Faculty Exchange Presentation: "Collaborative Governance and the Performance of Transit Megaprojects: Strange Bedfellows or Inseparable Partners?"
Associate Professor of Public Affairs
Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs
University of Washington
Thursday, March 22, 2007
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
USC School of Policy, Planning and Development
Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall, Room 308
RSVP to Leah Oliver
Abstract
Collaborative governance is a double-edged sword. Formulating and implementing public policy through inter-organizational partnerships offers opportunities to enhance civic engagement, increase the range of ideas, resources, and expertise available to policy makers, and potentially improve program performance. At the same time, such partnerships raise the transaction costs of securing agreement on policy designs, increase coordination costs and veto points in implementation, and enlarge both scrutiny and expectations about policy performance.
To search for ways to capitalize on these opportunities and balance the risks, this paper develops a framework that highlights the incentives, information, and capacities of the partners involved in the collaborative governance of complex public programs. To illustrate the framework’s applicability, the paper analyzes transit infrastructure projects, which often entail cross-sectoral collaboration in their design and construction, and are notorious among planners for failing to achieve their demand, cost, and return projections. The framework highlights opportunities to improve the performance of transit projects by altering elements of their inter-organizational leadership, management, and organization. In particular, project promoters and staff need to develop skills in both project politics and project management that enable them to navigate the demands for transparency and accountability that lie at the heart of collaborative governance.
To view presentation slides, click here.
The Consortium on Collaborative Governance (CCG) sponsors faculty exchanges among the partnering schools to encourage collaboration and cultivation of joint research projects within the Consortium.
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