Planning for community benefit: a literature review of community benefits agreements

Abstract

In an effort to address the often inequitable effects of real estate development, community benefits agreements (CBAs) have been utilized in projects across the United States and abroad for over two decades now. These legally enforceable agreements have been hailed as beneficial for both developers and local residents, allowing communities to exercise more bargaining power while developers are able to streamline an otherwise lengthy approval process. Since their adoption, however, CBAs have been consistently criticized and examined for their use and efficacy as inclusive means of development, with case studies across the last two decades providing evidence for arguments made both for and against them. This narrative review focusing on CBAs as one of many development methods urban planners have at their disposal, with the guiding question of "How are CBAs useful as a planning tool, and how might planners consider their future use?". The review looks at the context and history of CBAs, summarizing the critiques found in the body of literature so far, examines the documents of selected case studies, and concludes with lessons urban planners can learn from the literature for the future. Though not a process that strictly involves the use of urban planners and community development professionals, it nonetheless intersects with many overlapping interests and concerns of the field.