SMARTe

To support sustainable land reuse, Neptune created an open-source web-based decision support system for brownfields that encompasses revitalization strategies, environmental modeling, environmental risk assessment, redevelopment options, economic costs, financing and social costs, and benefits in a holistic system called Site-specific Management and Revitalization Tools—electronic version (SMARTe). SMARTe was built using only open-source web-based tools, so that any potential users are not encumbered with software licensing issues. We took advantage of the unique combination of tools that we have developed (www.gisdt.org) that allows us to combine knowledge bases, expert system technology, statistics and decision analysis tools, and presentation capabilities to provide a truly interactive analysis of brownfields problems. SMARTe allows users to engage at various levels of complexity depending on their interest and takes a holistic approach to decision making for brownfields sites. Our software tools facilitate defensibility, traceability, and transparency. Quality assurance is promoted through internal testing and user feedback.

Highlights include:

• Identification of land-use, redevelopment, and remediation options;

• Environmental modeling (inventory, source release, and fate and transport);

• Human health and ecological risk assessment;

• Economic analysis, including market costs associated with redevelopment, such as insurance, tax incentives, and the cost of money;

• Financing, including public and private sector options from grants to loans;

• Tools that translate potential social benefits into market costs;

• Ecological benefits of revitalizing brownfields; and

• Modeling of market (economic) and non-market (political, social, and ecological) costs.