Circular economy and brownfield regeneration: developing an intelligence system to accelerate the redevelopment

The circular economy concept has gained increased interest in many disciplines. However, its discussion and application in the brownfield regeneration are very limited. In the UK, there is a housing shortfall and a limited number of available sites; therefore, the government is encouraging developers to regenerate brownfields. This chapter suggests adopting circular economy principles to regenerate existing brownfields and to avoid the risk of future brownfields. Regeneration of brownfield sites is key to addressing the housing shortfall. Land developers often face complex decisions when choosing a site for a project. In addition, the limited information available on brownfield registers makes the project quite challenging for the developers. It is also found that all existing tools to assist developers are either regionally limited or less flexible and static. In this chapter, a dynamic decision-making tool has been developed to help land developers identify brownfield sites with a higher size-to-capex ratio by prioritising urban and industrial locations with available contamination information. The developed tool uses Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, integrating a Geographic Information System and the Analytic Hierarchy Process. The tool adds significant value by providing site-related, specific information to accelerate the recycling process.