Brownfield is a term used in
urban planning to describe
land previously used for
industrial purposes or some commercial uses. Such land may have been contaminated with
hazardous waste or
pollution or is feared to be so. Once cleaned up, such an area can become host to a business development such as a
retail park. Land that is more severely contaminated and has high concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution, such as a
Superfund site, does not fall under the brownfield classification.
Mothballed brownfields are properties that the owners are not willing to transfer or put to productive reuse.