Portland Brownfield Program

Here's something of interest to a historian specializing in the urban environment (such as myself).

This program is interesting to me because of a general question I raised in an earlier post, to wit: What kinds of social and cultural changes help spur a community's shifting priorities such that areas that were formerly considered OK to despoil in the name of economic "progress" are now the focus of millions of dollars of restoration and reclamation efforts?

This program is also interesting to me because of the potential for being able to contribute in some way. My cultural resource management experience in Bellingham, WA, involved researching specific parcels of land to determine the historic uses of the sites and changes over time. I delivered my findings to archaeologists who were then able to focus their survey work on areas with a higher potential for excavating cultural resources (building foundations, middens, fire pits, etc.). Perhaps this kind of research would aid in determining specific land use changes over time for the Portland brownfields?

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