By Eva Bufí, Executive Director PPP for Cities

Cities, and especially those in emerging countries undergoing swift growth, are forced to constantly develop and improve their services. These services include the urbanization of new areas, communications, drinking water, sewer systems, power supply and transportation, among others. These infrastructure and service improvements require the constant investment of own funds, of which there is often not enough to supply citizens with the services they need. Other times, civil servants are inefficient when providing services, often resulting in increased costs, delays in service provision or simply the technical unfeasibility of providing these services.

Public-private partnership is a tool that can improve and accelerate the provision of services, leverage the administration's financing capacities, improve the efficiency of public investment and make better use of private sector expertise in customer service. It is based on the recognition that both the public and private sectors can benefit by pooling their financial resources, knowledge and expertise in order to improve the provision of services to citizens.

The Specialist Centre on PPPs in Smart and Sustainable Cities (PPP for Cities) is a research, innovation and advisory center that aims to provide public administrations throughout the world with support in the organization, management and development of projects involving collaboration between the public and private sectors in the cities arena.

It is also a partnership platform between companies and administrations from all over the world where they can further explore the dynamics of public-private partnerships, create guides to good practices and standards and design solutions to the issues facing cities.

The vision of PPP for Cities is being the international benchmark in how to plan, develop and implement PPP projects in Cities and spread knowledge and good practices all over the world. PPP for Cities has the mandate of UN to become an international platform of collaboration and cooperation between the public and the private sector and a tool for public sector and international organizations. Some of its activities are: set up of working groups in sub-sectors (energy, urbanism, mobility, social services, etc), organization of seminars, conferences and capacity building, elaboration of guidelines and standards (done by working groups), strategic advice to public administrations, partnerships programs between cities (with public and private sector from both sides), certification, among others

The Center is led by IESE Business School and is part of the United Nations' International Centre o Excellence on PPPs program. It has the support and sponsorship of the Barcelona City Council and other public administrations and private companies.

The headquarters of the PPP for Cities is IESE's Public Private Sector Research Center.

PPP for Cities is a non-profit organization open to public and private sector, citizens associations, international organizations and individual experts, subject to membership, and open to provide advice to administrations not members of the Center.

For more information you can contact to info@pppcities.org (www.pppcities.org)