Gentrifying Force or a Force for Environmental Justice? A National Assessment of Brownfield Redevelopment and Gentrification in the United States from 2006 to 2015

Cities in the United States (U.S.) are increasingly developing sustainability initiatives to improve local economies while addressing environmental concerns. Since 1990, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Brownfield Revitalization Program has encouraged the remediation of postindustrial sites to create new areas for real estate development. However, previous research demonstrates that industrial areas are more likely to be in predominantly poor and racial/ethnic minority communities. A central argument favoring redevelopment is that remediation helps mitigate environmental inequality and achieve environmental justice for aggrieved communities. Still, very little research examines if and how these communities benefit from these changes. This article examines this question by reviewing the related literature and applying insights to a quasi-experimental analysis of brownfield redevelopment’s impact on racial/ethnic composition and income levels of neighborhoods. Publicly available data were acquired from the EPA Cleanups in My Community data portal and the 5-Year American Community Survey—released annually from 2006 to 2015—to examine demographic changes in neighborhoods where brownfield redevelopment occurred. The study implements a difference-in-differences model using two-way fixed effects regression models on a panel data set of 4,740 census tracts in 48 contiguous U.S. states (or Lower 48 states). This study’s findings suggest that wealthier White and Latino populations are more likely to benefit from brownfield redevelopment than Black populations in affected neighborhoods.