Eminent Domain: Land-Use Planning and the Powerless in the United States and Israel

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The outcome of land-use policies of two distinct nations with considerably different formal governmental structures are exploratively compared and found to be quite similar. In the United States we focus on the effects—on the poor and minorities residing in central cities—of the urban renewal program conceived at the national level but implemented in a decentralized way, with most authority remaining at the local level. In Israel we focus on the effects—on Arab villagers—of a centralized legal structure controlling land-use policies. We find that despite the differences in the formal governmental structures involved in the planning processes, large numbers of people were removed from their land and their homes in both nations. A crucial factor accounting for such similar policy outcomes is the lack of political power in the target groups affected by these land-use policies.