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Introduction
Albert Einstein said that “intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them” (Ushakov, 2007). Unlike in the industrialised world, the concept of brownfield is not widely recognised on the African continent as a whole and particularly in Ethiopia. However, the increasing population growth and economic development in Ethiopia, and the significant role of brownfield redevelopment will be investigated as a strategy of encouraging sustainable development in Ethiopian cities. From the developing countries point of view, brownfield sites are the result of waste materials from air pollution control facilities, wastewater treatment plants, community activities, agricultural operations, mining, commercial, industrial and other interrelated problems, such as urban sprawl and residential segregation (Van Rooyen, 2001). These environmental issues are creating hurdles to achieve environmental excellence in Ethiopia. Brownfield redevelopment projects (BRPs) are the practical solution to achieve environmental excellence and sustainable cities in Ethiopia (Figure 1).
Brownfield problems are capturing a deepening concentration of government policy makers, real estate developers, investors, and researchers. There are a suspected 500,000–600,000 contaminated brownfield sites in the USA (Simons, 1998), with around 362,000 in Germany (National Round Table on the Environment the Economy, 2003). There is still an ambiguity about the common understanding of brownfield and its basic concept. However, an initial effort has been made by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) who defined brownfields as underutilised land where redevelopment or expansion is not an easy task due to real or perceived environmental contamination (Van Vliet, 2003).
There is a different perspective about the definition of brownfield in the UK planning context. In the UK, a brownfield site can be any kind of property that has been previously developed for non-rural purposes (Alker et al., 2000).
It is clear from the above definitions that brownfield land is that having real or perceived contamination problems, affected by previous use, ruined and underused properties in urban areas that require redevelopment for sustainable development. Worldwide, brownfield redevelopment land strategy is taken as sustainable land use strategy due to the focus on the environmental and health protection; they have a major role in the contribution towards economic development and community revitalisation (Brebbia, 2006; De Sousa, 2003, 2005; Dixon, 2007).
In order to achieve the sustainable development goals, the Ethiopian government is collaborating with different international...