<![CDATA[This paper examines the sustainable viability of repurposing as a community-inclusive approach for brownfield recovery in Hazaribagh, Dhaka, a former leather-processing hub shaped by industrial relocation, environmental degradation, and top-down redevelopment pressure. It addresses a gap in brownfield discourse: the limited integration of environmental remediation, urban economic continuity, and multidisciplinary stakeholder participation in rapidly urbanizing South Asian contexts. While many redevelopment strategies prioritize land clearance, zoning conversion, or technical treatment, the spatial networks, embodied livability, and material practices that already sustain the area are often overlooked. The study explores how socio-cultural continuity and economic diversification can be sustained through place-based regeneration to mitigate spatial effects. Methodologically, it employs cognitive mapping grounded in Kevin Lynch’s five city elements with space syntax analysis and overlaid stakeholder mapping to understand city memory, urban metabolism, and informal economic networks. Findings reveal an adaptive urban system already formed by ongoing circulation of waste, labor, and material reuse. Accordingly, the proposed framework integrates nature-based ecological restoration and circular economy strategies, converting waste into building components and repurposing tannery structures for artisan production and community infrastructure. The study concludes that incremental, participatory, and material-driven interventions can redefine brownfields as regenerative landscapes, providing adaptable models for inclusive transformation in these contexts.]]>
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