Greenfields, brownfields and housing development / David Adams and Craig Watkins

Published in association with The RICS Research Foundation

Includes bibliographical references and index

The location of new housing development has become one of the most intractable controversies of modern times. This book provides a powerful critique of the growing tendency to reduce the debate on the development of new housing to a mere choice between greenfield and brownfield locations. It calls for full account to be taken of such factors as the structure and organization of the housebuilding industry, supply and demand pressures in the housing market, the contested nature of sustainability and the political character of the planning process, if a truly effective housing land policy is to be devised. Drawing on theories from economics and political science, this book should provide an important reference point on the institutional context within which residential development takes place and on the concerns of planning authorities, environmentalists, housebuilders and their customers in relation to the apparent choice between greenfield and brownfield development