Tackling a hot green architectural topic – brownfield sites – this title asks the essential question: how should urban and post-industrial sites best be rehabilitated to balance ecological and human needs?

This issue of AD is devoted to what planners refer to as ‘brownfields’. These are often sites made toxic through a recipe of urbanism and industry, from our great water thoroughfares to our landfills. They are often the only sites available to us for planning consideration.

The book examines the conflict between the demands of ecology and development when reclaiming such sites for re-development, bringing together multiple viewpoints from different disciplines.

• Includes the internationally renowned Andy Goldsworthy, Glenn Murcutt and Renzo Piano
• It will recast the topic in a fresh and current light that will interest a wide audience from students to practitioners
• Aerial photographs, maps and photo essays will give the visuals a richness and breadth of appeal 
• ‘Green’ is an architectural buzzword, and is viewed as the new parameter for good practice