Spatio-temporal dynamics of public private partnership projects in China

• A comprehensive PPP project-oriented database in China for the past 30 years has been built
• The development process of PPP projects in China could be better divided into four stages
• China’s PPP development witnessed fluctuations along with time series, spatial differentiation and paradox of application
• Main factors for shaping PPP development process in China are clearly identified from four dimensions
• This paper can be of interest and help to policy makers, PPP project investors, managers, and academic researchers

Public Private Partnership (PPP) has been widely applied in developing infrastructures around the world. In this research, a large database of PPP projects in China was firstly built to explore the spatio-temporal evolution in terms of regional differentiation, sectors, investors and contract types. It was found that China's PPP projects have undergone four stages with the characteristics of fluctuations along with time series, spatial differentiation and paradox of application. The mechanism behind these changes mainly include the momentum of economic development and impact of national policies, local settings, especially the local governments' motivation, preference, competency and reliability, as well as the feasibility and management of PPP projects. This paper tries to make its contribution in providing Chinese cases for international comparison, while helping Chinese national and local governments make customized policies, as well as laying foundation for further in-depth empirical and theoretical PPP research.