The privatization of street furniture

Abstract

For many years the private sector has been an active player in the provision of public services such as health, education and infrastructure. However, during the last two decades, the private sector has concentrated its participation mainly in telecommunications, power and transport. Because of to the lack of market forces and the public resistance to pay for what are perceived to be free-public services, areas such as education, health and a wide range of municipal services have remained unattractive to private investment. As governments learn from privatization experiences and keep on implementing market friendly policies, social values and perceptions will continue to evolve, allowing for the privatization of a larger scope of public services, including street furniture. This thesis looks into the recent trend among US cities to increase the private sector participation in the provision of street furniture by focusing on the following questions: - What is driving the recent trend towards street furniture privatization in the US? - What are the main public concerns raised by the privatization of street furniture? - How can the conflicting interests between public and private sectors concerning the privatization of street furniture be reconciled? - Compared to current delivery methods, is privatization a better alternative for providing street furniture in major US cities? In order to provide a practical perspective to the theoretical framework included in the first part of this work, this thesis also presents a case study on the City of Boston's Coordinated Street Furniture Program. This case discusses Boston's approach to reconciling the conflicting interests that exist between the public and private sectors regarding the privatization of street furniture. The work presented in this thesis demonstrates that privatization is a feasible alternative, not only for providing street furniture, but also for providing it in a more effective and efficient manner. The current trend among US cities towards the privatization of street furniture will keep growing as long as the benefits provided by these programs continue to outweigh the costs they impose on society and the urban environment. The rate of growth will be dictated by the evolution of social values and perceptions regarding the privatization of public services and by how efficiently governments assimilate their learning from other privatization experiences.