Examining urban brownfields through the public health "macroscope"

Environmental Health Perspectives
Jill S LittThomas A Burke

Abstract

Efforts to cope with the legacy of our industrial cities--blight, poverty, environmental degradation, ailing communities--have galvanized action across the public and private sectors to move vacant industrial land, also referred to as brownfields, to productive use; to curb sprawling development outside urban areas; and to reinvigorate urban communities. Such efforts, however, may be proceeding without thorough investigations into the environmental health and safety risks associated with industrial brownfields properties and the needs of affected neighborhoods. We describe an approach to characterize vacant and underused industrial and commercial properties in Southeast Baltimore and the health and well being of communities living near these properties. The screening algorithm developed to score and rank properties in Southeast Baltimore (n= 182) showed that these sites are not benign. The historical data revealed a range of hazardous operations, including metal smelting, oil refining, warehousing, and transportation, as well as paints, plastics, and metals manufacturing. The data also identified hazardous substances linked to these properties, including heavy metals, solvents, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, plasticizers, an...Continue Reading

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Citations

Dec 7, 2002·Journal of Urban Health : Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine·Jill S Litt, Thomas A Burke
Mar 2, 2005·Journal of Advanced Nursing·Andrew WattersonColette McIntosh
Aug 15, 2014·American Journal of Public Health·Kenneth OldenBabasaheb Sonawane
May 8, 2009·Central European Journal of Public Health·Branislav PetrovićDragan Bogdanović
May 14, 2020·Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology·Evans K LodgeAllison E Aiello

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