Submit to Sustainability Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

Public Projects, Public–Private Partnerships and Economic Sustainability Evaluation

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 26337

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Cristina Coscia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Architecture and Design, Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy
Interests: heritage economic enhancement; strategic evaluation for decision making; social impact assessment; public project evaluation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Elena Fregonara

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Architecture and Design, Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy
Interests: evaluation of project economic sustainability; life cycle costing; real estate market analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The current context, strongly characterized by the COVID-19 pandemic and by financial, economic and environmental emergencies, has further highlighted long-standing fragility: in particular, attention is focused on the need to relaunch the public role of institutions as a driving force and guarantee and guide in urban and territorial transformation processes.

This obviously clashes with the critical issues of depletion of resources and their scarcity, as well as emergencies—not only the current COVID-19 pandemic emergency, but climatic and social ones.

The scientific community has highlighted the need for these challenges to be considered by decision makers in the field of real estate appraisal and project economic evaluation. More specifically, the question of interest is what the premises and the perspectives are for new approaches and evaluation methods. A real rethinking of approaches is necessary in light of the current situation, especially considering the urgent need for new tools that support investment planning and capital budgeting, specifically planning, evaluating, and controlling investments, which capture the complexity of contemporary interventions along their life cycle, and that support the subjects involved in decision-making processes. The consolidated approaches for analyzing investments and for testing their feasibility can no more be related to the linear economic perspective: they must be revised to follow a circular perspective.

Assuming these premises, the following issues must be incorporated into the judgments of economic–financial convenience:

1) The life cycle of projects in light of recent international/European directives and standards, assuming the Circular Economy principles;

2) Alternative or supplementary ways to find resources (e.g., real estate crowdfunding also used in new generation real estate funds);

3) The economic and social balance sheets of different stakeholders;

4) Public–private partnership models in which the relationships of responsibility and risk are evident.

The key questions that can be addressed are:

1) Are traditional tools of investment analysis and evaluation of public plans and projects still suitable? If so, how is the scientific community critically rethinking them?

2) How is the role of the public entity being redefined in these perspective?

3) Which sustainability evaluation approaches are being adopted to evaluate and monitor public interventions throughout their life cycle, also in light of the European energy–environmental policies?

4) Are new forms of risk and responsibility emerging in regeneration interventions?

5) Which feasibility evaluation approaches are being developed to enhance the existent Heritage?

6) Are new models of public–private partnership being tested?

All contributions providing research findings, experiences, and applications on these topics are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Cristina Coscia
Prof. Dr. Elena Fregonara
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

evaluation of project economic sustainability
public projects
PPP
life cycle thinking
circular economy
risk and responsibility
economic–financial feasibility
real estate market analysis
public project evaluation
sustainable development
urban planning tools
decision-making support tools

Published Papers (11 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

18 pages, 2285 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Discount Rate in the Evaluation of Project Economic-Environmental Sustainability

by Elena Fregonara and Diego Giuseppe Ferrando

Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2467; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032467 - 30 Jan 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1764

Abstract

The debate about project economic sustainability evaluation from a life cycle perspective focused on the conventional Life Cycle Costing (LCC). Despite the potentialities of the approach for evaluating design options at different scales (building/system/component/material), some limits emerge due to the neoclassical nature of the economic principles on which it is founded. The most important aspect of this debate is the necessity to clarify how to deal with environmental costs in the calculation, particularly in the case of public/PPP interventions. Two research topics emerge for strengthening the capability of LCC to deal with environmental components: (1) the LCC and environmental quantitative analysis (using Life Cycle Assessment) joint application; (2) the integration of the environmental dimension into the microeconomic approach, using appropriate discount rates. As known, these last are particularly relevant for public projects, in which the time value of money issue becomes crucial in presence of long lifespan analyses and economic objectives. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore alternative discounting modalities, for identifying the preferable one, towards an “environmental LCC model”. The research domain is therefore on the limits of LCC in dealing with environmental cost components, at the time being poorly studied by the scientific literature: this point represents the missing link which form the basis for the research problem to be addressed. The research design is focused on the investigation of environmental hurdle rate technique and the escalation rate approach, as alternatives to the standard “time preference” (financial) one. The LCC and the global cost are selected as the main tool for the analysis, which is founded on an empirical research methodology. The results, obtained by simulations on a case study (two alternative technological components), confirm the relevance of the discount rate effect on the Global Cost calculation by modelling some of the potential impacts of building components on the environment, e.g., the expectations of technological development over time. By the environmental hurdle rate, the results can even change the final preferability ranking obtained using financial rates. The value of the work consists of growing the debate on the topic and supporting environmentally responsible investment decisions in the building construction sector (new-build/retrofit of existing assets). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Projects, Public–Private Partnerships and Economic Sustainability Evaluation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 1309 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Sustainability of Financing Mode and Demand of PPP Project—Based on Chinese PPP and Local Financing Platform Alternative Perspective

by Fusheng Xie

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14591; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114591 - 6 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1795

Abstract

This paper studies the sustainability of the financing model in China’s urbanization and the demand of local governments for PPP projects. Based on the integrated panel data of PPP, local investment and financing platforms, urban investment bonds, and local economic statistics, the fixed effect model and dynamic panel regression model are used to study whether local financing platforms promote economic growth. The results show that in general, the development model of financing platform is not conducive to sustainable economic development. Before the 2008 economic crisis, local governments were pushing up house prices through financing platforms which boosted economic growth, but after the 2008 economic crisis, this mechanism did not work. Therefore, the sample selection model is used to predict the demand of local PPP projects and verify the substitution relationship between local financing platforms and PPP. The study found that financing platforms hinder local government demand for PPP projects and the attraction to private investment. After adjusting the relevant variables to zero, the demand for PPP projects in a representative city is 3.46. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Projects, Public–Private Partnerships and Economic Sustainability Evaluation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 986 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Identifying Measures of Effective Risk Management for Public–Private Partnership Infrastructure Projects in Developing Countries

by Khwaja Mateen Mazher, Albert P. C. Chan, Rafiq M. Choudhry, Hafiz Zahoor, David J. Edwards, Ahmed M. Ghaithan, Awsan Mohammed and Mubashir Aziz

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14149; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114149 - 29 Oct 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3542

Abstract

The inadequate risk management of public–private partnership (PPP) projects is a principal cause of project distress or failure. This research seeks to identify and empirically validate measures of effective risk management (ERM) in the context of PPPs in a developing country, a subject that has received scant attention in the extant literature. The research is based on a comprehensive literature review, expert interviews and a questionnaire survey. Mean score ranking and factor analysis were employed to rank and group the identified measures, respectively. Tests were performed to determine the respondents’ agreement and establish the reliability and validity of the survey instrument. Analysis results indicate that all identified measures are important, are distributed over the entire project’s life cycle and exhibit a multi-organizational focus. The most significant measures focus on PPP-specific artifacts and procurement activities that are vital for ERM. Factor analysis established six critical underlying dimensions for the ERM of PPP projects. The extracted factors generally acknowledge the need for expert public- and private-sector project stakeholders with mature organizational structures, business processes and relevant experience to successfully handle and deliver PPP projects. Furthermore, a comprehensive PPP policy and sound legal and regulatory frameworks are essential for supporting the ERM of PPP projects. The findings will enable a better understanding of factors that influence the quality and outcomes of risk management efforts and promote sustainable infrastructure development via PPPs, where the success of a project strongly relies on positively managing a project’s risks in the economic and the social domains. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Projects, Public–Private Partnerships and Economic Sustainability Evaluation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 1255 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Role of Public–Private Partnerships in Local Government Debt Is a Potential Threat to Sustainable Cities: A Case from China

by Liping Fu, Huajun Sun, Yuan Meng and Jiaxin Li

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 13972; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142113972 - 27 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1282

Abstract

(1) Background: Public–private partnerships (PPPs) play an essential role in sustainable cities and are widely applied in the public environment, health, and transportation sectors. One of the main functions of PPP projects is to attract private capital to provide better public services and infrastructure. PPP projects require government investment, potentially threatening the debt of local governments. However, few scholars have shown attention to the relationship between PPP projects and local government debt. (2) Methods: Therefore, this study selects data from 36 cities in China from 2014 to 2018. Ordinary least squares (OLS), quantile regression, and placebo tests are used to investigate this claim. (3) Results: This study finds that PPP projects can affect local governments’ debt; based on this result, this study further proposes that the effect of PPP projects on local government debt has regional heterogeneity. Compared with eastern regions, PPPs in central and western areas of China have a noticeable impact on local government debt. This study also investigates the effect of different types of PPP projects on local government debt. In terms of the number of new additions, comprehensive urban development PPP projects have the largest effect on the exacerbation of government deb. In terms of the amount of new investment, environmental protection PPP projects have the greatest exacerbating effect on government debt. (4) Conclusion: These findings try to identify PPPs’ effect on local government debt. It is of potential reference for sustainable cities and helps to provide better transport, environmental, and health public services. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Projects, Public–Private Partnerships and Economic Sustainability Evaluation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

23 pages, 5310 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Public Procurement in the Building Construction Sector

by Elena Fregonara, Diego Giuseppe Ferrando and Jean-Marc Tulliani

Sustainability 2022, 14(18), 11616; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811616 - 16 Sep 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2489

Abstract

Considering that in the E.U. public procurement in the construction sector is highly represented, the Directive 2014/24/EU is implemented for harmonizing procurement processes across European countries. The Directive is transposed in Italy, through the Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) national action plan, for supporting public procurement and public–private partnership (PPP) interventions. SPP is founded on two pillars: according to an economic viewpoint, the financial efficiency is the key aspect to verify, and, according to a sustainability viewpoint, externalities are a key element in the environmental evaluation, despite the fact that their monetary quantification into the global cost calculation is quite complex. Thus, this work aims to explore a methodology for the joint evaluation of economic–environmental sustainability of project options, in the tender evaluation phase of the SPP. The methodology is based on the life cycle costing (LCC) and CO₂ emissions joint assessment, including criteria weighting and uncertainty components. Two alternative technologies—a timber and an aluminum window frame—are assumed as a case for a simulation, implemented with the software “Smart SPP LCC-CO₂ Tool” (developed through the research “Smart SPP—Innovation through sustainable procurement”, supported by Intelligent Energy Europe). The simulation demonstrates that the methodology is a fast and effective modality for selecting alternative options, introducing sustainability in the decision-making process. The work is a contribution to the growing literature on the topic, and for giving support to subjects (public authorities and private operators) involved in public procurement processes/PPP interventions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Projects, Public–Private Partnerships and Economic Sustainability Evaluation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

32 pages, 8437 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How to Monitor and Evaluate Quality in Adaptive Heritage Reuse Projects from a Well-Being Perspective: A Proposal for a Dashboard Model of Indicators to Support Promoters

by Daniele Dabbene, Carla Bartolozzi and Cristina Coscia

Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7099; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127099 - 9 Jun 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1992

Abstract

Among the research discourse concerning cultural heritage in the post-COVID-19phase, a greater awareness of the social value of heritage and its repercussions on collective well-being has emerged. This attention requires overcoming the top-down approach of public policies in favour of public–private partnership tools that are more effective at capturing the multidimensional components of value generated by cultural heritage. However, it is necessary to refine the tools used to evaluate and guide actions towards a perspective capable of integrating the conservation needs of the asset with collective well-being. This contribution investigates the calls for funding and public notices on the architectural heritage in Italy in the period from 2014–2020. In this field, the Third Sector is assuming a crucial role, showing specific attention to the issue of well-being consistent with its social goals. The calls were collected and structured in a database, with a specific focus on the calls aimed at adaptive heritage reuse that were categorised and analysed. Finally, the research proposed an assessment method based on a dashboard model of indicators to evaluate the quality of reuse interventions. The selected indicators consider both the production of plus-value in terms of improving well-being, and the need to bring the interventions on the existing architecture to a procedural circularity in line with the theoretical orientations of restoration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Projects, Public–Private Partnerships and Economic Sustainability Evaluation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

31 pages, 408 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

ELECTRE III for Strategic Environmental Assessment: A “Phantom” Approach

by Fabrizio Battisti

Sustainability 2022, 14(10), 6221; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106221 - 20 May 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1770

Abstract

The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is a systematic evaluation process of the environmental consequences of urban and territorial plans and programs which aims to guarantee a high degree of environmental protection and to contribute to integrating environmental factors during the design, adoption, and approval of plans and programs. Even if in Europe the SEA was already included in the legislation of each European Member State as of 2017, in these countries—and particularly in Italy—there is a diffuse lack of indications on procedures and/or evaluation protocols. In this article, the use of evaluation techniques in SEA is discussed. The specific objective of the research is the construction of an evaluation method to express a synthetic judgement—based on acknowledged, objective parameters—within the SEA procedure. According to the literature review, results regarding the SEA procedure, and its possible supporting methodologies, Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) appears to be the most SEA-coherent approach. Moreover, the ELECTRE method family has shown the highest suitability to perform the evaluation phase of SEA. Hence, an operational development of ELECTRE III is herein proposed and applied to a case study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Projects, Public–Private Partnerships and Economic Sustainability Evaluation)

20 pages, 1519 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Project Sustainability and Public-Private Partnership: The Role of Government Relation Orientation and Project Governance

by Guoli Feng, Shengyue Hao and Xiaoguang Li

Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4724; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084724 - 14 Apr 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2045

Abstract

In China, the government is not only responsible for the supply of local public facilities and services, but also the maker of public-private-partnership (PPP) policies and systems, and has a greater voice in PPP projects. The attitude and behavior of the government are essential to the sustainable development of PPP projects. This research focuses on the deep-seated connotation of the external attitude and behavior of the government, that is, the impact mechanism and path of the government’s relation orientation on project sustainability. First, enrich the connotation of the government’s relation orientation, project sustainability, and project governance, and improve the measurement scale. Then, construct a structural equation model, collect data through questionnaires, and explore the path of the government’s relation orientation on project sustainability. The research results show that: (1) different relation orientations have different effects on project governance and project sustainability, among which instrumental relation orientation and rent-seeking relation orientation will directly affect project sustainability; (2) relationship governance and contract governance play different mediating roles. The research results provide new ideas and perspectives for improving project governance mechanisms and project sustainability in the practice of PPP projects in China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Projects, Public–Private Partnerships and Economic Sustainability Evaluation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

23 pages, 19183 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Embodied Carbon and Embodied Energy Scenarios in the Built Environment. Computational Design Meets EPDs

by Sara Giaveno, Anna Osello, Davide Garufi and Diego Santamaria Razo

Sustainability 2021, 13(21), 11974; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132111974 - 29 Oct 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2246

Abstract

This article aims to study the political, environmental and economic factors in contemporary society that influence new approaches and decision making in design in terms of carbon emissions and energy employment. These issues are increasingly influencing political decision making and public policy throughout every aspect of society, including the design practice. Managing this kind of complexity means adopting new forms of collaboration, methodologies and tools, knowledge and technology sharing. The article aims to narrate a PhD research experience grounded in academy–industry collaboration and aimed at creating a digital methodology for impact evaluation and investment planning. In particular, the digital methodology focuses on responding to international public policy for the sustainable growth of cities, in terms of footprint and energy demand, by including a holistic view of the design process made possible by the use of life-cycle assessment (LCA) procedures. To simplify the calculation, the methodology focuses on the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) data rather than the entire LCA. The EPD is a document that describes the environmental impacts linked to the production of a specific quantity of product or service. The objective was not to create another evaluation method but to employ the EPD results in combination with parametric and computational procedures. The integration of those procedures by using visual programming and scripting allowed the calculation of Embodied Carbon and Embodied Energy and created a user-friendly interface to query the results. The output obtained included automatic and dynamic diagrams able to identify impact scenarios in terms of CO₂ emissions and MJ of embodied energy after the conceptual design stage. The strategic use of the charts lies in their potential to simulate impact conditions and, therefore, in the chance to create sustainable transformation scenarios in the early stages of design. At this point, the influence on choices is at its highest, and the costs are low. Moreover, the methodology represents a platform of collaboration that potentially increases the level of interaction between the actors of the construction process with the consequent improvement in design quality. In conclusion, building the design methodology and testing its performance within a specific sociotechnical context was important in critically evaluating certain topics, for example, the recent European strategies on new technology to reach sustainable objectives, the role of digital tools in proposing solutions towards contemporary social issues, the birth of new forms of partnership and collaboration and the new possibilities coming from digital evaluation approaches. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Projects, Public–Private Partnerships and Economic Sustainability Evaluation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 414 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact Assessment in Not-for-Profit Organizations: The Case of a Foundation for the Development of the Territory

by Guido Giovando, Alessia Mangialardo, Enrico Sorano and Alberto Sardi

Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9755; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179755 - 30 Aug 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2358

Abstract

The paper describes the impact assessment method of new projects and investments in a foundation for the development of the territory based on a venture philanthropy approach. It compares the method identified with the main procedures included in the scientific literature. The paper highlights a qualitative case study carried out through three steps: (a) case study selection, (b) data collection, and (c) data analysis. Data were analyzed by three techniques: understanding the context, within-case study, and cross-case study. The result identifies an impact assessment method of new projects and investments used by a foundation for the development of the territory. It highlights a qualitative impact assessment method used for internal reporting purposes. This method is based on an ex-post evaluation with high feasibility, which allows for significant time saving. However, it does not allow for an in-depth cost analysis and presents low credibility. This assessment method can be used to justify contributions to projects and investments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Projects, Public–Private Partnerships and Economic Sustainability Evaluation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 2935 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Networking Digital Platforms and Healthcare Project Finance Bankability

by Roberto Moro-Visconti

Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 5061; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095061 - 30 Apr 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2813

Abstract

Framework: Healthcare project finance (PF) involves long-term structural investments in hospitals, typically within a public–private partnership (PPP). Banks represent the third major stakeholder, supporting the private player. Within this well-known framework, digital platforms represent a new virtual stakeholder, operating as a bridging node that incorporates information, and eases transactions. The relationships among the stakeholders are re-engineered around the platform and may be expressed with network theory patterns, even considering its multilayer extensions. Justification: As these investments are highly leveraged, especially during the construction phase, bankability represents a major sustainability concern. Objective: The research question is focused on the savings deriving from the introduction of networked digital platforms, and on their impact on bankability, shaping a new PPP model. Methodology: The study is conducted through (a) an economic–financial sensitivity analysis where digital savings impact on key PF parameters, including bankability; (b) a mathematical interpretation, based on network theory, where the stakeholders of two ecosystems—respectively, without and with a digital platform—are compared. Results: The creation of a value-adding “pie” anticipates its partitioning among the value co-creating stakeholders. This study represents an advance in the field, showing how technological innovation may improve the overall bankability and the value creation of leveraged infrastructural investments, even beyond the healthcare industry. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Projects, Public–Private Partnerships and Economic Sustainability Evaluation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Public Projects, Public–Private Partnerships and Economic Sustainability Evaluation

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (11 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI