Land Recycling News

Racial segregation in housing…was a nationwide project of the federal government in the twentieth century, designed and implemented by its most liberal leaders. Our system of official segregation was not the result of a single law that consigned African Americans to designated neighborhoods. Rather, scores of racially explicit laws, regulations, and government practices combined to create a nationwide system of urban ghettos, surrounded by white suburbs.  

After Hurricane Harvey, Paul Krugman asked, “Why can’t we get cities right?”  Perhaps it’s because when we imagine a sustainable city, we are imagining something none of us has ever experienced, as Azby Brown notes in his 2009 book Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan.  While imagining a new future can be exhilarating, it can also be overwhelming.  As Puerto Rico rebuilds its electrical grid, Houston continues to recover from floods, Mexico City clears away rubble following the recent earthquake and the Florida Keys begin the long process of determining how and where to rebuild, we may do well to turn to Japan for inspiration, circa 1603.

With the need for infrastructure investment greater than ever, we're still waiting on Washington.

We’re all still waiting for Washington to move on infrastructure. Decades of deferred maintenance have built up and now costs hundreds of billions of dollars every year in unnecessary time, fuel and deadly accidents. While our old systems decay, we dare not dream of the next generation infrastructure that could give us the edge on our global competition, many of whom are way ahead of us in the infrastructure race.

But we need to start dreaming big again. Too many communities aren’t aging well. And today we find our built environment badly neglected at a time when changes in our natural environment seem to be accelerating. Meanwhile, our rapidly advancing economy is changing the needs of households, businesses and government at all levels.

At CCLR, we’ve been hearing a great deal of interest lately about landfills.  This sparked our April workshop in San Jose, CA, where Jeff Ludlow, Principal at Langan Engineering, gave two presentations about landfill post-closure redevelopment.  Other communities have reached out with questions about capping landfills or the feasibility of building on landfills.  Landfills pose unique challenges, but they also offer powerful opportunities for redevelopment. 

The fourth biennial Sierra Fund conference, focused on finding ways to reclaim and remediate mine-scarred lands in the Sierra, took place at the Sacramento State University on May 8th and 9th. The full slate of programming was kicked off by Elizabeth “Izzy” Martin, CEO of the Sierra Fund, who spoke about the grip that absentee landowners have over the land in the Sierra. The stage for a frank conversation about land-use and equity was further set by Lawrie Mott, a former scientist with the National Resources Defense Council, who begged the question: “Can our 20th Century water systems survive the 21st Century climate reality?”

The Center for Creative Land Recycling has launched a new page for Sustainable Remediation Resources (hyperlink) through the Online State Resources Page! This page compiles state and national resources about sustainable and green remediation, such as EPA’s Climate Smart Brownfields manual, NY Department of Environmental Conservation documents and presentations, EPA Green Remediation best practices and more. 

The Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR) and New Partners for Community Redevelopment (NPCR) are featuring a Redevelopment Rodeo at its upcoming "Economic and Community Revitalization Through Planning and Brownfield Redevelopment" conference in Albany, NY on June 7th and 8th. 

Join us at the next National Brownfields Training Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, December 5 -7, 2017, with pre-conference workshops on December 4. We invite you to submit your ideas for dynamic educational sessions that encourage conversation and participation from your fellow attendees. A great Brownfields 2017 educational program will motivate brownfields stakeholders to engage, learn, and share their experiences and knowledge of community revitalization challenges and solutions.

This manual is an excellent resource for communities that want to consider climate change as they assess, clean up, or redevelop brownfield sites. It provides guidance on best practices for climate change mitigation, adaption, and resilience at all stages of brownfields work, from planning to redevelopment. In addition, the manual contains case studies and links to additional resources that communities can use as they develop brownfields project plans

The Urban Land Institute is an independent global nonprofit with over 40,000 members representing the entire spectrum of real estate development and land use discipline. Since 1947, they have been organizing Advisory Services panels to support local governments address challenging real estate and land use issues facing their communities. Panels bring together the best and brightest from ULI’s diverse membership—developers, planners, financiers, market analysts, economists, architects, designers, and public officials—to provide practical solutions and objective advice not available from any other source.