As the mantra of sustainability becomes increasingly prevalent in popular culture, it may be presumed by many that successful brownfield redevelopment means the transformation of once noisy, bustling industrial properties from rusty shells of their former selves into places of less torrid activity. Over the past 10 years, the goal of sustainable development has also permeated the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Program. We have moved beyond the simple objective of helping communities reuse polluted land to the point where sustainable future use is an important component in any brownfield grant application.

It is not necessarily true, however, that sustainable reuse equates to non-industrial reuse. In fact, in recent years, many contaminated industrial sites have been restored to vibrant industrial reuse. Since 2006, roughly 60 percent of EPA-funded brownfield projects have been former industrial sites. Of those, almost one third have been returned to industrial reuse.

And all across the country, we find examples of obsolete industrial sites, formerly of vital importance to their communities, restored to centers of lively activity and productive employment. These kinds of projects demonstrate the place for industrial redevelopment within the framework of sustainability and environmental stewardship.

In Chicago, Ford Supplier Park, a joint venture between Centerpoint Properties Trust and Ford Land, was built on a former steel plant slag dump that had been abandoned for 40 years.

Cambria Iron Works in Johnstown, Pa.

In 2004, Ford Motors began constructing a 1.5 million square-foot manufacturing complex in the interest of locating its suppliers closer to its own assembly plant. By moving 12 of its major suppliers into the six-building campus positioned a mile-and-a-half away from its Chicago Assembly Plant, Ford unlocked bottom line savings of approximately $12.5 to $15 million per year in transportation costs.

But there are environmental savings too. Shorter supplier truck trips reduce diesel fuel consumption by an estimated two million gallons per year and CO2 emissions by nearly 24 tons per year. What’s more, the facility is also built with environmentally focused, low-impact design features, including an independent stormwater sewer system. All runoff from rooftops and parking lots is channeled into vegetated swales bordering roadsides and parking lots. The swales act as natural filters, then empty into vegetated detention basins, where water is treated before being released to a wetlands area and ultimately into Indian Creek and the Calumet River. The slower filtration process started by the swales results in fewer contaminants making their way to surface water and less severe erosion from storms.

Roughly 100 miles away in rural Sterling, Illinois, the Northwestern Steel and Wire (NWSW) steel mill closed its doors in 2001, leaving the community in dire economic straits. A coordinated effort between federal, state and local governments, as well as private entities, brought about the quick sale and redevelopment of the old mill. Leggett & Platt, one of the former NWSW’s largest customers, purchased the core 145-acre property in order to produce steel parts for its own use. Today, 92 percent of the entire 720-acre site has been assessed and redeveloped, and 11 additional businesses operate on the grounds.

In Sterling, industrial reuse has played a large role in a redevelopment effort which has also led to commercial reuse in the form of a retail outlet and a grain terminal. While the community retains an important piece of its industrial heritage in the renovated original steel mill, the resulting economy is also stronger in its diversity, leaving the city better prepared to respond to future challenges.

Downtown Johnstown, Pennsyl-vania, is home to the Cambria Iron Works Complex, a 12-acre site almost 160 years old. While Bethlehem Steel production thrived in the complex for many years, operation ceased in 1992, leaving Johnstown a distressed community. Years of negotiations and funding from over 20 different sources has allowed for redevelopment of the complex, which now houses new industry, including wood refinishing, steel plate processing, powder coating of metals, and assembly of wind energy towers.

The Seaview Industrial Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut, will house a new eight-building industrial park that will provide 100 industrial jobs to the community, where recently there was only blight. There will also be improved roads and sewer and water systems.

The new complex is being built on the site of a former plastics manufacturer and another abandoned industrial property. One hundred and twenty tons of hazardous materials, including lead, petroleum and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons had to be removed before redevelopment could begin. But the new park will bring lower-impact, light industry back to a traditionally industrial community that has lost over 50 percent of its manufacturing jobs to overseas competition since the early ’90s.

Of course, the reuse of brownfield properties should cause less environmental impact than the original industrial use that contaminated it. Increasingly, communities are demanding that redevelopment incorporate principles of sustainable growth. But that does not always mean the conversion of industrial property to green space, commercial or residential use. The best way to effect that kind of redevelopment may be through the revival of industrial activity. Restoring a blighted industrial property to working order may be the best way to strengthen existing communities and revitalize the local economy, two key achievements necessary to accomplish sustainable growth. This is especially true for places where industry and hard work played a vital role in shaping an area’s character and sense of place.

These are just a few examples of historic industrial communities that have benefited from brownfield redevelopment that rekindled industrial activity. The same kind of redevelopment has been achieved in many other cities and towns as well.

While we continue to aim for the widespread inclusion of conservation-friendly design, we should also remember the lasting power and value of communities with a strong sense of place, culture and history that can be reinforced with sustainable industrial reuse.

Philip Dales is a program analyst with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment. Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S.EPA.