San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood and the Mission District are facing new forms of redevelopment. The deindustrialization of SoMa has posed an opportunity for a 'new model' of gentrification to create a mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood from an area previously occupied by abandoned warehouses and vacant lots. In the Mission, awareness of the threats of gentrification and increased community participation are fighting to preserve the neighborhood and eliminate displacement. The innovative approaches to urban revitalization in these two neighborhoods demonstrate how redevelopment may occur without gentrification.

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Brownfields redevelopment has been encouraged by governments or the real estate market because of economic, social and environmental benefits. However, uncertainties in contaminated land redevelopment may cause massive investment risk and need to be managed so that contaminated land redevelopment is facilitated. This study was designed to address hydrogeological as well as economic uncertainty in a hypothetical contaminated land redevelopment project and manage the risk from these uncertainties through the integration of the hydrogeological and economic uncertainties. Hydrogeological uncertainty is derived from incomplete site information, including aquifer heterogeneity, and must be assessed with scientific expertise, given the short history of redevelopment projects and their unique hydrogeological characteristics. Hydrogeological uncertainty has not yet been incorporated in one framework with the economic uncertainty that has been relatively well observed in financial markets. Two cases of Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (NAPL) contamination were simulated using a physically-based hydrogeological model to address hydrogeological uncertainty: one concerns the effect of an ethanol spill on a light NAPL (LNAPL) contaminated area in the vadose zone, and the other is regarding the vapour phase intrusion of volatile organic compounds, in particular, Trichloroethylene (TCE), a dense NAPL (DNAPL), into indoor air through a variably saturated heterogeneous aquifer. The first simulation replicated experimental observations in the laboratory, such as the capillary fringe depressing and the NAPL pool remobilizing and collecting in a reduced area exhibiting higher saturations than observed prior to an ethanol injection. However, the data gap, in particular, on the chemical properties between the model and the experiment caused the uncertainty in the model simulation. The second NAPL simulation has been performed based on a hypothetical scenario where new dwellings in a redeveloped area have the potential risk of vapour phase intrusion from a subsurface source into indoor air because remediation or foundation design might fail. The simulation results indicated that the aquifer heterogeneity seemed the most significant factor controlling the indoor air exposure risk from a TCE source in the saturated zone. Then, the exposure risk was quantified using Monte Carlo simulations with 50 statistically equivalent heterogeneous aquifer permeability fields. The quantified risk (probability) represents the hydrogeological uncertainty in the scenario and gives the information on loss occurrence intensity of redevelopment failure. Probability of failure (or loss occurrence intensity) was integrated with cost of failure (or loss magnitude) to evaluate the risk capital in the hypothetical brownfields redevelopment project. The term “risk capital” is adopted from financial literature and is the capital you can lose from high risk investment. Cost of failure involves economic uncertainty and can be defined based on a developer’s financial agreement with new dwellers to prevent litigation in the case of certain events, such as an environmental event where indoor air concentrations of pollutants exceed regulatory limits during periodic inspections. The developer makes such a financial agreement with new dwellers because new dwellings have been constructed founded on flawed site information, and municipalities may require it if a land use planning approval is required. An agreement was presumed that the developer would repurchase the affected houses from new dwellers immediately, if indoor air contamination exceeded the regulatory limit. Furthermore, the developer would remediate any remaining contamination, demolish the affected houses and build new houses if they were worth investing in. With this financial plan assumed, the stochastic housing price, stochastic inflation rate and stochastic interest rate have been considered to cause the uncertainty in the cost of failure, and the information on these stochastic variables was obtained from the financial market due to its long history of observations. This research reviewed appropriate risk capital valuation methods for hydrogeologists to apply straightforwardly to their projects, with integrating probability of failure (hydrogeological uncertainty) and cost of failure (economic uncertainty). The risk capital is essentially the probability of failure times the cost of failure with safety loading added to compensate investors against hydrogeological and financial uncertainty. Fair market prices of risk capital have been valuated using financial mathematics and actuarial premium calculations, and each method has a specific safety loading term to reflect investors’ level of risk aversion. Risk capital results indicated that the price of the risk capital was much more sensitive to hydrogeological uncertainty than financial uncertainty. Developers can manage the risk capital by saving a contingency fee for future events or paying an insurance premium, given that the price of this risk capital is the price of a contingent claim, subsequent to failure in remediation or in foundation design, and equivalent to an environmental insurance premium if there is an insurance company to indemnify the liability for the developer. The optimal framework of investment strategy in brownfields redevelopment can be built by linkage of addressing and integrating uncertainties and valuating risk capital from the uncertainties. This framework involves balancing the costs associated with each step while maximizing a net profit from land redevelopment. The optimal investment strategy, such as if or when to remediate or redevelop and to what degree, is given when the future price of the land minus time and material costs as well as the contingency fee or insurance premium maximizes a net profit.

Brownfields redevelopment has been encouraged by governments or the real estate market because of economic, social and environmental benefits. However, uncertainties in contaminated land redevelopment may cause massive investment risk and need to be managed so that contaminated land redevelopment is facilitated. This study was designed to address hydrogeological as well as economic uncertainty in a hypothetical contaminated land redevelopment project and manage the risk from these uncertainties through the integration of the hydrogeological and economic uncertainties. Hydrogeological uncertainty is derived from incomplete site information, including aquifer heterogeneity, and must be assessed with scientific expertise, given the short history of redevelopment projects and their unique hydrogeological characteristics. Hydrogeological uncertainty has not yet been incorporated in one framework with the economic uncertainty that has been relatively well observed in financial markets. Two cases of Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (NAPL) contamination were simulated using a physically-based hydrogeological model to address hydrogeological uncertainty: one concerns the effect of an ethanol spill on a light NAPL (LNAPL) contaminated area in the vadose zone, and the other is regarding the vapour phase intrusion of volatile organic compounds, in particular, Trichloroethylene (TCE), a dense NAPL (DNAPL), into indoor air through a variably saturated heterogeneous aquifer. The first simulation replicated experimental observations in the laboratory, such as the capillary fringe depressing and the NAPL pool remobilizing and collecting in a reduced area exhibiting higher saturations than observed prior to an ethanol injection. However, the data gap, in particular, on the chemical properties between the model and the experiment caused the uncertainty in the model simulation. The second NAPL simulation has been performed based on a hypothetical scenario where new dwellings in a redeveloped area have the potential risk of vapour phase intrusion from a subsurface source into indoor air because remediation or foundation design might fail. The simulation results indicated that the aquifer heterogeneity seemed the most significant factor controlling the indoor air exposure risk from a TCE source in the saturated zone. Then, the exposure risk was quantified using Monte Carlo simulations with 50 statistically equivalent heterogeneous aquifer permeability fields. The quantified risk (probability) represents the hydrogeological uncertainty in the scenario and gives the information on loss occurrence intensity of redevelopment failure. Probability of failure (or loss occurrence intensity) was integrated with cost of failure (or loss magnitude) to evaluate the risk capital in the hypothetical brownfields redevelopment project. The term “risk capital” is adopted from financial literature and is the capital you can lose from high risk investment. Cost of failure involves economic uncertainty and can be defined based on a developer’s financial agreement with new dwellers to prevent litigation in the case of certain events, such as an environmental event where indoor air concentrations of pollutants exceed regulatory limits during periodic inspections. The developer makes such a financial agreement with new dwellers because new dwellings have been constructed founded on flawed site information, and municipalities may require it if a land use planning approval is required. An agreement was presumed that the developer would repurchase the affected houses from new dwellers immediately, if indoor air contamination exceeded the regulatory limit. Furthermore, the developer would remediate any remaining contamination, demolish the affected houses and build new houses if they were worth investing in. With this financial plan assumed, the stochastic housing price, stochastic inflation rate and stochastic interest rate have been considered to cause the uncertainty in the cost of failure, and the information on these stochastic variables was obtained from the financial market due to its long history of observations. This research reviewed appropriate risk capital valuation methods for hydrogeologists to apply straightforwardly to their projects, with integrating probability of failure (hydrogeological uncertainty) and cost of failure (economic uncertainty). The risk capital is essentially the probability of failure times the cost of failure with safety loading added to compensate investors against hydrogeological and financial uncertainty. Fair market prices of risk capital have been valuated using financial mathematics and actuarial premium calculations, and each method has a specific safety loading term to reflect investors’ level of risk aversion. Risk capital results indicated that the price of the risk capital was much more sensitive to hydrogeological uncertainty than financial uncertainty. Developers can manage the risk capital by saving a contingency fee for future events or paying an insurance premium, given that the price of this risk capital is the price of a contingent claim, subsequent to failure in remediation or in foundation design, and equivalent to an environmental insurance premium if there is an insurance company to indemnify the liability for the developer. The optimal framework of investment strategy in brownfields redevelopment can be built by linkage of addressing and integrating uncertainties and valuating risk capital from the uncertainties. This framework involves balancing the costs associated with each step while maximizing a net profit from land redevelopment. The optimal investment strategy, such as if or when to remediate or redevelop and to what degree, is given when the future price of the land minus time and material costs as well as the contingency fee or insurance premium maximizes a net profit.

Inner city blighted industrial sites are primarily associated with the general phenomenon of deindustrialization within the post-industrial inner city that is caused by spatial and functional restructuring of the industrial activity. Blighted industrial sites are vacant, obsolete, or underutilized industrial buildings, facilities and other related industrial functions and areas. Such blighted areas may have physical, functional, social, economic, and environmental impact problems both within the site, as well as on surrounding properties. Brownfield sites represent a severe form of blighted sites which include real or perceived environmental contamination. Brownfield redevelopment requires environmental clean-up to acceptable regulatory standards which may result in a costly process. The general research goal is to achieve an understanding of this complex problem context as well as to establish the pertinent planning framework for redevelopment of blighted industrial sites within the Canadian inner city. The research process includes three parts. Part One includes an extensive preliminary literature review of brownfield redevelopment case studies in Canada, United States, and the United Kingdom. It also includes an outline of general planning theory and related interdisciplinary theories. The preliminary findings of literature review reveal a multiple component interactive problem context that indicates a need for an integrative planning framework addressing multiple problem components. The preliminary research findings for the planning framework are further studied and examined in four empirical case studies included in Part Two. The specific research objectives and research questions address three constituent parts of the planning framework including the nature of the problem context, potential policy directions, and the planning process. The central research question is “what is the appropriate planning framework and approach for brownfield redevelopment given a multiple component interactive problem context? Part Three synthesizes the findings of Parts One and Two, which highlights the proposed planning framework for brownfield redevelopment, including an outline of major problems and policy directions based on impact evaluation by key participants in the empirical case studies, as well as outlining the main characteristics of the planning process. Some of the main problems and issues include site contamination and related legal liabilities, cost of site remediation that may exceed property value, stakeholders’ conflicting objectives, social stigma associated with brownfields, clarity and consistency of the environmental approval process as, community support. The proposed policy directions also represent multiple components and they are mainly as follows: • To prepare an inventory of brownfield sites, • To establish public-private partnership for project financing especially for site remediation, • To develop self-financing mechanism (like TIF/TIEF) to finance cost of site remediation, • To establish a redevelopment authority that is directly responsible for the process, • To foster public-private-community collaboration and partnership, • To secure accessibility of local residents to newly provided opportunities (like jobs), • To adopt multiple-component integrative planning framework to link major problem components and planning sub-processes The research findings also highlight the planning process being manifested at two main poles including the project developer and his consulting team, the public approval authority, in addition to community residents and interest groups that are involved in the public consultation process. The development approval process is the common organizational set-up and interface for stakeholders’ involvement in the process. The main characteristics of the proposed planning process include multiple-component multi-disciplinary context consisting of interactive planning sub-processes within each component, multi-level spatial contexts, involvement of multi-stakeholders with conflicting objectives and vision, incrementally adaptive, critical time and timing context, and mixed-rationality comprehensive planning vision. This research asserts the need for addressing the multiple components of environmental, physical, economic, social, and political planning without prior bias or predominance to any of these components. This also asserts the need for multi-stakeholder public-private-community collaboration and partnership.

Spurred by changing retail and development patterns, as well as continuous suburban growth, greyfield sites can be found at the heart of most postwar suburbs in North American municipalities. Ranging in definition, greyfields are best described as an “underused, economically obsolete, retail tract located in an inner ring suburb that requires significant public and private involvement to curtail decline” (Feronti, 2003, p.11). However, tied to demographic trends and increased municipal urbanization, these vacated retail sites are positioned well for redevelopment. Yet, the redevelopment process of these sites is fraught with impeding and facilitating factors that can have significant implications for redevelopment options and viability. As such, research questions considered were: Do municipalities address greyfield challenges and opportunities? What factors impede and facilitate greyfield redevelopment? This thesis also asks these questions within the context of the City of Edmonton’s current policy and existing built form, and asked: How should greyfields be planned in the City of Edmonton? This thesis attempts to answer these questions through a review and analysis of existing literature, case studies (Belmar in Lakewood, Colorado and Century Park in Edmonton, Alberta) and through primary research conducted with key stakeholders. The research found that municipalities were largely unacquainted with the challenges and opportunities of greyfield redevelopment. Where support guidelines did exist, they were largely aspirational and lacked consideration for the unique impeding and facilitating factors of greyfield redevelopment. It was found that impeding factors to greyfield redevelopment ranged from administrative hurdles fraught with inexperience in greyfield redevelopment, to financial and land economic constraints. Facilitating factors were found in collaborative stakeholder consultation, municipal and administrative leadership, and a range of supportive fiscal mechanisms. Lastly, ten recommendations to facilitate greyfield redevelop within the City of Edmonton were discussed.

This thesis examines the barriers that impede intensification (infill and redevelopment) within Regina’s Warehouse District (The District). In addition this study provides recommendations to overcome said barriers in order to facilitate residential development. This research expands upon two previous studies from 2002 and 2009, which were initiated by community stakeholders and that identified the need for additional residential development within The District. To date, success of the two previous plans in attracting new infill and redevelopment has been limited. This research looks to understand why this is, through the use of semi- structured interviews with key informants. Additional data from secondary documents and visual observations was collected to substantiate this approach. This research found that intensification in The District has been limited due to; unbalanced growth, existing municipal policies and zoning, a negative perception, proximity to noxious uses, an absence of amenities and services, unfavourable land development economics, and a soft demand amongst prospective residents. The second part of this research identified possibilities or factors to facilitate intensification within The District. Similarly these findings are grounded in the discussion with key informants. This data is corroborated by existing planning literature, as well as best practices from a number of North American jurisdictions. This study found that intensification could be facilitated in The District by; balancing growth, revising municipal policy and zoning, increasing public investment, improving the perception, having the city engaged in development, and with increased financial incentives. This research has explored intensification in two unique contexts, a mid-sized Canadian city and a historically industrial neighbourhood. It has contributed to the academic literature by establishing a better understanding of the barriers to intensification within both contexts. More specifically, it has explored intensification within Regina’s Warehouse District, a city that has been largely bypassed by academic planning literature.

The physical redevelopment of Canadian downtown cores has been seen as a primary issue in economically and socially revitalizing urban areas. In the case of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the Citys South Downtown area is in need of such rejuvenation. In 2004 redevelopment plans for the area are underway; Saskatoon has set out a proposal to redevelop both its riverfront area and adjacent South Downtown. In order to accomplish the goal of a revitalized South Downtown, the authors of a successful redevelopment proposal must first identify a suitable user population for the area, namely the population of Saskatoon in its entirety, including the Citys disadvantaged central neighbourhood residents. The purpose of this thesis is to define the socio-economic traits of this potential user population for Saskatoons South Downtown in order to recommend facilities and services that should be included in the redevelopment effort. Census data for the fifty-one census tracts that comprise the census metropolitan area of Saskatoon are used to define the social and economic characteristics of this user population. After reviewing the populations socio-economic situations, as well as the social and business organizations that are currently located in the area, recommendations regarding appropriate, requisite facilities and services can be ascertained. These recommendations could then be implemented in the undertakings currently transpiring in Saskatoons South Downtown. Along with defining the socio-economic character of the user population, this study also examines past redevelopment proposals for Saskatoons South Downtown area in an attempt to understand the historical context of the area. The three main past plans for the South Downtown area include: The Meewasin Valley Project (also known as Moriyamas 100 Year Plan), the Mayors Task Force Report, and Princeton Developments South Downtown Master Plan. All of these failed attempts share many common design traits, culminating in the general goal to develop the area into a commercial, residential and recreational area that would cater to the upper-class residents of the city as well as higher-income tourists and visitors to the area. While it must not be assumed that plans which exclude lower-income populations are inherently wrong and destined to be unsuccessful, by targeting such an exclusive population as the primary users of a South Downtown redevelopment, the authors of the previous plans had inadvertently sought to develop an elite district of Saskatoon, financially inaccessible to a vast majority of the citys population. Defining the socio-economic traits of a user population that is comprised of all Saskatonians, and implementing facilities and services that cater to them, would result in an area that is not discriminating; all peoples regardless of life situation or neighbourhood of residence would be able to enjoy an interesting and revitalized South Downtown area of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Brownfield developments offer cities and developers an opportunity to engage with the public in ways unavailable to greenfield developments as brownfield redevelopments are generally found in established neighborhoods where the site’s history has been deeply intertwined with the history of the neighborhood. However, the levels of public participation vary widely from state to state, city to city, and even project to project; resulting in an array of positive and negative outcomes for all the stakeholders. It is under these varying participatory requirements and engagement strategies this research is grounded. First, the research addresses how varying levels of public participation affect stakeholders’ definitions of success or failure and how it was measured. Secondly, stakeholder’s perceptions of each other are analyzed to determine whether projects that had higher levels of participation also had higher instances of cooperation and collaboration. Thirdly, the research examines how stakeholders perceive the outputs and outcomes of a project and whether varying levels of participation affect stakeholders’ satisfaction with the project. Specific sites for this research were the Summerset at Frick Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Watershed at Hillsdale, Portland, Oregon, the Alta Design District, Dallas, Texas, and Montgomery Plaza, Fort Worth, Texas. / text

In recent years, a renewed interest has blossomed in rail travel and rail investment. However, federal funding constraints for new transit projects threaten the feasibility of urban rail network construction and expansion. In response, the public sector has begun to consider alternative financial mechanisms including value capture. As new construction expands transit’s reach into the suburbs, another phenomenon is facing these communities – the death of the suburban shopping mall. This report examines these two issues: constraints in transit funding and the proliferation of greyfield shopping malls. Addressing both issues, the argument is made that greyfield shopping malls serve as excellent locations to implement transit value capture strategies by converting the malls into suburban transit-oriented developments (TODs). / text