Some redevelopment projects and programs have been incredibly controversial including the Urban Renewal program in the United States in the mid-twentieth century or the urban regeneration program in Great Britain. Controversy usually results either from the use of eminent domain, from objections to the change in use or increases in density and intensity on the site or from disagreement on the appropriate use of tax-payer funds to pay for some element of the project. Urban redevelopment in the United States has been controversial because it forcibly displaces poor and lower middle class populations and turns over their land to wealthy redevelopers for free or for a below-market-value price. They then use that land to construct private shopping malls, office buildings, automobile factories and dealerships, and even gambling casinos.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redevelopment