Environmental Restoration : The Catalyst of a City's Successful Revitalization, a Potential Application Example, City of Camden, New Jersey

This thesis aims to concisely emphasize and demonstrate the importance of the connection between urban and natural environments, towards fostering a strong and healthy quality of life for its citizens. The notion of applying an integrated comprehensive approach to city planning and environmental restoration (such as brownfields redevelopment) is lacking throughout many communities. On the other hand, "success stories" exist around the world that link a comprehensive city plan and environmental restoration to their successes. These attestations of accomplishments demonstrate that regardless of the geographical or economic circumstances, this thesis concept might be applied. This thesis concept is simplified by identifying a catalyst shaped by major components needed in order to acquire a successful revitalization of a city. The importance of restoring the environment in order to restore the vitality of a city is crucial, as proven in the Winnipeg, Chengdu and Curitiba cases. This thesis selected Camden, New Jersey as an example for a potential application of this concept. Camden is challenged to use as did the above mentioned cities a holistic environmental management approach which would replace the piecemeal approach that has prevailed until now. Further, it is suggested that many of Camden's answers to its urban problems might be found within the city when these perplexities are transformed into assets such as brownfields redevelopment. ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION: THE CATALYST OF REVITALIZATION A POTENTIAL APPLICATION EXAMPLE: CITY OF A CITY'S SUCCESSFUL CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY by MARIA DEL ROCIO BOSCH CLARK A THESIS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Environmental Studies in The Department of Earth and Environmental Studies in The Graduate Program of Montclair State University May 2005 Copyright c 2005 by Maria del Rocio Bosch Clark. All rights reserve. To my husband Larry . .


INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE
James Lovelock, a British scientist, believes that the Earth works as a whole system. His Gaia Hypothesis states that "The Earth's surface conditions are regulated by the activities of life" (Golley, 1998 resources." Proper management and use means that these finite resources will continue to be available for use. Improper use of resources brought about by the notion that man can separate themselves from the previously mentioned system results in "Pollution*." In 1969 William B. Stapp clearly identified major points such as lack of comprehensive environmental planning and the lack of "Pollution" is generally, the presence of a substance in the environment that because of its chemical composition or quantity prevents the functioning of natural processes and produces undesirable environmental and health effects (EPA, 2002a).
institutional arrangements needed to cope effectively with environmental problems.
Most developed and developing cities around the world experience environmental problems such as pollution (due to mismanagement of resources) fostered by population increase and industrialization.
Environmental restoration, bringing misused resources back to a usable state, can be the catalyst for a city's successful revitalization, where an environmental restoration approach results in more than the rehabilitation of polluted land, water and air. It is also a holistic process where the multi-media assemblage of resources combined will improve quality of life.
Brownfields is the term commonly used for areas that through use became polluted and in most cases were treated as a "problem-spot." The idea of Brownfields as an environmental problem has received great attention in man\.
parts of the United States and around the world. In America, communities believe that brownfields might hold a key to environmental health and economic revitalization (NALGEP, 2004) . The success of brownfield physical cleanups depends on the efficiency and reliability of innovative treatment technologies. The success of brownfield redevelopment relies on a comprehensive redevelopment plan that takes into account the site's present situation and possible results after remediation (cleanup) has taken place. In addition, the redevelopment plan considers the future direct and indirect consequences of the site's remediation.
Given the extent of information presently accessible, this thesis is geared to concisely state how the proper use of resources is linked to successful city planning and hence to environmental restoration such as brownfield redevelopment utilizing innovative treatment technologies for remediation.
There are many cases of successful city planning around the world such as Winnipeg in Canada (Franco, 1993), Chengdu in China (Tian, 2000), and Curitiba in Brazil (Allen, 2004, MacLeod, 2002. These cities are just a few indisputable examples around the world that support the idea of the revitalization of cities using comprehensive community planning with a holistic vision.
The City of Camden, New Jersey, is presented as an example of the potential application of this concept.
Camden is a strong case of a lack of a comprehensive environmental plan. Some of the City's problems are brownfields, poverty, population decline, and crime. A set of suggestions plus recommendations has been prepared for Camden for its possible consideration to explore. This set 3 of suggestions proposes to Camden the connection of its environmental problems (such as brownfields) to its urban environment and finding the answers within. Revitalization of brownfields goes hand-in-hand with economic vitalization (Eberhart, 1999), but also relates to the environmental and human health of a community.

EXAMPLE SITE: CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY.
The City of Camden is located in the County of Camden in the southwest portion of New Jersey, directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The City of Camden is connected with easy access to both Interstate 95 (North/South) and Interstate 76 (East/West) ( Figure 1) .
Besides Camden's shipments of commodity, the city also has access to railheads for freight and commuter trains.
Camden's waterfront helps make this city a strategic In the midst of these events approximately, 45,000 .
people have left Camden in the past 50 years (Greenberg, 1996 Causes of death in Camden include homicide, poisoning, falls, fires, and suicide (Greenberg, 1996).
6. Camden has about fifty to sixty brownfields around the city [as depicted in Figure 2 (Lyons, 2005)].
A rare bright side of Camden is in the middle of the

CITY PLANNING/MAS TER PLAN
A city master plan document is considered as a road map for future growth, and a non-binding plan where the goal is to keep in mind future development while preparing present development' (Seeley, 2005 Revitalization Plan in Canada (Franco, 1993 (Franco, 1993). The last step mentioned above, which calls for public participation and environmental education, was also an essential step of success for the Comprehensive Revitalization of Urban Settlements in Chengdu, China, the next example of holistic city planning ( Figure 4). .SsSfcsK Today, the city of Chengdu is an ecologically clean city and its participatory vision is being passed on to the surrounding areas (Tian, 2000) .
This participatory vision is being implemented around the world into successful city planning. Indeed, an unmatched winning story is the City of Curitiba, Brazil ( Figure 5). The city's strategic, integrated urban planning is known around the world. Curitiba is an example of the good will of its city officials "to solve problems by thinking small, cheap, and participatory" (Allen, 2004) .
Curitiba's ideas of thinking first on the needs of its citizens, favoring mass transit over private transportation and not spending over the city's budget (Allen, 2004) (MacLeod, 2002) by combining thoughtful and practical administration with an integrated approach that included solid community and business participation (Hawken, 1999 (Cullingworth, 1997). Subsequently, when the community experienced positive outreach from its local government, it sees that participation in the city Planning process is worthy of moral consideration (Golley, 1998).

21
The "Brownfields" term was created by Northeast/Midwest Institute and adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency (RRCMH, 2005). In the early 1990's the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Brownfields Initiative with the confidence that revitalizing contaminated sites would also revitalize the economy of those communities with brownfield problems (Goode, 1999). The Brownfield Initiative helps communities to redevelop these contaminated sites. The EPA has many programs that include partnerships, grants, outreach, etc.
Since the beginning of the Brownfields Initiative, many remediation technologies (e.g., Sediment Washing, Electrochemical Remediation, and Solidification/Stabilization) have flourished tremendously.
The reliance on one single process, such as land disposal is not the only option anymore (Stern, 2002).
There are In-Situ and Ex-Situ technologies.
In Then a second technology might destroy or remove these contaminants more easily (EPA, 2001).

SOLVENT EXTRACTION TECHNOLOGY
The technology results in dense particle loading (90% wt/wt) and highly uniform particle distribution throughout the membrane for highly efficient mass transfer.
There are many remedial technologies in development but in order to have commercial scale applications some of them require many years of testing (Stern, 2002). These technologies must go through the following test phases : These tests would examine how practical, efficient and reliable these technologies are before they are assumed to be of a satisfactory level for commercial application.
Brownfields issues in general are more complex than the process of finding suitable technologies that are cost effective. Brownfield complexities are composed of physical and perceived problems. Brownfield barriers to redevelopment are not merely environmental (Bjelland, 2000). Among the many barriers are potential contamination, poor or no utilities, undesirable locations, poor neighbors, poor/inadequate infrastructure and other factors that in many instances are linked to neighborhood decay, because economic decline can be triggered by environmental degradation and vice versa (Bjelland, 2000) . A Laboratory-scale belt-vacuum filter. Test work on the solvent extraction of copper. This phase assesses the potentiality of the "new" idea. It selects material for the construction.
It integrate safety management for the process.
Finally, it provides the "move on" to the next phase. The Bench-scale test. This is the progressive phase on a small-scale. This takes place in a research facility or at a site.
It offers examples of the technology for evaluation and/or further treatment.  This phase operates the new technology at small scale, generating valuable data results. This scale can be done at the research center or at the site, providing the opportunity to show the technology to potential customers.

Full-scale test facility.
This phase would provide convincing proof of the potential of the project and it might provide samples for commercial purposes.
Consequently, these economically challenged neighborhoods might not offer good redevelopment incentives (Bjelland, 2000).
Brownfield redevelopment has been a major issue for the federal government.
Two federal agencies have specific programs supporting brownfields projects.   (Goode, 1999)

IDENTIFYING STEPS/FACTORS FOR A SUCCESSFUL BROWNFIELDS
REDEVELOPMENT. Different   Network/EPA mentioned that all of these factors would depend on the city's own resources and objectives to adopt one or more of these three areas mentioned above.

Step 2. I d e n t i f i c a t i o n o f b r o w n f i e l d s -This step calls for
the location and identification of each brownfield within that area to ensure that redevelopment would work. Sources of information were mentioned in order to guide future users of the Network's framework. At the same time it is suggested that a creation of a list of these sites would be useful for the cities.
Step 3. G r o u p i n g t h e s e s i t e s b y m a r k e t a b i l i t y p o t e n t i a lby recognizing how profitable each site is (e.g., residential areas, commercial.) Knowing these issues would allow for further analysis of what each site may need, for example, re-zoning.

Step 4. E v a l u a t e the b e n e f i t s t h e s e s i t e s w o u l d p r o v i d e to
the c o m m u n i t y -where a site study would forecast the significance of benefits (e.g. open space, real estate value) that a site would provide to the community. With this information, the city might coordinate ideas, efforts and resources correspondingly.
Step 5 Step 6. S t r a t e g i c p l a n n i n g

f o r r e d e v e l o p m e n t a c t i v i t i e s on
t h e s e s i t e s -use the best approach for a successful brownfield redevelopment. It was noted that this framework clearly points that every type of brownfield would require a different approach.

B r o w n f i e l d s a n d C o m m u n i t y P l a n n i n g O ne V i s i o n
The report suggested that often times communities view brownfields differently. However, it was proposed that brownfields should be looked at and viewed as part of the community planning priorities. This new concept of brownfields seen in a larger picture might help to fulfill issues such as affordable housing, recreational spaces, and parks, that would help with the community's revitalization plans.

I d e n t i f y P o t e n t i a l U se o f a C l e a n e d S i t e
The community's growth plan should be connected/integrated to brownfield redevelopment. The report emphasizes the importance of planning the use of remediated sites in advance before the clean up plans or other plans for the site start. It was mentioned that by doing this the communities would avoid inadequate clean-ups that might halt the community's or private sector's support for the site. At the same time public resources would be appropriately allocated attracting private investment when needed.

C i t i z e n s I n v o l v e m e n t
The report recognized that the more successful projects were the ones that have community involvement from the onset of the project. Citizens' involvement unveiled their input in the project and led to the community's support for the project. Subsequently, when community involvement is present, it would work as an incentive to the private sector that plans would probably take place with less opposition from the community. Knowing well in advance the concerns from the citizens helps develop a better, more likely implemented plan.

R e d u c i n g R i s k b y E n g a g i n g the P r i v a t e S e c t o r
The cleanup of most brownfields might be done by the  Figure 2).
6 . "Make Cleanups work for you" (NALGEP, 2004) This factor mentioned in the report asked for the understanding of the brownfield cleanup process by local officials. The challenge of brownfields redevelopment is to overcome the many issues associated with environmental remediation. NALGEP and NMI suggest considering the use of innovative technologies, linking the land use plan to cleanups, and utilizing institutional controls and risk-

Environmental Insurance
There is a new. movement of insurance implementations, which intentions are to convey confidence on brownfield financing risk.
"Environmental insurance can facilitate brownfield acquisitions or sales,.; help satisfy regulatory responsibilities; minimize liability for past,' present or future operations; and the cap site remediation cost (NALGEP, 2004:133.)" Environmental insurance,, can protect , the developer from an unpredictable cost while remediation actions are on the way, and further allow the development of .the site by not hindering the developer's responsibility ' to pay off other anticipated charges such as mortgages.
The most commonly used types of environmental insurance implementations are: 1. Environmental remediation insurance, used for discharges that happen before the policy was drafted but.detected after the policy was activated. Today more lenders' .are requiring this insurance. 2. Stop-loss or cleanup cost-cap coverage, this covers any additional costs from any changes in regulatory compliance. 3. Pollution legal liability insurance, provides coverage for injury claims, spreading of contaminants throughout another area, etc. 4. Secured creditor insurance, protect failure to pay loans when there is an environmental situation. ' SV' based remediation actions.
The NALGEP and NMI invited communities to consider these suggestions in addition to following their States' "voluntary cleanup programs".

Funding Issues
Supporting private and public funding for brownfield projects is a major role that the local community should undertake when a high-risk site cleanup exceeds the real estate value. This support might come in the form of services to relieve some of the financial burden on the developer, such as tax incentives and other ways to help fund and/or pay for the cleanup.

Communities and State Partnerships
The federal Brownfield Revitalization Act1 gives the state the authority to approve or disapprove and supervise brownfield cleanup determinations. Hence, the success of brownfields redevelopment and its ambition would rely on the state brownfield programs. In addition, individual success would also depend on the local-state authorities relationship. 'in December 19, 2001, the U.S. House strongly supported enactment of H.R. 2869 as amended. H.R. 2869 will authorize appropriations to assess and clean up abandoned industrial sites, known as brownfields, and provide protection from liability to landowners and prospective purchasers of brownfield properties (OMB, 2001).

C o m m u n i t i e s M u s t U n d e r t a k e to S u c c e e d
Because it is often hard to believe that some of these sites can be redeveloped, the community must take its small brownfield victories and have them published to create a public awareness of such victories. The report advised that the community must keep its brownfield vision and work smartly and diligently to keep it going. By accomplishing project after project, confidence would be increased for the stakeholders to invest in brownfield redevelopment. It is of the essence to secure even the smallest success to spark the momentum for brownfield redevelopment (NALGEP 2004: 152).

POTENTIAL APPLICATION EXAMPLE: THE CITY OF CAMDEN, NJ.
The cities of Winnipeg ( The Three Dimensions of Urban Environment. (UEMRI, 2005). http://www.gdrc.org/uem/doc-intro.html @ GDRC, 2005@ GDRC, -2007 programs and policies for the urban environment (UEMRI, 2005). Similar to city planning successes, there are also successful brownfields redevelopment projects around the world that share some common characteristics with city planning stories: • Visionary leadership -of an organization, project manager or individuals that sparked energy into the community.
• Comprehensiveness -some projects required all plausible cleanup and/or reuse options before reaching the correct equilibrium.
• Innovated redevelopment -communities and governments that searched for the best cleanup technology alternatives which were cost effective where human and environmental health were not at risk (Schilling, 1999).
In the United States, Portland, Oregon, is a good example, where brownfields redevelopment is an essential part of the City's comprehensive growth management plan (Gardner, 1999 (Gardner, 1999). .

NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING DISTRICTS
Master Plan, City of Camden @ City of Camden, NJ.
In 2004, the state of New Jersey agreed to spend $175 million in Camden's [prosperity (Mulvihill, 2004)]. Today, Camden is going through the process of analyzing twenty one neighborhood redevelopment site plans, ten of which have been completed and the remaining eleven would be completed by 2006 (Lyons, 2005). Encouraging events had happened over the past few years for the city of Camden (Mulvihill, 2004), but publications, such as the Morgan Quitno Awards, set the city back to its urban reality.

" W i t h i n the C i t y o f C a m d e n , t h e r e is n o s t e a d y o r s t a b l e f o c u s f o r l e a d e r s h i p a n d d i r e c t i o n " (Van,
no date). Today, most communities lack a strategic thinking process and this leads to piecemeal actions when it comes to the acquisition of abandoned properties (Mallach, no date).
Major changes in urban life may not 52v take place if out-of-the-box thinking does not take place (Perlman, 2000).
The City's mix of good and bad overwhelm present government officials to a point where they chose to prioritize decisions on planning activities. The North part of the City is last on the list of redevelopment of brownfields (Lyons, 2005). This part of the city contemplates a possible assessment possibly by 2006.
Brownfields redevelopment is not a stagnant process (Schilling, 1999). Particular site projects require decision-makers to look at every possible reuse or cleanup before finding and selecting the right balance (Schilling, 1999). The visionary concept of the person in charge, as well as the community, should consider clean up technologies, that besides decreasing costs of site mitigation, also would protect public and environmental health (Schilling, 1999). Apart from parking lots, communities have redeveloped brownfields into parks, waterfront trails, cultural avenues, etc. (Schilling, 1999). For example, the above mentioned North part of Camden presently has about 40 acres on one site called the Knox Gelatin Site (Lyons, 2005). The Knox site currently has less than 20% of impervious surface (Figure 15).
Knox site, Camden, NJ

Legend
Circled with yellow is the approximate location of the Knox site in the north of Camden. Map depicts the city's surface composition.  The site is located between Third and Fifth Streets, Erie Street and the Delaware River in the north of the City (EPA, 2002b) ( Figure 16). This site is targeted for light industrial (a possible industrial park) or for possible future residential redevelopment (Lyons, 2005). The site can not support heavy industry (Lyons, 2005)    This BDA3 designation is "to provide support needed to successfully remediate and reuse a significantly underutilized area..." (NJDEP, 1996(NJDEP, -2003.

North Cam den B row nfield D evelopm ent Area
Camden's government officials have decided that the Knox area would be the last area to pursue (Lyons 2005, Sadler 2005 The Knox site's present situation is a site of low priority for the city's officials. As Figure 15 shows, a low percentage of impervious surface exists on site compared to Brownfield Development Area (BDA) Initiative is an innovative approach, NJDEP works with selected communities affected by multiple brownfields to design and implement remediation and reuse plans for these properties simultaneously, so that remediation and reuse can occur in a coordinated fashion. All stakeholders, including owners of contaminated properties, potentially responsible parties, developers, community groups, technical experts for the local government and residents, and residents themselves, will be invited to the table to participate in this cleanup and revitalization approach (NJDEP, 1996(NJDEP, -2005 Knowing that the site is not a priority site (Lyons, 2005), the possibilities for funds are uncertain.

2005).
Organic metals, trace elements, nutrients, pesticides and pathogens flowing (as a run-offs) into the created wetlands can be remove or eradicate (Purdue, 2005).
The Knox site could be used as constructed wetlands where a slow cleanup process is not a concern, but the possibility of funds are there, and there is the added benefit of local beautification.
In addition, this choice might bring in the long run the benefits of wild life to the area.
Successive projects might be undertaken after observations of the resulting habitat and community response. Projects, such as waterfront trails (Schilling, 1999) should be considered.  Curitiba, Brazil turned into a first world city in the midst of a third world (Hawken, 1999). If Curitiba exists, thus Camden revitalization is possible. Successful revitalization of cities requires reweaving the strands of the complex web of the urban environment. This may be accomplished by a holistic planning vision that will catalyze the city from bottom-up (Calthorpe, 2001).
Subsequently, the decision-maker takes into consideration the present situation and the possible immediate results and with this assesses the future direct and indirect cumulative effects (Figure 19). A visionary leadership may find solutions to city problems such as Camden's within the city itself.
In addition, problems such as brownfields would be turned into opportunities to restore the environment, to stop sprawl and to revitalize dormant cities.
Innovative brownfields remediation and reuse projects are integral parts of the city's comprehensive growth management strategy (Gardner, 1999). Brownfield redevelopment can be a strong tool to revitalize cities, however a tool's performance varies with its handler. replaced by elections and/or appointments.

Handlers of
In the city planning section of this study, successful city planning stories were discussed. Public participation was one way to direct the agenda driving redevelopment (Solitäre, 2003), but the key driving force of these successes was the "tool's handler". Earlier, Camden's impervious surfaces were shown to occupy a very small percentage of the City's overall geographic area ( Figure 15). It is known that the less pervious surfaces a city has the more storm water runoff has chances to jeopardize ground water quality. Groundwater contamination already exists in several parts of the City ( Figure 20). The City would gain many short and long-term benefits by creating green spaces from the redevelopment of brownfields, increasing with this the percentage of pervious surfaces. Wetlands, waterfront trails, and city parks do not always have to be cleaned to the same level as is required for a future residential development.
Consequently, remediation costs may be considerably lower.
In addition, green spaces will add quality of life to the surrounding communities and deliver environmental improvements (e.g., air, water) and they can be designed in many different ways (ICMA, 2002). Furthermore, citizens might be involved in these projects, renewing at the same time pride in their communities, creating public awareness

2005).
Organic metals, trace elements, nutrients, pesticides and pathogens flowing (as a run-offs) into the created wetlands can be remove or eradicate (Purdue, 2005).
The Knox site could be used as constructed wetlands where a slow cleanup process is not a concern, but the possibility of funds are there, and there is the added benefit of local beautification.
In addition, this choice might bring in the long run the benefits of wild life to the area.
Successive projects might be undertaken after observations of the resulting habitat and community response. Projects, such as waterfront trails (Schilling, 1999) should be considered.

0 SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Curitiba, Brazil turned into a first world city in the midst of a third world (Hawken, 1999) . If Curitiba exists, thus Camden revitalization is possible. Successful revitalization of cities requires reweaving the strands of the complex web of the urban environment. This may be accomplished by a holistic planning vision that will catalyze the city from bottom-up (Calthorpe, 2001) .
Subsequently, the decision-maker takes into consideration the present situation and the possible immediate results and with this assesses the future direct and indirect cumulative effects (Figure 19). A visionary leadership may find solutions to city problems such as Camden's within the city itself.
In addition, problems such as brownfields would be turned into opportunities to restore the environment, to stop sprawl and to revitalize dormant cities.
Innovative brownfields remediation and reuse projects are integral parts of the city's comprehensive growth management strategy (Gardner, 1999). Brownfield redevelopment can be a strong tool to revitalize cities, however a tool's performance varies with its handler.
Handlers of Brownfields redevelopment are city officials, plan managers, or decision-makers, who are constantly being replaced by elections and/or appointments.
In the city planning section of this study, successful city planning stories were discussed. Public participation was one way to direct the agenda driving redevelopment (Solitäre, 2003), but the key driving force of these successes was the "tool's handler". The most successful handler was a permanent independent entity (NMI, 1997) that was specifically created to coordinate the planning process by cooperatively finding solutions from bottom-up.  In pink are known Ground Water Contamination in The City of Camden, NJ. 0NJDEP 2002. environmental and economic revitalization.
In conclusion, in successful cities such as Winnipeg,