Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

4-2016

Abstract

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have been utilized extensively in both developed and developing countries to provide various public services and infrastructure. The literature points to many common critical success factors, including a mature financial market, transparent regulatory framework, advanced technology, and people's acceptance of new forms, but those can vary from country to country. South Korea's mature market capitalist system and strong regulatory framework have led to somewhat successful infrastructure provision through PPPs at the national level, but as our two cases of urban transportation in the Seoul Metropolitan Area indicate, local-level PPPs have demonstrated mixed results. By elaborating on the factors that affect the outcomes of PPPs at the local level, we argue that under a relatively new local democracy, Korean cities are likely to be susceptible to producing unfair contracts mainly due to limited local fiscal authority and resources, opportunistic behavior of local politicians, an underdeveloped urban institutional framework for PPPs, and the rise of new conditions such as economic nationalism intermixed with speculative foreign investment.

Keywords

Public–Private Partnerships, Local government, Urban infrastructure, Decentralization, South Korea

Discipline

Asian Studies | Urban Studies and Planning

Research Areas

Sociology

Publication

Cities

Volume

53

First Page

35

Last Page

42

ISSN

0264-2751

Identifier

10.1016/j.cities.2016.01.007

Publisher

Elsevier

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2016.01.007

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