Blighted, contaminated, and abandoned property mars nearly every major American city. Justin Hollander conducted primary research in twenty urban centers containing such "brownfields" or, in the most serious cases, "HI-TOADS" (High-Impact Temporarily Obsolete Abandoned Derelict Sites). His goal was to study the sites and the official handling of them through the lenses of sustainability, urban planning, redevelopment, and environmental justice. In Polluted and Dangerous, he scrutinizes specific sites in five of the affected cities: New Bedford, Massachusetts; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia; Trenton, New Jersey; and Youngstown, Ohio. Hollander poses the serious questions that local planners face when dealing with issues related to HI-TOADS. For instance, to what degree do planners recognize and acknowledge the problems? Do they see intervention as necessary, and, if so, to whom do they assign the responsibility for it? What measures are undertaken, and how successful are these?
In his timely, topical study, Hollander lists common implications of living with and rehabilitating HI-TOADS, and he puts forward specific policy recommendations for redressing the critical issues that are raised. At a time when we are ever more concerned with the intersection of the built and natural environments, this book is not to be missed.