Redeveloping greyfields : definitions, opportunities and barriers

The study of greyfields for this thesis was motivated by the increasing problems of traffic and air pollution associated with sprawling development patterns. Typically located in inner ring suburban areas, greyfields, or failed retail malls, represent sites that can be redeveloped profitably into mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods. Yet, few successful examples of greyfield redevelopment exist, especially when compared to the relative proliferation of brownfield redevelopment. Brownfields, or contaminated urban sites, are very costly to remediate and it is surprising that this type of redevelopment outpaces greyfield redevelopment on such a significant scale. This thesis addresses the disparity between the two redevelopment types and describes differences between brownfields and greyfields through application of an economic model for redevelopment. The variables of the model are then applied to each redevelopment type and considered in the context of several greyfield case studies located on the east coast.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Merritt, Amy W

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Henry Pollakowski and Lynn Fisher.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/37428
• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Identifier URI

http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/37428

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37428