Brown fields are not only a problem all over the world, but they are especially an issue in cities with dense populations like Chicago. As I walk around different neighborhoods throughout Chicago, I see a variety of different sites that are abandoned. These abandoned sites tend to be more common in low income neighborhoods. Although Chicago established the Chicago Brown fields Initiative in 1993, the number of brownfield in low income neighborhoods has increased.
Across the state line in Chicago, the city demolished 524 buildings in 2013 at a cost of more than $10 million–that’s out of an estimated 75,000 vacant houses citywide.
One organization trying to stop this increase is the Chicago Brown fields Initiative. According to the Chicago Brown fields Initiative website, “the initiative links environmental restoration with economic development by cleaning up and redeveloping brownfield and by improving policies to promote private redevelopment of brownfield.”
Across the state line in Chicago, the city demolished 524 buildings in 2013 at a cost of more than $10 million–that’s out of an estimated 75,000 vacant houses citywide.
One organization trying to stop this increase is the Chicago Brown fields Initiative. According to the Chicago Brown fields Initiative website, “the initiative links environmental restoration with economic development by cleaning up and redeveloping brownfield and by improving policies to promote private redevelopment of brownfield.”