Conclusions: The dynamic and fluid world of partnerships

This chapter draws conclusions and shows the dynamic and fluid world of partnerships. First, it shows that a strong commitment to the partnership and its goal, stable funding and stable (political) leadership are essential for a partnership to be effective. At the same time, partnerships must remain responsive to the (changing) needs and wishes of the public and private partners. Second, it shows that context defines the type and urgency of livability problems that cities are facing and sets the social and institutional framework within which partnerships operate. And third, governments play a strong, albeit not always the same, role in developing and sustaining partnerships. The chapter concludes with a ‘toolbox’ that may help practitioners and academics to systematically pose the relevant design- or evaluation questions. Re-arranging the multiplicity of determining variables into four building blocks can help to stimulate what we call realistic learning: only those elements of good practices that can work in a specific context should be adopted. The overall conclusion is that partnerships between public and private actors can contribute to the livability of cities if form follows function, if we accept that government matters and if we take into account the contingent nature of success