck, Dan. "Neighborhood in the Wake of the Debacle: Intrametropolitan Patterns of Foreclosed Properties." Urban Affairs Review 46,1 (2010): 3-36. A key aspect of the U.S. subprime crisis was the accumulation of vacant, foreclosed properties in many neighborhoods and localities. This article describes zip-code-level patterns of foreclosed homes, or what are typically called "real estate owned" (REO) properties, at the peak of the subprime crisis in late 2008 and estimates a model of REO accumulation from 2006 to 2008. Three key findings emerge. First, during the peak of the subprime foreclosure crisis in late 2008, large central cities, on average, experienced higher levels of REO per mortgageable property than suburban areas. This contradicts some suggestions that the crisis was primarily centered in suburban or exurban communities. Second, the suburbanization of REO varied across two key types of metropolitan areas, with boom-bust regions experiencing more suburbanization than weak- or mixed-market metros. Finally, determinants of zip-code-level REO accumulation included high-risk lending activity and the age of housing stock. After controlling for these and other variables, neither the central city versus suburban location of a zip code nor the proportion of residents commuting over 30 minutes was significantly associated with REO growth. The intrametropolitan location of a zip code appears to have been a less important factor in REO growth than the fact that a large amount of development in newer communities was financed during the subprime boom.

"This paper was prepared pursuant to a Cooperative Agreement between the Economic Development Administration and The E.P. Systems Group, Inc. for a "Review of Economic Development Literature and Practice in Reclamation and Economic Regeneration of Brownfields." It draws on the practical experience of its authors and a broad literature that spans scholarly and policy analysis, state and federal guidance and application materials, trade journals, manuals and case studies relating to the problems of brownfield redevelopment. Our purpose is to demystify the mass of legalistic, technical, and often contradictory or out-of-date writings on the brownfields issue. Our goal is to inform the local economic development organization (EDO) or municipal agency charged with economic and/or community development in an area with potentially contaminated sites." (written by the authors) organization (EDO) or municipal agency charged with economic and/or community development in an area with potentially contaminated sites." (written by the authors)

Meyer, Peter B., and H. Wade VanLandingham. "Reclamation and Economic Regeneration of Brownfields." In Reviews of Economic Development Literature and Practice, 1-44, 2000.

The report discusses the usefulness of land use controls (LUCs) in brownfield cleanup and redevelopment, including state/ federal regulation, and methods that local governments are adopting to successfully utilize institutional controls.

Schilling, Joe, Christine Gaspar, and Nadejda Mishkovsky. "Beyond Fences: Brownfields and the Challenges of Land Use Controls." ICMA.

This report focuses on the various Brownfields Showcase Communities, highlighting the specific and more universal challenges that the communities faced when implementing the program.

Many authors. ICMA/ NEMW Research. "Brownfields Bleuprints: A Study of the Showcase Communities Initiative." 357. Washington, D.C.: International City/ County Management Association and Northeast- Midwest Institute, 2001.

Howland, Marie. "The Role of Contamination in Central City Industrial Decline." Economic Development Quarterly 18, no. 3 (2004): 13. "This study examines the role that land contamination plays in hindering central city redevelopment. The author tracked all sales and selling prices and the presence of contamination in one industrial area of about 5,580 acres in southwest Baltimore. The results indicate that after the mid-1990s, contaminated parcels have been selling and the market has adjusted to contamination by lowering prices. Out of 144 parcels that sold over the past decade, positive, market-clearing prices have been found for 45 parcels with either confirmed or historical-reasons-to-suspect contamination. Interviews with owners and brokers of parcels on the market for 2 years or more and analysis of the data indicate that sites with above-market asking price; that are small and oddshaped; with inadequate road access for modern trucks; that have outdated water, sewer, and telecommunications connections; and with incompatible surrounding land uses are the most likely to remain unsold after 2 years."

Abstract: "Whether they are growing, shrinking, or just standing their ground, cities throughout the United States are looking for ways to reinvent and reinvigorate their urban landscapes. More and more, planners are employing urban greening strategies as tools to enhance the quality of life and create more sustainable metropolitan environments. This is especially true in places that have suffered the consequences of deindustrialization and economic decline over the past 50 years. This paper begins by briefly discussing the evolution of urban greening and the vast array of associated benefits. It then examines expanding efforts to use brownfield sites as opportunity spaces for greening, focusing on project types, planning activities, stakeholder involvement, and redevelopment outcomes. The paper ends with some key lessons from the field that can help planning professionals realize a greener future for our nation's cities."

De Sousa, C. 2010. "From Brown Liability to Green Opportunity: Reinventing Urban Landscapes," Carolina Planning (35): 3-12.

Hollander, Justin B., Colin Polsky, Dan Zinder, and Dan Runfola. "The New American Ghost Towns." Land Lines (2011).

Dewar, Margaret and Kris Wernstedt. "Challenges in Reusing Vacant, Abandoned,and Contaminated Urban Properties." Land Lines. April 2009. 2-7. This article explores the limitations, challenges, and potential for non-profit and community developers to successfully reuse vacant, abandoned, and contaminated land.

Shroder, Mark, ed. "Brownfields." U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Cityscape 12, no. 3 (2010). This issue of Cityscape features articles on a variety of issues related to brownfields, such as federal policies; brownfields redevelopment; and the private markets.

Adams, D., De Sousa, C. and S. Tiesdell. 2010. "Brownfield Development: A Comparison of North American and British Approaches." Urban Studies 47(1): 75-104. "Over the past 30-40 years, urban change and deindustrialisation in advanced economies have created a legacy of vacant and derelict land that is increasingly seen as a development opportunity rather than planning problem. This paper investigates how the shared challenge of bringing such brownfield sites back into productive use has been interpreted differently in four countries: the US, Canada, Scotland and England. In each case, the particular policy environment has shaped the brownfield debate in distinctive ways, producing a different set of relations between the public and private sectors in brownfield redevelopment. Through this detailed comparison of the North American and British experience, the paper traces the maturity of policy and seeks to discover whether the main differences in understanding and tackling brownfield land can be attributed primarily to physical, cultural or institutional factors."

De Sousa, C., Wu, C. and L. Westphal. 2009. "Assessing the Effect of Publicly Supported Brownfield Redevelopment on Surrounding Property Values." Economic Development Quarterly 23(2): 95-110. Abstract: "This study measures and compares the impact of publicly assisted brownfield redevelopment on nearby residential property values in Milwaukee and Minneapolis. It also examines the influence of land use, neighborhood characteristics, and other redevelopment factors on this impact. The research approach incorporates a hedonic method to quantify nearby property value effects at more than 100 brownfield projects, and stakeholder interviews are used to assess perceived impacts to real estate conditions. The results reveal that the spillover effect in terms of raising surrounding property values is significant in both quantity and geographic scope, as redevelopment led to a net increase of 11.4% in nearby housing prices in Milwaukee and 2.7% in Minneapolis. It also reveals that project size, value, and the amount of public funding have minor impacts on this effect; factors such as proximity to major roads, distance from rail, and higher incomes have greater positive impacts."