Review of Brownfield Redevelopment in China and a Comparison with that in OECD Countries

Concomitantly with China’s rise as the manufacturing hub of the world as the 20th Century faded and the Western countries witnessed industrial restructuring, brownfields emerged as an urban problem in city regions, prompting research into how to achieve brownfield redevelopment. More recently, as the global economy diversified, brownfields, and demand for redevelopment have entered the scene of urban development in China, also becoming a research field. This paper reviews international peer reviewed scientific journals on brownfield redevelopment in China, with a focus on social science approaches. Utilizing a previous review of research on OECD countries, this paper indicates similarities and differences between China and Europe and North America in terms of brownfield redevelopment. The comparison shows that research on China is catching up with the international state-of-the-art literature, addressing topics related to pollution; land use and property development; land financing, property and economics; governance, state-market interactions and private–public partnerships; and decision-making systems. Especially, the focus on user rights versus property ownership appears important for international comparative research.