Citation:

Norris, C., C. Nigrelli, Tamara Newcomer Johnson, D. White, G. Beaubien, A. Pelka, AND M. Mills. Defining community revitalization in Great Lakes Areas of Concern and investigating how revitalization can be catalyzed through remediation and restoration. JOURNAL OF GREAT LAKES RESEARCH. International Association for Great Lakes Research, Ann Arbor, MI, 48(6):1432-1443, (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2022.05.006

Impact/Purpose:

The effects that remediation and restoration projects have on community revitalization have long been of interest to Great Lakes communities, researchers, and practitioners alike. While much discussion and excitement has developed around this relationship, much less research has empirically drawn connections between the two. Additionally, even fewer studies have systematically defined community revitalization and its encompassing pieces. We used directed content analysis of the literature to develop community revitalization attributes and comprehensively define community revitalization. We then surveyed local experts to establish likely connections between remediation and restoration success (using Beneficial Use Impairment removal as a proxy) and community revitalization via developed attributes. We used the survey results to develop an AOC-Revitalization Framework that connects environmental health metrics to community revitalization indicators for Great Lakes communities. By establishing a comprehensive definition for community revitalization using the three pillars of sustainability and the AOC-Revitalization Framework, this manuscript provides a clear structure to further study and document the impact Area of Concern projects have on surrounding communities and outlines potential metrics to evaluate revitalization attributes. We believe this manuscript will be of great interest to a wide range of stakeholders, including but not limited to, Great Lakes researchers, environmental practitioners at the federal, state and local level, community planners or community organizers.

Description:

An international effort to restore contaminated areas across the Great Lakes has been underway for over 50 years. Although experts have increasingly recognized the inherent connections between ecological conditions and community level benefits, Great Lakes community revitalization continues to be a broad and complex topic, lacking a comprehensive definition. The purpose of this study was to generate a testable “AOC-Revitalization Framework” for linking remediation and restoration success, represented by Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) removal in U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOC), to community revitalization. Using directed content analysis, we conducted a literature review and identified 433 potential revitalization metrics and indicators and grouped them into 15 broader community revitalization attributes to develop the following definition of Great Lakes community revitalization: “locally driven community resurgence resulting in resilient and equitable enhancements to social, economic, and environmental community structures.” We surveyed experts within the Great Lakes AOC program on the likelihood remediation and restoration success, would positively impact revitalization attributes. Focus groups triangulated survey results. Results identified BUI removal was expected to positively affect revitalization, but the type of revitalization outcome was based on the BUI being removed. The AOC-Revitalization Framework is the first to empirically outline these possible linkages, providing a clear testable structure for future research; it can be used to better understand how environmental improvements are or are not leading to community revitalization and more accurately identify components of revitalization impacted, thus supporting more equitable representation, communication, and measurement of the relationship.

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