The UK government has made the sustainable reuse of land a strong policy aim in its sustainable development and planning strategies. However, in this paper we present research into recent urban brownfield redevelopments in England that shows that many aspects of sustainability are currently not being considered in practice. To explain this, we focus on the role of different stakeholders involved in brownfield development and critically examine their actions and decisions. We establish which stakeholder types (for example, architects, planners, councillors, developers, investors) are more likely to attempt to introduce sustainability into development projects and which are more successful in meeting their agendas. We conclude by identifying five reasons for variation in the achievement of sustainability in brownfield development.
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