Brownfields are rural or urban industrial commercial sites that are abandoned or underused because of real or perceived contamination. These sites can include anything from abandoned factories, mills, and gas stations to derelict hotels and dry cleaners. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there over 450,000 brownfield sites around the United States. When properly managed, cleaned, and redeveloped, brownfield sites are valuable community resources that can breathe new life into economically depressed communities and serve as the centerpiece in comprehensive redevelopment strategies. 

The National Brownfields Training Conference is the largest gathering of stakeholders seeking out solutions, strategies, training, and redevelopment options for transforming these properties back into productive uses. ICMA and EPA have been working together to deliver this event for the past 25 years. Offered every 18 months to two years, the conference  regularly draws over 2,000 attendees, and over the years has trained more than 45,000 attendees on successful strategies for cleaning up and redeveloping brownfield land and properties. 

Brownfields 2025 takes place in Chicago, Illinois, August 5-8, 2025. Learn more.