Points of Attention in Designing Tools for Regional Brownfield Prioritization
Abstract: This contribution discusses how to develop and run tools to
support the prioritization of brownfield investments or actions on a
regional scale - an important level of land-use management, where,
however, we find hardly available tool support to decision makers to
steer selection of most profitable sites. This paper focuses on
discussing critical Points of Attention (PoA) for the design of such
regional prioritization approaches. We have identified significant PoA
that challenge the design of tools based on 1) a review of the state of
the art in literature, 2) the stakeholders needs, 3) available tools, and
4) lessons learned from the development of regional brownfield (BF)
prioritization processes, frameworks and tools. Our analysis yields a
deeper understanding of critical PoA, namely 1) Assessing end user needs
and orientation discussions, 2) Availability and quality of the data
needed to for the BF prioritization tool, 3) Communication and
stakeholder engagement 4) Drivers of regeneration success, and 5)
Financing and application costs. We elaborate on each of these in detail
and discuss how the PoA are linked to one another. We have been able to
identify general patterns and challenges that can be considered in future
tool design.
It is most important to start the process of tool development with a
proper framing in order to guarantee clarity of for who, for what the
tool is to be applied. The framing will condition the attractiveness of
the tool for end-users and stakeholders and its corresponding fundings,
its design, functionalities with respect to the best success regeneration
drivers. Such tools will benefit from lending themselves to greater
political willingness to support such projects by promoting incentives
(legal and financial). Furthermore, careful consideration is needed for
mutualisation in particular data sharing, stakeholder trust and
engagement, and co-ownership facilitated through private/public
partnership and co-funding.