Urban regeneration projects involve complex contractual deals between public- and private-sector actors. Critics contend that contracts hamper opportunities for flexibility and change in these ...projects due to strict provisions that are incorporated in legal agreements. This article offers contrary empirical insights based on a study of contractual arrangements for urban regeneration projects in the Netherlands, including an analysis of interviews and confidential documents. It zooms in on provisions on safeguarding and adaptation, finding that urban regeneration projects remain receptive to flexibility and change. Public-sector actors use their room to manoeuvre while operating contracts, seeking to secure social relations and keep projects going. This article taps into data sources that are difficult to access, addressing what is included in contracts and how they are used by practitioners, and presents questions for future research on contracts in the urban built environment.
城市更新项目涉及公共和私营部门行为者之间复杂的合同交易。批评家们认为，由于法律协议中包含了严格的条款，合同阻碍了这些项目的灵活性和变化机会。本文基于对荷兰城市更新项目合同安排的研究，包括对访谈和保密文件的分析，提供了相反的经验见解。我们详尽观察了关于保护和适应的条款，发现城市更新项目仍然能够接受灵活性和变化。公共部门的行为者在实施合同时会利用他们的机动空间，寻求保护社会关系并确保项目的持续推进。本文利用了通常难以获取的数据来源，阐述了合同中包含的内容以及从业人员如何利用这些内容，并为城市建筑环境中合同的未来研究提出了问题。
Although public–private partnership (PPP) in infrastructure development has gained foothold in Flanders (the northern part of Belgium) over time, dissimilar results are evident and the controversy ...around PPP remains. This paper investigates the contradictory achievements of the Flemish Sports Infrastructure Program. It shows that the form of governance as applied by the Flemish Government was inadequate and led to interferences of political, multi-actor, and technical complexities, which in turn compromised the performance of the Program. A mismatch is revealed between the complicated governance approach and the relatively straightforward infrastructures that were developed, hence the argument that a better sense of contingency is required in future PPP programs. Moreover, governments across the globe are recommended to think twice before embarking on PPP programs which include bundled procurement and mandating agreements: severe complexities are likely to emerge and convincing evidence on the merits of bundling and mandating has not yet been delivered.22This text is based on research conducted within the frame of the Policy Research Center on Governmental Organization – Decisive Governance (SBOV III, 2012-2015), funded by the Flemish Government. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and not those of the Flemish Government.
•Study of Flemish policy for public–private partnerships in sports infrastructure.•Project delays and dropouts illustrate poor performance of policy.•Complicated governance approach is applied for straightforward infrastructure.•Mismatch between governance and infrastructure brings in complexities.
The use of public–private partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure provision has not always been based on their promise to deliver value for money (VfM). PPPs have also been applied to keep investments ...off governments’ annual accounts. This article links that motivation to particular modes of practice. It depicts the case of the Belgian region of Flanders. In this jurisdiction, a long-term PPP policy strategy, central coordination mechanism, and application of VfM assessment tools have remained absent. PPP has been used in an ad hoc way, which has granted government departments leeway in closing partnership deals. The result has been a fragmentation of both knowledge and practices. It will be challenging to realize reforms that include a more critical stance toward PPP and foster learning processes: Actors have become used to their ways of dealing with PPP and seek to pursue their own fragmented trajectories.
•Dutch and British rules on nexus between planning and water safety are compared.•Stark differences in institutional arrangements and practices were initially expected.•Some risk approach elements ...were clearly identified in a Dutch case study.•Dutch spatial planning and water safety management gradually seem to integrate.
The Netherlands and the United Kingdom are known for their different traditions of river flood risk management, which is reflected in their respective institutional frameworks. Whereas the Dutch have focused almost exclusively on reducing the probability of flooding by defining high safety standards, British flood managers are known for their propensity to influence spatial planning decisions as a means to reduce the potential impacts of flood events. This paper scrutinizes this alleged major difference in institutional arrangements and planning practices, so as to evaluate the room for elements of the risk approach in the Netherlands. Using Ostrom's IAD framework, we analyze the rules-in-use in two cases in which a new hospital is being planned in a flood-prone area. It will be shown that in spite of some important differences observed in the rules-in-use, the Dutch institutional configuration has absorbed several elements of the risk approach, and displays a higher similarity in planning practice to the UK than expected. It thus seems that Dutch flood risk management is gradually evolving into the direction of a more integral approach to water safety in spatial planning.
Background
Merwede is an envisioned neighbourhood in Utrecht (the Netherlands) that provides an instructive case to learn about the governance challenges of digital mobility platforms. Unique about ...Merwede is how the development of a mobility platform is envisioned to be integrated into the development of a new neighbourhood.
Methodology
This article discusses the case of Merwede and provides insights into its proposed mobility platform and how it is made. It illuminates governance challenges relevant to the design and operation of an unconventional mobility concept by disentangling outstanding practical issues concerning three key governance dimensions—organizational structures, decision-making processes, and instruments.
Results
The research provides an empirical illustration of governance questions that come up when mobility becomes a service and is integrated into the urban fabric from the very beginning of a development process. Already in the plan development stage, Merwede illustrates that difficult decisions are to be made and competing interests come to the fore.
Governments are increasingly using public–private partnerships (PPPs) to deliver public infrastructures and facilities. The prime motivation to embark on these partnerships is often to deliver ...products and services on time and on budget. It is generally assumed that by transferring project risks and responsibilities to private‐sector actors, governments can achieve better value for money. This article provides a novel perspective on the standards applied in PPP endeavors as it examines the tensions between the public management rationale behind value for money on the one hand, and conceptions of design and city building on the other. We focus on planning practice in the Canadian province of Ontario to show that governments apply different understandings of value in PPPs which, in turn, affect the way the design process is run. Architects, who are used to playing the role of master builder in a traditional public infrastructure project, are shifted into a less influential position and struggle with their new role. Furthermore, a different set of priorities applies in the new procurement process. The increasing use of PPPs can thus have significant consequences for city building.
Round up of public-private partnership (PPP) experience in Belgium - 10 lessons to improve PPP performance - dominant value for money evaluations need to be broadened.
Internationally, brownfield regeneration projects are delivered through public-private partnerships that form complex legal and structural delivery mechanisms. Utilizing private-sector finance and ...skills is an accepted practice to reduce financial risk for the public sector while delivering profits for the private sector. This article explores three international brownfield regeneration schemes. It highlights how and why financial risk remains within the public sector from the outset or returns to the public sector over time, despite the initial rhetoric for this burden to be carried mainly by the private sector. The analysis improves the empirical understanding of financial risk dynamics in brownfield regeneration.
Most planning theories are based on the assumption that there is a homogenous public interest. However, planning agencies are driven by multiple and conflicting interests in practice. This article ...conceptualises and empirically investigates these interests in an "extreme case" of active public land policy: the Dutch state selling Amsterdam's Bijlmer prison. Three types of dilemmas or conflicting interests that arose in the Bijlmer prison case are examined: prioritising price or social value, organizing a private transaction or a public tender, and choosing flexibility or certainty. Although these are matters of principle, subjective, pragmatic and context-specific choices determine the ultimate balance.
Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are known as challenging contractual endeavors to public sector managers, and governments are developing standard contracts in order to ease the contracting process ...toward PPP deals. This study examines the learning process governments go through while managing the procurement trajectories of PPPs over time and revising the model contract they use, thereby gradually moving toward the formulation of a standard contract. It presents a case study of four consecutive road infrastructure projects in Belgium that looks into the contractual changes that were made over time and explains the reasons behind those changes. The results indicate a learning process that is characterized by an open attitude to learning of public sector actors, and a leading role of private sector actors—primarily financiers—in proposing or even requiring change. Contrary to theory-based expectations, the government continuously tested whether its model contract was in line with market practice, rather than increasingly limiting the room for negotiation as it gained experience.
PDF
