Public-Private Partnership for Urban Regeneration: The Case of the Urban Transformation Companies

In many industrialized countries, the debate surrounding privatization is undergoing significant changes. If during the 80’s and 90’s attention was placed on the sale of public enterprises to private operators, recent studies and practices have increasingly focused on cooperation and involvement of private enterprises in the process of distribution of public services (Bach, 1999; Montanheiro et al., 1998; Osborne, 2000). This work is based on the change from “competition” with the private sector to “cooperation” with it and - in particular - on the dynamics and characteristics of the cooperation between public and private bodies. Furthermore, this work analyzes a specific type of public-private partnership, i.e. the companies for urban transformation established in Italy by municipalities and metropolitan areas to plan and implement urban transformation measures.