FROM LIABILITY TO VALUE: ANALYSIS OF LAND REMEDIATION DECISON-MAKING PROCESSES IN TWO AUSTRALIAN CITIES Jason Prior , Aleta Lederwasch, Roel Plant Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia INTRODUCTION The remediation of contaminated urban land has potential to be used by a diversity of stakeholders as a means to create value out of a former liability. This paper explores how the remediation decision-making process (RDMP) for contaminated urban land in Australian cities currently creates outcomes that are valued in different ways by different stakeholders. Some readily recognised outcomes of RDMPs include the minimisation of environmental risk; the removal of blight on property; and the reduction of the impacts of hazardous substances on human health. This paper explores whether the outcomes sought and valued by stakeholders within RDMPs are potentially broader than this. We also explore how stakeholders’ valuation of particular outcomes affects the overall dynamics of the RDMP. The paper builds on a larger body of research and practice that is seeking to understand the ways in which stakeholders engage with RDMPs. It seeks to contribute to a nascent body of research that explores how stakeholder values affect the outcomes of the RDMP. The call for such research originated in the remediation industry itself, which as a result of the emergence of the notions of ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ remediation is seeking to understand how the RDMP can be used as a lever to attain the best possible outcomes for the diverse stakeholders involved (see e.g. Rio Tinto Alcan, 2009). The study presented in this paper seeks to illuminate the relationship between stakeholder values and outcomes through the study of RDMPs associated with land development in two Australian cities. Through these two case studies, we aim to understand the range of outcomes that are valued by different stakeholders. In so doing, we seek to identify how the value that stakeholders attribute to particular outcomes affects and guides the overall dynamics of the RDMP. Before discussing and presenting the findings from the study we provide a brief overview of the changing nature of the RDMP over the past few decades. We also present an outline of the two selected case studies and the research methodology, including the theoretical framework and the data-collection procedures that were used. THE CHANGING NATURE OF RDMP Over the past few decades RDMPs have changed significantly. For example, during the 1970s the most valued outcome from the RDMP was the least-cost remedial option (Hardisty, Ozdemiroglu, & Arch, 2008; Hausman, 2008). In the 1980s interest emerged into the ways in which technological innovations such as in- situ technologies could be used in the RDMP to attain a wider range of outcomes (Honders , Maas, & Gadella, 2003). In the 1990s the risk-based approach emerged in response to value that stakeholders placed on the notion that remediated land may be used for different future purposes, requiring ‘fit for purpose’ cleanup. This approach considered the nature and extent of the risk posed by chemicals in the air, soil and groundwater (Advisory Council on the Environment, 2006; Amendola; Luo, Catney, & Lerner, 2009; Mfodwo, 2006). In the late 2000s the broader concept of sustainability began to permeate the RDMP (Bardos & Nathanail, 2009; CRC-CARE, 2009; Nadebaum, 2008, 2009; Sarni, 2010; Simon, 2009; SuRF-UK, 2009; U.S. Sustainable Remediation Forum, 2009). Sustainability as an aspiration within RDMPs seeks to support sustainable outcomes by linking the RDMP to notions of intergenerational equity, economic viability and environmental protection (CRC-CARE, 2009 , p.6; Dixon, 2006, 2007; Doick, Pediaditi, Moffat, & Hutchings, 2009; Wernstedt, Alberini, Heberle, & Meyer, 2004). For example, ‘green’ technologies such as bioremediation were developed to address the growing value which stakeholders placed on achieving environmental outcomes in RDMPs (Efroymson, Nicolette, & Suter, 2004; Gochfeld, Burger, Friedlander, & Powers, 2007). Sustainable approaches to remediation also seek to integrate remediation with broader societal decision-making processes (e.g. regional planning). It is worth noting that to date these developments have not been uniform across countries. Fowler (2007, 2008) suggests that except in a few cases, a de facto risk-based approach is still the primary mode of operation in Australia. These advances over the past few decades have also led to the involvement of an increasingly diverse array of stakeholders in RDMP, including: professionals such as auditors, council officers, consultants, remediation project managers, (Hage, Leroy, & Petersen, 2010; Reed, 2008; Thomas & David, 2000; Zsolnai, 2003) and