Community development is often thought of as the need to attract large real estate interests with the capital to undertake the comprehensive rebuilding of industrial lands and neighborhoods. While enjoying the benefits of upfront capitalization and one stop shopping for government agencies, this model often comes at the expense of long term residents, neighborhood identity, and housing affordability.

Rebuilding communities requires a different approach. Opening up property to lots of small scale community-based investment can bring abandoned urban brownfields into rapid reuse; with greater economic and social diversity, stability and without disrupting the fabric of local life. We believe in partnering with communities, blending economic and environmental sustainability into the strategies for property reuse so quality of life improves for both the neighborhoods and the community at large and these neighborhoods can thrive for years to come.

Renewing Hope in Alameda: Affordable housing is a cornerstone of building a sustainable community. In 2001, Arc Ecology and the City of Alameda’s coalition of housing organizations Renewed Hope succeeded in negotiating an agreement to make twenty five percent of all new housing built at the former Naval Air Station affordable.

Hunters Point Ship Recycling: The Navy sold obsolete warships overseas to developing nations for scrapping. The result, as reported by National Geographic and the Boston Globe, was disastrous. Pollution from the scraping process devastated coastal environments in countries ill equipped to handle the job. Arc Ecology and the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency collaborated to bring a new form of ship scrapping to the area - ship recycling. Ship recycling involves proper hazardous waste removal and disposal and the reuse of the ships metals.