**1. Introduction**

In recent years, there has been a strong emphasis on brownfield redevelopment as a type of urban regeneration with a strong link to sustainable development in developed countries. As Dixon [1] indicates, such an approach highlights the importance of reusing and recycling brownfield sites in order to improve the urban environments and to release development pressures.

However, brownfields are generally not economically competitive when compared with greenfields without any public intervention. There are economic, social, and environmental barriers in returning the brownfields to beneficial uses. In spite of all problems, these sites may include, they are also regarded as an opportunity in providing sustainable urban development and to bring extra values into poor‐quality lands and declined urban parts.

Sustainability has become a major issue in development strategies since the end of 1980s. As it is well known, in Brutland Report sustainable development is defined as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" [2]. At this point, it is necessary to think about whether all the brownfields regeneration projects really obtain sustainable development in the cities. What are the driving forces, policies, and handicaps in returning these areas into beneficial uses? Such a thought impulse us to ask what are the essential strategies in sustainable brownfield regeneration? Before determining the sustainable brownfield regeneration, it may be useful to look at the definitions about brownfields in all around the world.
