SUSTAINABILITY IN PPPS: A NETWORK ANALYSIS

Over the last decades, sustainability-related topics have increased their relevance to infrastructure development. Researchers have conducted studies analyzing the relationship between Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and sustainability. However, despite the PPPs have been recognized as a relevant factor for sustainable development, no bibliometric analyses have been conducted studying the relation between PPPs and sustainability. This paper introduces a comprehensive understanding of the body of knowledge of the nexus between sustainability and PPPs, their evolution, and the connections of their main topics. This analysis allows for integrating disperse studies within a comprehensive PPP-sustainable framework. The Network Analysis unraveled that the significance of sustainability within PPPs has grown over time evolving from traditional developed English-speaking countries to developing countries. Overall, the PPP research agenda has evolved from road infrastructure dominance driven by a public sector’s perspective of social welfare to increasing types of infrastructure driven by economic and environmental performance yet remaining to strengthen the latter.