Public/Private Development

Abstract

Public/private partnerships have become a favored strategy for implementing complex urban developments in the United States and Western Europe, but the large volume of literature on the topic falls short of providing city planners, development experts, and policy analysts the knowledge needed for either teaching or practice. In the late 1970s, the blurring of lines between public and private action spurred significant intellectual debate in the U.S. literature, and concern that those financing and carrying out public/ private projects had too much influence compared to those who would ultimately pay for or be affected by the projects. As a consequence, the early literature on public/private development projects in the United States did little to enlighten. This has been changing, however, and academic literature from abroad has used inventive means to analyze public/private developments and generalize about their impacts and significance. I synthesize the case-based research on public/private development projects to extract insights and lessons for planning, deal making, and performance, concluding by recommending the additional research that I consider most needed.