Like any tool it has two sides. The good is that public projects, of general benefit, which are good( like a road or utility line) or necessary ( like a water main or sewer line) cannot be stopped or altered by one individual or small minority. While the compensation is seldom at full market rate, at least there is that possession is recognized and compensated to a degree.
The bad side is when it is used to discriminate along racial or other lines. A case I remember is one in a western city where the alignment of a major freeway was put directly through the middle of a Hispanic community, in part to make access from housing to shopping more difficult and to allow developers to acquire property at a relatively low price since otherwise the residents would receive an even lower price from the city. Thousands of extra dollars was spent in a bridge realignment to accomplish this. The result is that where small shops once stood along a street, the land has been redeveloped into a WalMart, Lowe’s big box shopping plaza and the other side of the freeway has been gentrified, causing higher tax rates which the long time residents couldn’t pay and had to move.