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This paper aims to evaluate the suitability and feasibility of the four most likely urban spaces for mixed use development – brownfields (contaminated lands); greenfields (open, undeveloped areas); greyfields (closed or dying shopping centers and empty parking lots); and redfields (underperforming, foreclosed commercial real estate).

Literature about and studies of mixed use development projects in America and Britain were reviewed, and so too were specific examples of the four candidate urban spaces. The authors then analyzed which spaces succeeded as mixite and which failed.

Brownfields are often not successfully transformed into usable mixite; nor are greenfields. The cost and regulatory complication of removing pollution from brownfields is too often prohibitive, and greenfields are too far away from urban core areas. By contrast, greyfields and redfields appear to be far more suitable spaces for mixed use development projects.

Most government policies urging redevelopment projects in America and Great Britain prefer brownfields as the space deemed most suitable for mixite. Contrary to this view, it appears that unpolluted spaces, such as redfields and greyfields, that do not need extensive environmental remediation, are typically better candidates for mixite.

“Location” is undoubtedly one of the most important factors in deciding whether or not to undertake a property development; however, when considering the redevelopment of a “brownfield” site it may be only one of a number of issues which need to be considered as part of the decision‐making process. Issues such as the environmental and economic cost of reclaiming or remediating land will assume an importance which does not exist with greenfield sites. The potential for harm, both to human beings and to the wider environment, will have to be considered, especially if any contamination is to be left on the site. Many brownfield sites are small in size, requiring the assembly of a number of sites, in different ownerships, in order to have a viable development project and they may also be plagued with problems such as inadequate access and obsolete services. The availability of tax incentives, or indeed penalties, to encourage brownfield redevelopment, together the possibility of obtaining insurance cover, will need to be factored into a valuation or development appraisal. This paper considers the issues to be considered as part of the decision making process. Some issues relate specifically to the assessment of risk, such as the potential for harms to humans, buildings or the environment, but taken altogether they should form part of a risk assessment strategy to determine the viability of development projects and the value, positive or negative, of brownfield development land. The paper reports on a survey of surveyors, developers and other professionals undertaken in the second half of 1998. It concludes that, while property professionals do not undertake a formal “risk assessment” procedure, they do take account of environmental as well as financial issues when deciding whether or not to proceed with the redevelopment of brownfield land.

In geopolitical conflict zones, the phenomenon of abandonment often correlates with challenges of legal definitions and ownership status. The abandoned properties in conflict zones share similar characteristics with what is commonly known as a brownfield site. However, due to the nature of geopolitical conflict zones, which is mixed with people and sentiments other than technical challenges, the usual solutions to the brownfield question, cannot provide enough tools to deal with the land management of areas engulfed in conflicts. This paper, therefore, aims to discuss and propose a land-use typology that describes abandoned properties in a geopolitical context.

The proposed land-use typology serves as the main conceptual framework that integrates the sustainable brownfield regeneration approach with social theories of space and place. As an inductive research approach, this conceptual framework brought the fundamental and comparative literature on brownfield regeneration to support the main argument related to the similarities and challenges of the regeneration of abandoned properties in conflict zones. The approach used in this paper addresses the broader consideration of land management in geopolitical contexts and urban conflict zones that considers the relationship of exercise of extreme power over space.

The findings highlight an insufficient understanding of the origin of the property problems in geopolitical conflict zones, especially after a power struggle, producing significant land management issues. In a geopolitical context, urban planners and economists' perspective on definitions of space and place defined by maps, GIS data sets, Excel and other similar tools may not bring any practical or long-term solution to the land management challenges. The study suggests that dealing with abandoned properties and regeneration plans in conflict zones requires identifying and evaluating geo-political, geo-social, geo-economic characteristics of the area before any further action.

This paper's findings are of particular interest to decision-makers and conflict stakeholders in geopolitical conflict zones, such as local governments, policymakers and peacekeeping agencies. The findings of this research can clarify and help them have an alternative understanding of the space engulfed in the conflict, other than a technocratic, mapping, GIS, statistical way of understanding and approaches to the complex aspect of a space.

This paper's conceptual framework provides a value-added contribution to the literature on land management in conflict zones by taking the reader's attention to the origin of the problems and their associated real estate issues in geopolitical contexts. For the first time, this inductive research proposes a land-use typology that considers the complexity of the interrelationship between land policies, land-use theory, social theories of space and place and the exercise of extreme power over space. This paper produced a concept that is not easily measurable by quantitative nor qualitative approaches.

The increasing African population and economic growth leading to urbanisation continues to increase the need to redevelop brownfields as a strategy of encouraging sustainable development of cities, in particular in Ethiopia. However, the adoption of brownfield redevelopment in Ethiopia is at initial stage. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to highlight the framework based on grey-incidence decision-making approach to manage brownfields in African countries by taking Ethiopia as case example. The grey-incidence decision-making model integrates multiple factors such as economic, social, environmental, technical and associated risks and provides an effective decision-making and management tool for environmental practitioners and government agencies.

Questionnaires were used to collect data on terms and definitions of brownfield. The questions were prepared on the basis of currently used definitions developed by a number of developed countries. Moreover, this study utilises a grey-incidence decision-making approach to help in management and decision-making for the implementation of brownfield redevelopment projects (BRPs) in the remediated sites.

Standard definition of brownfield and essential guidelines for brownfield redevelopment is proposed for Ethiopian context. The research findings were tested and verified using literature data and survey from major stakeholders. In addition, the grey-incidence decision-making approach is applied for the evaluation of BRPs in the remediated sites. A framework is proposed to control future brownfields for African countries by taking Ethiopia as a case example.

This research stresses the significance of an urban structure to address sustainable development, and the need to consider redevelopment of brownfields and identify the potential for a specific government policy framework. This research provides the best opportunity for Ethiopia by devising an urban land policy and create a strategy to contribute social, economic, financial and environmental benefits. It also provides a foundation to solve environmental issues by involving all major stakeholders, including community citizens, environmentalists and government agencies, and it also serves as guidelines to transform brownfields into Greenfields; and finally, it contributes to achieve the 2030 UN global goals.

The aim of this paper is to briefly present aspects of public brownfield management policies from Brazilian and German points of view.

The data collection method combined literature and documental research. The bibliography included Brazilian and German literature about brownfield management. The documental research includes Brazilian and German legislation and official documents published by CETESB, the Environmental Company of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Furthermore, publications of German governmental research institutions have been integrated in the paper.

In Brazil, despite the lack of a federal public policy, the State of São Paulo has approved specific rules to deal with contaminated sites. Topics that could be targets of scientific studies have been identified. Experiences in Germany show that it is essential to have political will and cooperation between the different political levels and technical disciplines. Partnerships between German and Brazilian universities would be welcome as there is a wide range of opportunities for academic post‐graduation studies and research focusing on human resources capacitation in environmental management.

The paper makes an original contribution of exploring an area (brownfield management) that is at the forefront of discussion in academe and industry.

To present a support system which will be useful to mediators of brownfield redevelopment negotiations between government and industry representatives.

The support system optimizes a weighted utility function of the parties involved in the negotiation. It provides not only the optimal solution but also some sensitivity reports which the mediator can use to lead the negotiations in the most effective direction.

The spreadsheet technology is sufficient to solve the optimization problem and produce sensitivity reports in real time. Consequently, a mediator equipped with a laptop computer can lead the negotiations efficiently.

It is possible to achieve Pareto optimal contingent contracts among the stakeholders of brownfield redevelopment projects.

Many negotiations that were stalled in the past could be completed successfully using the support system presented here. New negotiations might be completed more efficiently than without the system.

This is the first paper to offer detailed guidance to mediators of brownfield redevelopment projects.

Brownfields are commonly pictured as the hottest real estate property in the USA. Will the European market follow suit? Brownfields are properties long considered lost to re‐utilization due to their polluted condition. Federal and state governments in the USA provide incentives to foster redevelopment. But the risks involved still keep potentially interested parties clamoring for more legal protection. It may validly be asked whether recovery schemes may pose subsequent health or other problems. Communities involved may react quite differently; the attitude may be one of apathy, distrust or opposition, or, in sophisticated milieus, of realism. Much will depend on “education” and communication.

This paper presents an in‐depth analysis of processes of “team” working within a shopfloor manufacturing setting. Drawing on ethnographic case studies, the paper examines how human resource management (HRM) practices shaped and influenced the outcomes of “team” work, and addresses the influence of context in examining how and why team‐based systems took on their own particular characteristics and processes with both intended and unintended consequences on the shopfloors studied. The paper argues that an interplay of contextual factors (important factors include company history and worker orientation), HRM strategies and features of the socio‐technical system (including technology, work organisation and control, and social dimensions of the managerial control system in the teams) influenced team processes and outcomes. This analysis builds on Mueller’s work on contextual factors by recognising the influence of traditional modes of managerial control, management style and company culture.

Explores employee experiences of HRM within a division of a non‐unionised Korean owned MNC, which comprised a mix of greenfield site and brownfield site factories. Explores employee perceptions of the effectiveness of communication and consultation within the company. Incorporates a consideration of the role that gossip, rumour and the grapevine play when formal systems for communication and consultation are not trusted. Examines the conditions that led to a disjunction between the existence of “sophisticated HRM” systems for communication and consultation and positive outcomes in the workplace. Concludes that management action and behaviour were more important in determining HR outcomes than “typical” greenfield site variables such as a brand new factory or a “new” employment philosophy.

The purpose of this study is to construct a gray relational model based on information diffusion to avoid rank reversal when the available decision information is insufficient, or the decision objects vary.

Considering that the sample dependence of the ideal sequence selection in gray relational decision-making is based on case sampling, which causes the phenomenon of rank reversal, this study designs an ideal point diffusion method based on the development trend and distribution skewness of the sample information. In this method, a gray relational model for sample classification is constructed using a virtual-ideal sequence. Subsequently, an optimization model is established to obtain the criteria weights and classification radius values that minimize the deviation between the comprehensive relational degree of the classification object and the critical value.

The rank-reversal problem in gray relational models could drive decision-makers away from using this method. The results of this study demonstrate that the proposed gray relational model based on information diffusion and virtual-ideal sequencing can effectively avoid rank reversal. The method is applied to classify 31 brownfield redevelopment projects based on available interval gray information. The case analysis verifies the rationality and feasibility of the model.

This study proposes a robust method for ideal point choice when the decision information is limited or dynamic. This method can reduce the influence of ideal sequence changes in gray relational models on decision-making results considerably better than other approaches.