The regeneration of brownfield land has been a key concern for planning and regeneration since the 1980s, after post-industrial decline in many countries led to the emergence of brownfield sites – technically described in England as previously developed land.

This proposed paper aims to explore the extent to which the focus of regeneration policy in England has shifted over recent decades, from soft end-use brownfield regeneration contributing to green infrastructure development, to hard end-use regeneration particularly focused on housing development.

To do this, the paper compares national and local policies comparing approaches in the 1990s to current policies. The paper also compares how brownfield registers have changed over the years, and which sites/areas get registered as brownfield sites. This compares the approaches of the early derelict land surveys, the National Land Use Database for Previously Developed Land (NLUD-PDL) and the more recent post-2017 brownfield registers maintained by local authorities.

In doing so, the paper contributes to ongoing academic and policy debates about key spatial development paradigms and strategies. Should planning policy focus on dense compact (re)development, limiting urban expansion while providing space for more housing and employment uses? Or can brownfield regeneration also allow green infrastructure development, while accepting this may mean further urban expansion?