Rethinking Brownfields: Discourses, Networks and Space-Time Relations

This paper argues that the current UK policy fixation on ëbrownfield redevelopment' is built on a particular conceptualisation of the land redevelopment process, which is based on a set of discourses to justify its existence and legitimacy. These discourses intertwine the economic logic of neo-classical economics (and/or other economic theory?) with the emphasis placed on ëenvironmental efficiency' by proponents of ësustainable development'. The lack of temporal sophistication in this model of the land redevelopment process leads to a simplistic and partial conceptualisation, which downplays the dynamic network processes that create and use the places and structures that are ëinscribed' into time and space. The space-time configurations of ëbrownfields' are explored focusing on the networks of actors and material artefacts that go to make-up these places and structures and the evolving relations that give meaning to them. By focusing on the ëheritage' dimension of brownfield redevelopment, the paper suggests that the existing conceptualisation prioritises certain interests and actors over others. Only by reconceptualising the space-time dimensions using a more holistic (network) approach can these interests and networks be understood as a living component of these ëdead' spaces.