Public-Private Partnerships in Urban Development in the United States

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variety of public-private partnerships into account. In fact, there is no accepted typology of
public-private partnerships and some scholars even argue that there is no typology at all. This
section seeks to represent some classifications of public-private partnerships conceived by
different scholars. Subsequently, I propose a typology that is based on three pillars: (1) the
organizational structure of partnerships in terms of formal agreements, (2) the involvement of
the public sector regarding financing of specific partnership projects and provision of
financial or not primarily financial incentives in order to attract private investment, and (3)
chief objectives cooperative efforts are aimed at including partnerships spatial foci.

My discussion of a sensible typology of public-private partnerships begins with a review of
some classification of public-private partnerships by different scholars. Stewman and Tarr
distinguish between four types of public-private partnerships in Pittsburgh: (1) environmental,
(2) organizational (both social and managerial), and (3) bricks-and-mortar (Stewman; Tarr,
1982:103). Environmental partnerships for smoke and flood control were the earliest
partnerships in urban development in Pittsburgh. They are considered a prerequisite for CDB
and bricks-and-mortar development. Consequently, environmental partnerships are the bases
for bricks-and-mortar or physical development partnerships in Pittsburgh. But this is true only
for frostbelt cities which were dominated by heavy industries. Stewman and Tarr distinguish
organizational partnerships in social-oriented and managerial-oriented partnerships, whereas
the most novel is the development of social partnerships (Stewman; Tarr, 1982:103). Social
partnerships usually are focused on neighborhood revitalization and private foundations are
traditionally involved in those kinds of partnerships. Social partnership means broader
participation of the community and in Pittsburgh particularly the black community.
Managerial partnerships try to make government operations more efficient for instance
through the use of private-sector-loaned executives within government.

Figure 1 provides summary information about the different kinds of partnerships in Pittsburgh
including basic objectives and participants.

Figure 1: Public-private partnerships taking Pittsburgh as example

Source: (own draft) Stewman, S.; Tarr, J. A., 1982:79-110

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