Collaborative governance platforms and outcomes: An analysis of Clean Cities coalitions

Abstract

AbstractCollaborative efforts across sectors, scales, and government levels have been effective in addressing the goals to reduce petroleum use and mitigate environmental issues in the U.S. While community contexts shape local collaborative governance, diverse local interests do not necessarily translate into collaborations without proper facilitating efforts. This study expands the theoretical discussion on the concept of collaborative platforms, which is understudied despite their wide use as a governance instrument to catalyze local collaboration. Specifically, the way platforms mediate to create local collaborations among diverse local‐level interests and improve outcomes has not been studied much to date. Using data on the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Cities program to promote local collaborative governance related to alternative fuels, this paper examines the way collaborative platforms create, scale, and affect the outcome of supplying alternative fueling infrastructure. The results of multi‐level mixed‐effects models indicate that the collaborative platform integrates local interests to create and scale local collaboration, and achieves better outcomes leveraging local interests.