Brownfield Redevelopment in the U.K. by Lili Eylon In America, Brownfield is defined as an abandoned, idle, or underused industrial or commercial site where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by known or suspected contamination problems. In England, Brownfield is simply an area which had previously been developed but has since fallen derelict; it may or may not have existing buildings on it and may or may not be contaminated. The concept of "Brownfield redevelopment" is today very much in the forefront of the minds of town planners the world over. Populations are growing, space is shrinking and the right technology is at hand In the next 15 years more than 4 million homes will be needed in the United Kingdom. Redevelopment of Brownfield areas, it is believed, could provide the needed space. Since there is a lack of integrated and comprehensive information on the location and condition of Brownfield sites in the country, a project was initiated by the Jackson Environment Institute in conjunction with the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) of University College, London, aimed to provide the necessary tools to remedy the situation. The project was managed by Dr. Kate Heppell (also in Brownfield) of JEI (Jackson Env Institute). Designing the database, collecting the data, putting the system together, programming and presenting it was the task of researcher Rebekah Boott, holder of a postgraduate degree in GIS. She was assisted by researchers Steve Evans and Muki Haklay In the main study, the 3.1 version of ArcView GIS ,Department of Environment, Transport and Regions, (DETR) , Government Office for London (GOL), Greater London Authority (GLA - the roof organization of town councils) the GLA responsibilities are described ,London Planning and Advisory Committee (LPAC), English Partnerships, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's), and the London Boroughs. While goals were defined through interviews with local and central government officials, views and ideas were sought from the public and were expressed during a workshop seminar series held at UCL. (See sidebar article entitled "People's GIS" following this article.) The project set out to do the following: Identify gaps in the current site data Establish a hierarchy of suitability for redevelopment by finding which sites were closest to amenities such as shopping areas, public transport and green spaces Offer relevant information on each Brownfield site as well as information on other data layers Integrate complex information relating to Brownfield sites into a simple, user-friendly format Create the system as an iterative process through feedback from the public The idea was to demonstrate the capabilities of GIS by way of the system developed for the project. It was meant for a wide range of users, such as planners and decision-makers, as a tool to set priorities for redevelopment projects, target economic development incentives and programs and develop strategies for Brownfield site redevelopment in the Wandle Valley. Data to compile the system database came from both digital and analogue formats. While Ordnance Survey supported the project by providing 100 thousand pounds' worth of data (as part of an agreement between the Jackson Environment Institute and the OS), data problems occurred because of the OS copyright laws which precluded free availability of the system over the Internet. There were four groupings of data: natural environment, transport , population socio-economic and Brownfield. The natural environment data were chosen to show how environmental and culturally sensitive areas could influence the Brownfield redevelopment process. Data from the London Ecology Unit (LEU) - previously never seen in a digital format - was included. Also included were flood plains to show those Brownfield sites with a potential risk of flooding so they can be quickly identified by layering GIS information. While the data for the main green areas and parks were received from the Environment Agency (EA) in digital format, ArcView Shape file, (obtainable from the EA on request), nature conservation areas came digitized from London Ecology Unit 1:50,000 maps. (This information can be accessed only with the permission of the LEU.) In the infrastructure/transport data sets sections of aerial photographs which show the surrounding area in more detail have been integrated over the main identified Brownfield sites areas, so as to put the sites into larger context. Transport data came from Meridian and Landline, both Ordnance Survey data sets. Landline provides information showing man-made and natural features ranging from houses, factories, roads and rivers, to marshland and administrative boundaries. (There are some 229,999 Landline tiles covering Great Britain, surveyed and digitized at three different scales: 1:1250 for urban areas, 1:2500 in rural areas and 1:10,000 for such areas as mountains and moorland.) Meridian a regionally focused digital dataset, presents geographical features as vector data that have been selected and customized from a variety of Ordnance Survey databases. The population socio-economic data indicates which areas could already be overpopulated, while the economic data was included so that network analysis could be carried out to see which Brownfield sites were within each shopping center service area. The data was obtained from MIMAS (Manchester Information and Associated Services), an academic information system that provides access to census data in the UK for the academic community. Aerial photography data taken from Cities Revealed was integrated into the system to cover some of the main Brownfield sites. This is a digital orthophoto product, obtained through academic licensing, that provides high resolution (25c) maps and was used to show each Brownfield site and its surroundings in a greater local context. Once the theme is viewed at a greater scale than 1:10,000, the on-screen display automatically changes to aerial photography data with the Brownfield sites overlain. Also used was the OS Code-Point data set, likewise obtained through academic license. Code point provides a precise geographical location for each "postcode unit" in Great Britain. There are approximately 1.6 million postcode units in England, Scotland and Wales, with each postcode unit containing an average 15 adjoining addresses. The system was connected to Microsoft Internet Explorer. Web pages were designed using Macromedia Dreamweaver version 2.0 software to provide information on Brownfield sites, ex-Brownfield sites, rivers, and areas of nature conservation. The web pages were designed using hotlinks established from many polygon data themes as a direct link to Internet Explorer so that further information such as Environment Agency pages, planning register, local group pages, etc. could be easily and quickly accessed on the Internet. The Environment Agency page links deal with natural environment data. As the local council provides public access to the planning register, applications that relate to specified Brownfield sites were identified, and each page contained information that would help the user to identify the application in the local council's web site. Some Brownfield sites also had web pages set up by local independent groups. All Brownfield, as well as ex-Brownfield sites in the Wandle Valley came digitized from paper maps (on a scale from 1:250,000 to 1:10,000) from the local authorities. The maps were digitized in ArcInfo version 7.1.1. Also used was Autodesk AutoCAD 14 for correcting a number of DXF files. Some of the material came as point data received as an Microsoft Access database file and converted to point data. (This actually provided easting and northing coordinates of Brownfield site locations. This is part of a national project to create a national land use database (www.nlud.gov.uk.) The Wandle Valley Regeneration Partnership (WVRP) Brownfield site, with its data of nine sites (including a school, hospital, etc.) was used as a direct result of the iterative development process. Through network analysis Brownfield sites that met certain criteria were identified (e.g. distance from service areas and underground stations). This can be used to identify Brownfield areas which meet criteria as, for instance, less than 1 km from a shopping center and within 1 km of an underground station. For visualization purposes, a number of overlay analyses were carried out, combined with buffering. These include Brownfield sites that are within the boundaries of the calculated flood risk area or those that are within a certain distance from green areas. A search tool added to the icon bar of ArcView enables quick and easy access to a certain location dependent on the first three digits of the postcode. Hotlinks were used throughout the system: in addition to the previously-mentioned site-specific information and photographs of certain sites. Other hypertext links from these pages such as the Local Authority pages, planning register and independent community groups were established. Brownfield GIS has many advantages over more traditional forms of data capture: This system allows the easy integration of different data sets so comparisons can quickly be made, for example, between Brownfield sites and floodplains. Additional information such as ownership, size of the site and environmental and transport data can quickly and easily be accessed for each Brownfield site in a web environment. A hierarchy of development suitability can be established by comparing Brownfield proximity to public amenities such as town centers and public transport. The development of the system helped involve the public in planning issues The finished product was well received by both the local authorities and the public. It is hoped that this project demonstrated what GIS can achieve for the Brownfield debate, and furthermore, how important it is for the development process to be iterative. Integrating diverse datasets under a common spatial theme gives urban and environmental planners the ability to investigate alternative planning scenarios and convey these scenarios to the public. Lili Eylon is Czech by birth, has lived and been educated in the U.S. She now lives in Jerusalem where she is a freelance journalist. Her work has been published in the International Herald Tribune, a German daily, as well as technology publications worldwide. All Figures reproduced from the Ordnance Survey mapping with the permission of the controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office © Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. University College London ED 281336 1999 People's GIS