Communities across the country face the challenge of putting idle, potentially contaminated sites back to work, from old industrial cities with thousands of acres of abandoned factories to rural villages built around derelict mines or timber mills. Commonly known as "brownfields," these properties are a valuable community resource that, through cleanup, redevelopment, and reuse, could bring important benefits to many economically depressed communities or serve as the centerpiece in comprehensive redevelopment strategies.

Since 2003 ICMA's Center for Sustainable Communities and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have worked together to organize the National Brownfields Conference. The event convenes every 18 months, attracting over 6,000 attendees from a diverse set of industries and knowledge levels for two and a half days of educational programming, mobile tours, training workshops, films, redevelopment forums, and more. The conference offers local government 

The Call for Session Ideas is now open for Brownfields 2013 which will take place on May 15-17, 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia. ICMA invites you to submit session ideas for the educational program at Brownfields 2013 that showcase best practices and innovative ideas for turning these liabilities into community assets. 

 Conference organizers are particularly interested in topics related to…

• Technical Assistance
• Financing Redevelopment
• Community Planning
• Data, Research and Public Health
• Law and Liability
• Environmental Justice
• Redevelopment solutions

The Call for Ideas will stay open until August 3, 2012. To submit an idea click here or visit the official conference website – www.brownfieldsconference.org

For more information contact Grant Sparks at gsparks@icma.org or 202.962.3657.