The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a global economic crisis and is leading multiple local, regional, and national governments to increase public debt to unprecedented levels. This situation endangers current and future road public-private partnership (PPP) programs, given their dependence on user fees and/or government availability payments. Accordingly, this study aims to explore recovery measures to address short- and long-term road PPP-related challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, by considering recuperation actions implemented during the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC). To do so, this research examines the PPP-crisis literature through the lens of social network analysis (SNA) and concepts linked to network modularity and community detection techniques. The analysis focuses on unraveling semantic relationships between PPP-related keywords in order to understand lessons learned from the GFC and to propose suitable remedies for overcoming the consequences of the global economic crisis derived from the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings show that the PPP-crisis literature forms a comprehensive self-contained interwoven network that can be organized into five semantic communities according to concepts related to risk, financing, governance, procurement, and institutional environment. Based on such communities, the analysis suggests five recovery measures and highlights two implementation challenges (i.e., global supply chain disruptions and quantitative easing policies). Future research is required to examine effective ways to apply the proposed PPP remedies in the long-term.

For several decades, governments around the world have increasingly used public–private partnerships (PPPs) to improve the road infrastructure sectors in their jurisdictions. In response, research has examined the managerial and organizational methods associated with PPP procurement processes. Although the PPP body of knowledge continues to grow, the functioning of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) formed to pursue PPP projects, particularly the relationships among SPV equity investors, remains largely unexplored. Building on concepts from the PPP and social network analysis (SNA) domains, the main goal of this study is to examine the patterns of behavior associated with SPV equity investors participating in the PPP tendering processes. The methodology uses data from public and proprietary databases to examine the networks of relationships among PPP equity providers within the road infrastructure sectors in Canada, Chile, and the United States over the last 26 years. The main outcome of this analysis is a characterization of the PPP equity markets in these three countries. Results show that PPP investors seemingly exhibit collaboration-based connections in the Canadian network, competition-based relationships in the Chilean market, and a combination of competition and collaboration features in the US network. Conclusions suggest that, despite their differences, the PPP networks studied are complex and self-organizing structures that exhibit preferential attachment mechanisms between central and peripheral players. Future studies are suggested to add insight on the ways that PPP markets and SPVs mutually influence one another and affect project performance.

In the road infrastructure sector, public–private partnership (PPP) projects involve the implementation of project finance principles through the signing of a long-term contract between the public authority and a group of sponsors assembled in a special purpose vehicle (SPV). However, although PPP sponsors play a very important role in SPV formation, the literature does not provide sufficient information to permit a detailed understanding of such creation processes. Therefore, this study provides insight into the mechanisms associated with the way PPP sponsors establish relationships among themselves in order to form SPVs. The approach employs social network concepts and exponential random graph model (ERGM) techniques. The analysis is focused on tie-formation processes in sponsor networks across the bidding and financial close stages of PPP road projects in Canada, Chile, and the US between 1993 and 2019. Results show that, despite some differences in the studied jurisdictions, dyadic (i.e., repeated relationships) and structural (i.e., transitivity) factors are the most influential properties driving bidding consortium and SPV creation procedures. Conclusions indicate that sponsors’ behavioral patterns are highly influenced by trust-based mechanisms. Further research is required to continue understanding the role of other PPP players and the effect of the external institutional environment on PPP networks.

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is one of the main challenges to stopping climate change; in particular, the building sector acts as one of the main emitters. In response, governments have been developing nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and roadmaps to establish measures to achieve net-zero emissions. One of the main barriers to implementing these measures, particularly in the building sector, underlays in stakeholder integration. Through social network analysis (SNA) concepts, this research explores the roles of the actors whose participation is required in decarbonizing the Colombian building sector. These stakeholders engage in enabling categories (e.g., policy, finance, technology, and capacity development) required to achieve net-zero emissions, according to the goals proposed by the Colombian Green Building Council (CGBC). For the network analysis, we employ the results of semi-structured interviews led by the CGBC within the framework of the Zero Carbon Building Accelerator (ZCBA) project. Findings show highly interconnected networks characterized by redundant connections among actors. Three types of actors are identified within each enabler network: prominent actors with high centrality values, in charge of coordinating most of the actions required to achieve net-zero emissions; second-level actors limited to specific roles in policy-making processes; and perimeter actors focused on a few particular actions.