Land Use Policy xxx (xxxx) xxxx

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Land Use Policy

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/landusepol

Mapping the obstacles to brownfield redevelopment adoption in developing

economies: Pakistani Perspective
Naveed Ahmada,*, Yuming Zhua,*, Lin Honglia, Jawad Karamata, Muhammad Waqasb,
Syed Muhammad Taskheer Mumtaza
a
School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710072, PR China
b
School of Economic and Management, Chang’an University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710072, PR China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Brownfields located in urban centers are potential resources for urban development projects. In developed
Sustainability economies, brownfield redevelopment (BR) is considered an effective strategy and an important instrument in
Brownfields urban planning. However, BR in developing counties, especially Pakistan, has not received the same attention
Brownfield redevelopment due to different obstacles, and it is still in its infancy. Therefore, the objective of this study is to identify the
Sustainable urban development
obstacles to BR adoption in Pakistan through a review of previous studies and to analyze these obstacles through
Interpretive Structural Modeling
expert opinion. After an extensive literature review, this study develops a contextual relationship-based model
Developing Economies
Pakistan using an integrated methodology of Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) and MICMAC (cross-impact matrix
multiplication applied to classification) analysis. The results of ISM outlined ownership constraints, public
protests, lack of transparent communication among stakeholders, and lack of environmental justice as dependent
obstacles. However, financial constraints including lack of capital and cost consideration were identified as
independent obstacles and the most critical ones. The results of this study can be a stepping stone to overcome
obstacles to BR and promote urban sustainability. Considerable incentives and subsidies will foster BR im-
plementation resulting in the integration of sustainable urban development in Pakistan.

1. Introduction development projects. Brownfields can be defined as “any land or site

Sustainable urban planning is recognized as a significant strategy to
make cities more green and supports sustainable development across
the globe (United Nations, 2015; WBGU, 2016). Sustainable urban land
use is an important aspect of urban planning: it is a more vigilant ap-
proach that leads to decisions concerning the type of land that is used
for different infrastructure-based urban development projects. How-
ever, the growing population in cities is making it difficult to find land
for future development. The United Nations published a report stating
that urban areas of big cities comprise 54 % of the global population,
and this ratio will reach 66 % by 2050 (United Nations, 2014). In
September 2015, the United Nations (UN) adopted 17 sustainable de-
velopment goals (SDGs) to transform the world by 2030 (United
Nations, 2015), and it includes a specific goal, SDG 11, that concerns
sustainable cities and communities, i.e. to make cities and human set-
tlements more inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. Looking at the
scenario, it seems to be a promising approach to redevelop formerly
used sites, such as brownfields, that are now vacant for new urban
which has been previously used but is vacant now, maybe partially used
or occupied, may also be derelict or equipped with some pollutants or
contaminants” (Alker et al., 2000), and is often located in city centers.
Nowadays, there is increased and intense attention on brownfield
issues by both research scholars and industry professionals. More than
3.5 million brownfields exist in North America and Europe that need to
be redeveloped for productive use (Spiess and De Sousa, 2016). Con-
sidering environmental and health concern, brownfield redevelopment
(BR) has become a key instrument of urban land policy (De Sousa et al.,
2009). However, despite BR significance and sustainable development
relevance, researchers have not heavily focused on this area. In fact,
very few studies have identified and analyzed obstacles in BR. Ad-
ditionally, previous literature has focused on developed economies
(Coffin and Shepherd, 1998; Loures, 2015; McCarthy, 2002; Siikamäki
and Wernstedt, 2008; Tintěra et al., 2014; Zohn et al., 2011).
The majority of the world’s population resides in developing
economies, and it is these countries that will bear the brunt of world
population growth: 97 % of the world population growth of 1.2 billion

⁎
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: naveedahmad@mail.nwpu.edu.cn (N. Ahmad), zym1886@nwpu.edu.cn (Y. Zhu), lhl2016@mail.nwpu.edu.cn (L. Hongli),
jawad@mail.nwpu.edu.cn (J. Karamat), waqasalyani23@chd.edu.cn (M. Waqas), taskheer@mail.nwpu.edu.cn (S.M. Taskheer Mumtaz).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104374
Received 21 April 2019; Received in revised form 14 November 2019; Accepted 20 November 2019
0264-8377/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Naveed Ahmad, et al., Land Use Policy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104374