Department of Economic and Community Development

The Department of Economic and Community Development’s work focuses on the distribution of costs and benefits from land development, doing so in the context of efficiency and equity. The gains from land development can variously accrue to residents, developers, governments, and future community members. Understanding how benefits are distributed often requires the analysis of institutional mechanisms that balance competing interests. Current projects include:

• City, Land and the University - Ongoing research addresses the relationships among higher education institutions, cities, and land development, and how these institutions and the public, business, and civic sectors mutually define and shape individual and collective interests in planning and community development.
• Community Land Trusts - Community land trusts are nonprofit organizations that capture publicly-generated land values for community benefit by holding title to land to sustain its long-term use for affordable housing and other community purposes. The National Community Land Trust Academy, an initiative of the Lincoln Institute and the National Community Land Trust Network, provides training and promotes public understanding of the community land trust model.
• Inclusionary Zoning - This instrument captures publicly generated land values for community benefit by requiring developers to make a portion of new residential developments available to low- and moderate-income households. In return, developers often receive density bonuses, zoning variances, and/or expedited permitting.

We aim to identify both current and emerging land development issues where attention to the distribution of benefits is likely to have a large payoff, in terms of equity and the long-term sustainability of cities and regions.