Fair Division of the Replacement-Units Without an Appraiser in Urban Renewal Processes

Research team: Prof. Rica Gonan (The Open University of Israel), Dr. Erel Segal-Halevy (Ariel University)

Urban renewal is a process with great potential for improving land utilization in the city centers while improving the quality and safety of construction. However, some projects are stuck at the initial stage due to the need for tenant agreement on the division of the expected replacement units. 

We propose to develop an algorithm for the fair division of replacement units to tenants. Our basic assumption is that each person has subjective values for apartments, which do not necessarily coincide with an appraiser's estimates. The purpose of the algorithm is to divide the future apartments so that the division is considered fair in the eyes of all participants, according to their subjective values.

Existing algorithms for fair division of apartments to tenants assume that tenants have equal rights. Our proposed algorithm acknowledges that tenants have different rights: tenants whose old apartment is worth more in their opinion than their neighbors' apartments rightly expect to receive an apartment with a higher value.

We propose to develop a new algorithm that guarantees that no tenant will be jealous, considering the subjective difference between the new apartment's value and the old apartment's value. We will examine two research questions: (1) How to ensure a division without jealousy? (2) How to encourage residents to report their subjective values truthfully? We intend to apply the algorithm in practical urban renewal projects by developing a public-domain tool that will help both tenants and developers to reach an agreement.