Brownfields 101: Connecting Historically Contaminated Sites to a Greener Future

The Voorhees Center’s newest report identifies brownfield sites within Cook County and the Calumet Region, assessing their suitability for hosting green economy firms.

Cook County and the Calumet Region are rife with brownfields – and opportunity. The Voorhees Center’s report Brownfield Redevelopment & Green Economy Expansion in the Cook County and Calumet Regions compiled data for over 5,400 identified brownfield sites in the region. A land suitability analysis then assessed whether a site could have the potential for certain green economy firms based on their size and current land use. In addition, the report provides a primer on brownfields – the redevelopment process, funding opportunities, stakeholder engagement, and mitigation of adverse community impacts. An accompanying interactive dashboard provides site specific information for each brownfield and the results of the land suitability analysis.

To conduct the land suitability analysis, five sectors were identified as part of the green economy, as defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

• Renewable energy,
• Energy efficiency,
• Natural resource conservation,
• Environmental compliance, education and training, and public awareness, and
• Pollution reduction and removal, greenhouse gas reduction, and recycling and reuse.

For each sector, criteria were set regarding land use and size – what would an establishment need to locate somewhere. Brownfields in four programs (those with sufficient data) were assessed to determine if said criteria were met. While additional information, including stakeholder engagement, would be necessary to redevelop a brownfield as a green economy firm, this analysis provides a crucial first step in identifying suitable sites.