Examining the interrelationships among critical success factors (CSFs) for public private partnership (PPP) projects is of importance for improving PPP project performance and maintaining the sustainability of PPP project implementation. Previous studies mostly focused on the identification of the CSFs for PPP projects; limited studies investigated the interrelationships among CSFs. Hence, the research objectives are (a) to determine the interrelationships among CSFs of PPP projects taking into account the public and (b) to identify influence paths contributing to take advantage of CSFs in the process of PPP implementation. A literature review and expert interviews were adopted to construct the CSFs framework; nine hypotheses were constructed and tested by the structural equation modelling (SEM) based on the data collected from a questionnaire survey. This research reveals that the relationship between public and private partners is the leader-follower relationship, not the partnership relationship, in PPP projects, indicating that the responsibilities, power or resources existing among partners are very unequal. It also highlights that public involvement has a negative effect on the process of service provisions, and costs and risks exist in the process of public involvement in PPP projects. The determined interrelationships among CSFs will contribute to the sustainability and success of a PPP project.

Health equity is significant for social sustainability and the Chinese government is trying to achieve the goals of “universal access to basic health care services”. As the comprehensive carrier of health care services, hospitals are almost the most important health care resources and their regional maldistribution needs to give a special concern for health justice and social sustainability. This study aims to explore regional maldistribution of various hospitals through constructing, decomposing and calculating per capita hospitals Gini Coefficient based on the unique structural system of China’s hospitals from 2003–2014. Results show that: (1) the level of regional maldistribution of hospitals in China is not too serious in terms of quantity and there is a slight decline in recent years; (2) regional maldistribution of hospitals is mainly from General Hospitals and in inland areas; and (3) the slight decrease of regional maldistribution is mainly caused by Concentration Effect and increased per capita hospitals. Based on empirical results and the reality of China, some targeted policy suggestions are proposed to reduce regional maldistribution of hospitals and promote health equity for social sustainable development.