Public-Private Partnerships in Post-Socialist Urban Governance: Comparative Institutional Change in Leipzig, Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

Thirty years after Soviet-style socialism, the post-socialist cities have witnessed a wideranging transformation in urban processes toward various forms of the trend "government to governance". This paper aims to explore the differences in Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) institutional change in Leipzig, Shanghai, and Ho Chi Minh City and eventually to describe and profile such differences. Firstly, analysing the stages of development of PPPs, and the methods of urban governance can indicate some differences in the formal and informal institutional changes of three cities. Secondly, using the integrated framework, developed by DiGaetano and Strom (2003), which emphasizes that the joining together of structural, cultural, and rational actor approaches to a cross-case studies comparison, in order to explain the differences in the path of institutional change for PPPs formed by varied forms and degrees regarding the withdrawal of state control affected by globalization, marketization, as well as culture, history, and rational actors. Lastly, this paper critically discusses the institutional challenges for PPPs of these post-socialist cities within collaborative governance and drawing up recommendations for future policy measures.