Justin B. Hollander, AICP, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University. He is the author of Polluted and Dangerous: America's Worst Abandoned Properties and What Can Be Done About Them.
The US. EPA defines brownfields as "idle real property, the development or improvement of which is impaired by real or perceived contamination." The authors of Principles of Brownfield Regeneration argue that, compared to "greenfields"-farmland, forest, or pasturelands that have never been developed-brownfields offer a more sustainable land development choice.