Rethinking community benefits agreements

Across the United States, conflicts often erupt when large-scale real estate development projects are proposed and executed in low-income neighborhoods of large cities. Communities increasingly ask for benefits to offset negative impacts caused by new development. These requests often take the form of negotiated contracts called Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs). CBAs are the subject of some debate, especially as regards their effectiveness, legality, and fairness. Community groups, developers, and city officials all have different views on this topic. In this thesis, the CBA debate is examined in light of five New York City-based case studies involving controversial benefits negotiations. While CBAs can lead to greater benefits for some communities, the ad hoc nature of the agreements and the ways in which they are negotiated pose serious risks. I offer a new process for managing public benefits negotiations.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Economos, Rebecca (Rebecca Elizabeth)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lawrence Susskind.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/66802

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/66802