New frontiers in planning: city building through public-private partnerships?

This chapter examines the state-of-the-art in research on public-private partnerships in cities. It shows how since the early days of PPPs when they were politically presented as the only game in town, the merits of the classic long-term Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain style PPP is facing greater scrutiny in many jurisdictions. Yet the idea of partnerships and collaborations to deliver outcomes that are better than any one party could achieve on their own remains powerful amongst city builders. The chapter documents the new forms of partnerships, and a new set of urban actors that are increasingly undertaking PPPs in cities. And it questions whether PPPs lead to public services that are equitable, cost-effective, environmentally sustainable and support livable cities. The chapter concludes by proposing a research agenda that examines the rationales, governance and outcomes of PPPs comparatively with other alternatives for delivering infrastructure and tackling the most pressing challenges that cities face.