Public-Private Partnerships and Urban Governance

Abstract

In postwar Western democracies the ‘traditional’ image of urban government is as the direct provider of welfare and other services. The image of ‘modern’ urban government is as an enabler, a catalytic agent facilitating provision and action by and through others. In the words of Osborne and Gaebler (1992) this ‘reinvented’ form of government is more about steering and less about rowing. The focus on Public-Private partnerships in this volume reflects a concern with this shift in the working of urban government. Partnerships were always an element in the activities of postwar urban governments. Yet the increased use of partnership appears to be part of a broader shift in the process of governing.