Land use disputes are a special class of public dispute. Compared to other public disputes—such as social policy conflicts or budget battles—land use disputes bring more parties to the table with fewer pre-established understandings about how their disagreements ought to be resolved. Land use conflicts also require greater attention to scientific and technical considerations, involve longer-term (even intergenerational) impacts, and can, if mishandled, extinguish property rights that have existed for centuries or result in the destruction of irreplaceable ecological resources.