Designing sustainable and economically attractive brownfield revitalization options using an integrated assessment model S. Schädler a, * , M. Morio a , S. Bartke b , R. Rohr-Zänker c , M. Finkel a a Center for Applied Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Sigwartstr. 10, 72076 Tübingen, Germany b Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research e UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany c StadtRegion, Hornemannweg 5, 30167 Hannover, Germany article info Article history: Received 13 April 2010 Received in revised form 24 September 2010 Accepted 8 October 2010 Available online 3 November 2010 Keywords: Brownfield Integrated assessment Sustainability Remediation cost Decision making Contaminated land appraisal abstract We describe the development of an integrated assessment model which evaluates redevelopment options of large contaminated brownfields and we present the application of the model in a case study. Aiming to support efficient and sustainable revitalization and communication between stakeholders, the presented assessment model integrates three pinnacles of brownfield revitalization: (i) subsurface remediation and site preparation costs, (ii) market-oriented economic appraisal, and (iii) the expected contribution of planned future land use to sustainable community and regional development. For the assessment, focus is set on the early stage of the brownfield redevelopment process, which is charac- terized by limited data availability and by flexibility in land use planning and development scope. At this stage, revealing the consequences of adjustments and alterations in planning options can foster efficiency in communication between the involved parties and thereby facilitates the brownfield revitalization process. Results from the case-study application indicate that the integrated assessment provides help in the identification of land use options beneficial in both a sustainable and an economical sense. For the study site it is shown on one hand that brownfield redevelopment is not automatically in line with sustainable regional development, and on the other hand it is demonstrated that additional contributions to sustainability are not intrinsically tied to increased costs. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction 1.1. Brownfield revitalization Different definitions in both Europe and the US similarly describe brownfield sites as abandoned or underused properties, for which intervention is required to ensure beneficial reuse because of the real or suspected presence of hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants (CABERNET, 2005; USEPA, 2002). The health and economic threats of brownfields as well as the chal- lenges and potential of their reuse are recognized world-wide and international literature describes concerns related to brownfields e.g. in Africa (e.g., Haylamicheal and Dalvie, 2009; Kaufman et al., 2005), Asia (e.g. Cao and Guan, 2007; Zhang and Wong, 2007), Australia (e.g., Apostolidis and Hutton, 2006; Toms et al., 2008), and Canada (e.g., DeSousa, 2001; NRTEE, 2003). Estimated costs for restoration of large brownfield sites in the US range from $100 billion (USEPA, 2003) to over $650 billion (NRTEE, 2003) and for the European Union amount to almost V100 billion (EEA, 2000). When brownfields are especially large in terms of area, promi- nence, relevance, seriousness, regional significance, complexity of contamination and of stakeholder networks, they are typically referred to as megasites in more recent literature (Agostini et al., 2007; Bardos, 2004). The revitalization process of such sites may be complicated e.g. by extensive investigation efforts, intricate negotiation among stakeholders with potentially differing inter- ests, large uncertainties, and time-consuming and costly clean-up that may outrun any market interest by far (Bardos, 2004; NRTEE, 2003). The consequence of this is that many of the most complex brownfields to date remain undeveloped. On the other hand, successful brownfield revitalization can benefit from the typically prominent location of the sites and of already existing infrastructure and it can drastically enhance sustainable regional development (Bardos et al., 2000) by contributing to a reduction of land consumption and urban sprawl (Nuissl and Schroeter-Schlaack, 2009). Large sites additionally provide devel- opers with a wide scope of planning for the design of future land use options, i.e. the use types considered and their allocation on the site. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ49 7071 2973181; fax: þ49 7071 295059. E-mail address: sebastian.schaedler@uni-tuebingen.de (S. Schädler). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Environmental Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvman 0301-4797/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.10.026 Journal of Environmental Management 92 (2011) 827e837