Rising property markets create both opportunities for value creation and risks of displacement and inequality. In this workshop, I first map the key political-economic tensions scholars have identified in urban governance literature. It is followed by the introduction of institutional frameworks that attempt to mediate between market efficiency and distributive justice, with particular attention to methodological challenges in comparative urban research. Drawing on my studies of urban redevelopment in Chinese and American cities, I demonstrate methodological approaches that combine legal analysis with empirical fieldwork to investigate how variations in property rights, citizen engagement, and municipal policies influence economic outcomes and social equity. In particular, urban communities emerge as a central focus of policy innovation in various urban redevelopment processes. This analytical framework contributes to broader discussions about institutional design for managing contested resources in dynamic urban environments.