A Critique on Public–Private–People Partnerships: From a Definitional Inconsistency to the Partnering Dilemma in Today’s Housing Conjunction

Abstract

This paper showcases the first exhaustive literature review on the public–private–people partnership (4P), as a concept on its own, its backstory, its proposed definitions, and multiple interpretations throughout the last fifteen years. Beyond mapping the discussion on what does the extra ‘P’—the people—component of these partnerships really mean, and how it is understood by scholars and the traditional public and private partners alike, this work also aims to be the starting point for new research avenues, such as corporate–community cooperation, and urban regeneration through different land use and ownership schemes. Hence, the discussion spreads onto analyzing how the concept is approached from different professional fields—for its inherent interdisciplinarity, despite the perceived scarcity of related literature available—but also onto the ambivalence stemming from the nature of the ‘people’ component itself, its functions, and the relationships—formal or informal—that should be established. Finally, the authors go on to critically place the concept within the current urban and real estate trends in both, the Global North and South, while identifying further gaps in the current literature, for example: given today’s critical housing supply and affordability situations, how to get the public and private sectors interested in partnering with people in a more direct way? What needs to be done? What needs to be further researched?