This report examines rezoning decisions, transfer of development rights (TDR), and density bonusing as planning tools, investigating both the processes and outcomes through which they operate and the ways their mechanisms shape—and are shaped by—public-private land development. The analysis addresses three areas of inquiry: (1) planning tool mechanisms, (2) public benefits, and (3) impacts on equitable development.

Two case studies are juxtaposed to generate comparative insights and recommendations. Each case study contributes a detailed inventory of the infrastructure, services, and agreements generated through these planning mechanisms, offering a comparative basis for evaluating their equity implications. Central North, in New Taipei City, Taiwan, represents a case of farmland deregulation governed by predetermined, formula-based planning tools. The analysis finds that in the absence of planning intervention and community participation, profit logics predominate; social housing—the public benefit most capable of addressing affordability and equity concerns—was the least produced outcome. East Midtown, in New York City, represents a case of rezoning undertaken to sustain the district’s global competitiveness. Developed in response to earlier opposition to intensification, this process involved more robust stakeholder participation and yielded a combination of in-kind benefits and public realm improvement funding.