Multi-sector partnerships in the urban development context: A scoping review

Abstract

The existing research on urban development has gradually changed from policy-led management to multi-sector participation in co-design, aiming to create a more livable urban ecosystem. The goal of this paper is to identify the main modes, focuses, and differences among multi-sector partnerships, as well as analyzing the most promising areas of improvement in the existing partnerships modes in the urban development context. The main research method is a scoping review. Five main modes of multi-sector partnerships were identified. These are ‘multi-stakeholder partnership’, ‘public-private partnership’, ‘public-private-people partnership’, ‘community-organizational partnerships, and ‘end-user-oriented partnership’. Most of them focus on four aspects, namely ‘factors affecting participation’, ‘relationship between participants’, ‘engagement strategy’, as well as ‘influence of participation’. The analysis revealed three main areas of improvement: Developing a systematic and effective way to classify the factors affecting participation into a structural system, exploring an efficient method to balance the power of different participants in the participation process, and finding an efficient means to reach a collaborative agreement for different partners. Keywords Multi-sector partnershipMulti-stakeholder partnershipCommunity engagementPublic-private-people partnershipSustainable urban development