2017 Theses Master's

An Effective Framework of Public-Private Partnerships: Creating An Economically Viable Plan for Conserving and Managing Beijing’s Urban Heritage Sites

Teng, Fei

The ongoing process of urbanization China is experiencing, budgetary constraints on heritage conservation, and inappropriate reuse have together exerted a negative impact on urban heritage sites in China’s cities, like Beijing. Despite these problems, public-private partnerships (PPPs), may serve as an effective tool which can not only address these problems, but also achieve a balance between heritage conservation and economic development.
The primary aim of my work is to build more understanding about key factors for developing an effective framework of heritage PPPs to create an economically viable plan for conserving and managing Beijing’s urban heritage sites. Therefore, I include a detailed background analysis of PPPs and Beijing’s governance environment based on an extensive literature review. Moreover, case studies of both successful and problematic examples in China’s cities and other comparable cities are explored to understand the challenges and opportunities Beijing faces. In addition, policy review of key guidelines of international organizations with expert knowledge and also policy documents at both national and local levels is carried out to select important policy elements appropriate to Beijing’s contexts. Finally, a series of research-based and policy-related recommendations are proposed.