Local community in brownfield redevelopment: the Alphington Paper Mill Project in Melbourne

Urban population growth and land supply shortage has popularised brownfield development an option among main stakeholders. Although widely recognised being an effective approach to limit urban sprawl and resource wasting, there are issues about brownfields hindering actual outcome. In this chapter, we investigate local community interactions with a large-scale brownfield project, the Alphington Paper Mill in Melbourne, among other stakeholders. The actual role of local community and involvement in brownfield development process awaits an update in the literature. Community's involvement in brownfield site starts way before its redevelopment. And it continues to affect the project long after its completion. A brownfield development project should address the diverse concerns of affected communities to create a sustainable social ecology. Face-to-face interviews and questionnaire surveys are used to understand local residents' experience in the project process and their perceived effects. The study finds that some risks brought by the project to local communities are ignored in the planning and project phases. Most of the sampled community members confirmed their awareness of the project but their involvement to counter the effect is found low, largely due to a lack of effective knowledge. Obstructions and some motivational issues are found to affect awareness and participation in the processes where local community's concerns are critical to good quality brownfield projects. This demands effective means to engage the local community in active learning to facilitate individual experience and participation to improve the community's wellbeing and livelihood.