Public-private Interface Research Articles

Experiences with wildfire are associated with private landowners’ management decisions, relationships, and perceptions of risk

As human populations grow and anthropogenic change increases, costly wildland fires increasingly affect rural, public–private interface landscapes. Climate change, a history of fire suppression, and biological invasions are increasing fire risk in systems worldwide. Fires that ignite in one jurisdiction can spread across ownership boundaries, with the result that landscape-scale fire management and planning requires understanding differential fire response and management across jurisdictions. To illuminate relationships between landowner attitudes and fire management and their experience with past wildfires, we combined geospatial wildfire data from the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) database and survey response data from 586 private landowners across three national park-centered ecosystems in the American West. We aimed to examine whether landowners’ attitudes toward their land, neighbors, public agencies, and fire itself were related to (a) whether they had experienced fire on their parcels, and (b) the extent and severity of the most recent fire event and the time elapsed since that fire. We found that the degree to which respondents reported that they manage for fire is related to whether a fire had burned on their parcels during their land tenure or, if prior to their tenure, within two years of their acquisition of the land. For those respondents that had thus experienced fire, their level of concern about wildfire, interactions with neighbors and public agencies, and perception that their land contributed to a broader economic or natural system were all related to the time that had elapsed since the fire. Furthermore, total burned area and the percent of the burn that was high severity interacted with time since fire to predict respondents’ attitudes and perceptions. Our findings illustrate the importance of personal past experiences in shaping private land managers’ relationships and viewpoints, as well as the likelihood that they invest in current fire management.

Safety governance during COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: a benchmarking inquiry of multiple countries

PurposeThis study aims to examine the role of safety governance in ensuring public–private interface ecosystems in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to highlight the role of safety governance in the complex interfaces of pandemic response mechanisms. The analysis is conducted at the national level, considering safety governance issues in terms of test, confirmed cases, fatality rates, vaccination rate, medical capabilities, Information and communications technology capability, Hofstede’s cultural index (individualism and power distance scores), public safety, personal privacy and national health capabilities.Design/methodology/approachUsing multigovernance theory and technology, organization and environment theory, the authors present a research model that defines four independent factors and country level performance outcomes and conducted analysis of variance tests.FindingsResearch findings suggest that countries are classified by diverse groups using multiple criteria (e.g. country size, Hofstede’s cultural indexes, ICT capabilities and Governance index). Countries indicate differences in their policy approaches according to their private and public ecosystems. COVID-19 response performance indicators are substantially different.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides the relevance of the multigovernance theory. The empirical results suggest that effective crisis governance is characterized by vertically integrated organizational hierarchies with horizontally connected communication channels that seek maximum voluntary participation and a high level of motivation of informed societal members as a whole. Crisis events occur occasionally, and livelihood routines demonstrate incredible human agility. Gaining insight of the findings from this article may be useful to respond to future crisis events.Originality/valueThis significant study highlights the political and social factors that define response patterns of different countries regarding COVID-19 response mechanisms. With the wide vaccination administration, the COVID-19 landscape shows differences in these countries. This study is rare in providing research framework using Hofstede cultural value and examines with actual data provided by each national government, World Health Organization and credible information sources.

The Role of the Public-Private Interface and Persistence of Historic Character in Nezu, Tokyo

The Great Kanto Earthquake and Second World War Fire Bombings have left contemporary Tokyo with almost no monuments from the past. One of the areas that has been spared in both destructions is Yanesen, part of the three neighbourhoods Yanaka, Nezu, and Sendagi located in northeast central Tokyo. Nezu has a peculiar urban character that persists despite the lack of conservation and constant change in its built environment. Its unique character is defined by a sense of local, domestic, and neighbourhood closeness and is linked to the traditional identity of Shitamachi. This article hypothesizes that the main element that preserves the character of Shitamachi in Nezu is based on the relationships rather than on objects that need to be preserved. The analysis focuses on the relationships between public and private spaces and captures changes in the built environment in Nezu over six years. The comparative analysis applied mapping and a photographic survey of the public-private interface. The results showed how the persistence of the urban character is supported by a dynamic change in the built environment which functions as a complex system. The relationships between elements of the built environment are demonstrating non-linear causality at the public-private interface and contribute to Nezu’s enduring character.

Greening urban road verges highlights diverse views of multiple stakeholders on ecosystem service provision, challenges and preferred form

Globally, there is growing recognition of the potential of road verges to contribute to urban greening and ecosystem service provision, beyond their original functions of utility provision and public access. Numerous, diverse stakeholders are involved in their management, yet their shared and diverging perspectives on verge greening are poorly understood. This research examined the perspectives on road verge greening by 30 respondents from eight stakeholder groups from the Perth Metropolitan Area, Australia. Stakeholders spanned local and state governments, developers, peak bodies, utility providers, environmental consultants, verge treatment providers and urban greening advocates. Semi-directed interviews and Likert scales were used to assess respondents' perspectives and perceived importance of urban verge functions and ecosystem services, risks and challenges associated with verge greening, and preferred verge vegetation composition. The most important ecosystem services for all stakeholders were temperature regulation (through the provision of street trees), those associated with water management and aesthetically interesting streetscapes. Perceived challenges included limited knowledge for the management of native species verges and streetscapes, organisational costs for verge managers and utility providers, and the need to engage with multiple local government authorities with widely varying management and financial valuation of verge vegetation. Stakeholders’ preferred verge reflected diverse uses, local characteristics, and was climate and water resilient (particularly ‘waterwise’). A majority of stakeholder groups felt greater attention to the ‘understorey’ of the ‘urban forest’ was warranted. An emerging perspective across four stakeholder groups identified the potential for verges to grow a local ‘sense of place’, through plantings emphasising local native species and highlighting local Whadjuk Noongar seasons. These findings support policies and programmes associated with urban greening, and assist in navigating the contestation often associated with new or transformative uses of land at the public-private interface.

Engaging with the private healthcare sector for the control of tuberculosis in India: cost and cost-effectiveness

BackgroundThe control of tuberculosis (TB) in India is complicated by the presence of a large, disorganised private sector where most patients first seek care. Following pilots in Mumbai and Patna...

Distance and proximity matters: understanding housing transformation through micro-morphology in informal settlements

Informality is a global phenomenon entrenched in the Global South and increasingly emerging in the Global North. In dense and compact informal settlements commonly seen in the Global South, housing transformation to meet resident needs typically occurs through small-scale physical alterations and adaptations. Within this setting, the aim of this paper is to provide a substantive assessment of the dynamics of change and spatial complexities of housing in informal settlements by deconstructing the micro-morphology occurring in built and unbuilt spaces. This includes the space where housing and alleyways meet; namely, the public-private interface. The paper achieves this by; (i) defining a set of interface typologies that constitute the form of the domestic housing space pushing into alleyways by using the key variables of distance and proximity, (ii) quantifying the housing typologies so as to examine types, patterns and processes of transformation, and (iii) understanding the basic planning and regulatory framework in which households undertake these adaptations. The method used in this research is a case study of kampung Lebak Siliwangi in northern Bandung, Indonesia. The paper makes a major contribution to the literature in terms of identifying principles by which housing transformation practices occur through micro-morphology which is locally self-organised and incremental. Residents undertake little or no consultation with neighbours or local governance leaders when making changes, though they observe and replicate the micro-scale changes made to housing form by other residents. The boundaries of the built (housing) and unbuilt spaces (alleyway) are fluid due to ‘interface creep’ which allows housing to create new building lines, interface types and alleyway alignments. In this setting, the notion of ‘interface creep’ and the reliance of residents on small-scale distance and proximity changes are a key narrative of the paper as they allow adaptability, having strong ties to the way housing and alleyways are locally regulated, controlled and governed. On the other hand, this dependence threatens housing conditions, sociality, access, multifunctionality and economic modes of production in public spaces (the alleyway). The paper concludes with comments of the implications of the research that could be applied to theoretical and methodological frameworks for a deeper understanding of informal housing in the Global North.

Personal Accounts of Australian Drug Discovery at the Public–Private Interface

The public–private interface is a vibrant and invigorating stage for drug discovery and can allow for relatively higher risk but more rewarding research. Although adequate resourcing is a perennial challenge, persistence, optimism, and flexibility will pay dividends and can allow for a thoroughly rewarding career. In this account of chronological research experiences, selected examples are used to support this contention.

Effect of public-private interface agency in Patna and Mumbai, India: Does it alter durations and delays in care seeking for drug-sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis?

Background: Public–private interface agency (PPIA) intervention models in Patna (E. India) and Mumbai (W. India) for pulmonary drug-sensitive (DS) tuberculosis (TB) patients were evaluated over 2 years after maturity to examine effect on reduction of patient pathways and retention. The models engaged private providers, diagnostic facilities and pharmacies into an effective network providing free diagnostic tests and treatment. Methods: A population-based retrospective study was undertaken to assess effectiveness of the PPIA model in care pathways of 64 (Patna) and 86 (Mumbai) patients through in-depth interviews conducted within 6 months of initiation treatments to identify types and facilities accessed, duration to diagnosis and treatment. Median durations based on facilities accessed were statistically analysed. Comparisons were made with baseline values and endline pathways of patients accessing PPIA engaged/non-engaged facilities in private and public sectors. Results: Compared to non-engaged facilities, persons accessing engaged facilities at first point-of-care had shorter pathways (Mumbai: 32 vs 43 days), (Patna: 15 vs 40 days). Duration for first care-seeking was considerably shorter for patients accessing PPIA in Patna and for both engaged and non-engaged private facilities in Mumbai (4 days). Whilst PPIA engaged facilities diagnosed more cases than others, the RNTCP in Mumbai provided diagnosis early. There was good retention of patients by PPIA-engaged (1 st) facilities (90% post-diagnosis in Patna) but this was affected by the hub-spoke referral system in Mumbai (13%). Second diagnosis is a common feature in Mumbai. The spoke-hub model in Mumbai contributed considerably to treatment delay; PPIA-engaged providers were better at retaining patients post treatment initiation 11/25 (44%). Conclusion: PPIA-engaged facilities, accessed at onset, result in marked reduction in pathway durations. Such initiatives should engage a critical mass of competent providers, proximal investigation facilities with enhanced disease awareness and literacy efforts amongst communities. Patient movement should be minimized for early treatment and retention.

Public-private interaction in low-rise, high-density Tokyo. A morphological and functional study of contemporary residential row-houses

The focus of this paper is liveable, low-rise high-density urban morphologies of residential architecture and urban planning practices in Tokyo. Over the last several decades, historically established qualities in cities worldwide are increasingly sacrificed in favour of globalization–led ‘universal’ typologies. Tokyo is not an exception: it is gradually changing to a high-rise, high-density built city environment. From a morphological point of view, the paper demonstrates bioclimatic and cultural disadvantages of such developmental paradigm shift in Tokyo. Presented case studies elaborate upon the ways in which low-rise high-density environments and subsequent urban forms better facilitate human interaction and, consequently, can aid in reducing social isolation and contribute to mental well-being. Presented case studies, observed over the period of six years depict how residential environments created by row-houses can be seen as a collection of adjoining private spaces. The emphasis is on the interconnected set of phenomena: low-rise high-density morphologies, climate-responsive semi-exterior spaces, facilitating human and public-private interaction. The conducted morphological and functional analysis shows how design requirements of bioclimatic responsive semi-exterior space fully coincide with those of desirable public-private interface and human interaction. However, site-specific constraints critically affect spatial configurations of low-rise high-density developments in contemporary Tokyo, emphasizing the requirement for case-by-case attention in design and management of such places. Only design processes conscious of spatial management aware of the potential embedded in the design process can enhance socio-cultural interplay and bioclimatic performance.

Effect of public-private interface agency in Patna and Mumbai, India: Does it alter durations and delays in care seeking for drug-sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis?

Background: Public-private interface agency (PPIA) intervention models in Patna (E. India) and Mumbai (W. India) for pulmonary drug-sensitive (DS) tuberculosis (TB) patients were evaluated over 2 years after maturity to examine effect on reduction of patient pathways and retention. The models engaged private providers, diagnostic facilities and pharmacies into an effective network providing free diagnostic tests and treatment. Methods: A population-based retrospective study was undertaken to assess effectiveness of the PPIA model in care pathways of 64 (Patna) and 86 (Mumbai) patients through in-depth interviews conducted within 6 months of initiation treatments to identify types and facilities accessed, duration to diagnosis and treatment. Median durations based on facilities accessed were statistically analysed. Comparisons were made with baseline values and endline pathways of patients accessing PPIA engaged/non-engaged facilities in private and public sectors. Results: Compared to non-engaged facilities, persons accessing engaged facilities at first point-of-care had shorter pathways (Mumbai: 32 vs 43 days), (Patna: 15 vs 40 days). Duration for first care-seeking was considerably shorter for patients accessing PPIA in Patna and for both engaged and non-engaged private facilities in Mumbai (4 days). Whilst PPIA engaged facilities diagnosed more cases than others, the RNTCP in Mumbai provided diagnosis early. There was good retention of patients by PPIA-engaged (1 st) facilities (90% post-diagnosis in Patna) but this was affected by the hub-spoke referral system in Mumbai (13%). Second diagnosis is a common feature in Mumbai. The spoke-hub model in Mumbai contributed considerably to treatment delay; PPIA-engaged providers were better at retaining patients post treatment initiation 11/25 (44%). Conclusion: PPIA-engaged facilities, accessed at onset, result in marked reduction in pathway durations. Such initiatives should engage a critical mass of competent providers, proximal investigation facilities with enhanced disease awareness and literacy efforts amongst communities. Patient movement should be minimized for early treatment and retention.

Adoption of an Electronic Patient Record Sharing Pilot Project: Cross-Sectional Survey.

BackgroundThe Public Private Interface–Electronic Patient Record (PPI-ePR) system was implemented as a new electronic platform to facilitate collaboration between the public and private sectors in Hong Kong. However, its barriers to participate and benefits have not been comprehensively assessed.ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the awareness, acceptance, perceived benefits, and obstacles to participation among private doctors and the general public.MethodsFrom December 2012 to January 2013, 2435 telephone interviews were performed by trained interviewers to survey randomly selected patients who were enrolled or not enrolled in the PPI-ePR system. In addition, self-administered surveys were sent by postal mail to 4229 registered doctors in Hong Kong. The questionnaires for both patients and doctors contained questions on subjects’ awareness, acceptance, and perceptions of the PPI-ePR, perceived benefits and obstacles of participating in the program, reasons for not using the system after enrolling, and perceived areas for service improvement of the system.ResultsMore than 53.1% (266/501) of enrolled patients believed that the PPI-ePR system would improve health care quality by reducing duplicate tests and treatments, while more than 76.8% (314/409) of enrolled doctors emphasized timely access to patients’ medical records as the biggest benefit of their enrollment. Among nonenrolled patients, unawareness of the project was the most popular obstacle to enrolling in the PPI-ePR system (483/1200, 40.3%). Regarding nonenrolled doctors, the complicated registration process hindered them from participating in the program the most (95/198, 48.0%). Television, newspaper, and magazine advertisements and medical profession newsletters or journals were suggested as the most effective means to encourage participation in the program among surveyed patients (1297/1701, 76.2%) and doctors (428/610, 70.2%), respectively. Lack of clinical indication requiring data extraction from other hospitals was the main reason for low level of PPI-ePR use.ConclusionsThis study comprehensively assessed the popularity, perceived benefits, and hindering factors of enrolling in the PPI-ePR system in Hong Kong. Low levels of awareness, few privacy concerns, and inactive use of the PPI-ePR system were among the key features for patients and physicians. Public promotions, simplified logistics, and a user-friendly online interface were suggested to improve the coverage and effectiveness of health information exchange between private and public health care sectors.

SUSTAINING SUBURBIA – THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PUBLIC PRIVATE INTERFACE IN THE CASE OF CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA

Among existing and anticipated changes in global urbanisation and population growth, the challenge of retrofitting suburbia within sustainable cities needs to be considered. However, given the opposing nature of sustainability and suburbia, this task is not easy. Different approaches have tried to define the theory for achieving sustainable cities, but the nature of suburbia presents issues in densification, as density is perceived to limit the liveability and importantly the private sphere that makes suburbia desirable. To begin addressing sustainability in suburbia, the question of how to densify suburbs while maintaining their liveable quality, needs to be addressed. Focusing on the case of Canberra the paper builds a framework for discussing these questions within analysis of suburb density, behavioural studies and the public private interface. In doing so, it is evident that sustaining suburbia through densification, within the context of sustainable cities, cannot be considered without recognising morphology and the need for, and integration of, the public private interface.

Geneva–Seattle collaboration in support of developing country vaccine manufacturing

ABSTRACTVaccines were once produced almost exclusively by state-supported entities. While they remain essential tools for public health protection, the majority of the world’s governments have allowed industry to assume responsibility for this function. This is significant because while the international harmonisation of quality assurance standards have effectively increased vaccine safety, they have also reduced the number of developing country vaccine producers, and Northern multinational pharmaceutical companies have shown little interest in offering the range of low-priced products needed in low and middle-income-country contexts. This article examines how public–private collaboration is relevant to contemporary efforts aimed at strengthening developing country manufacturers’ capacity to produce high-quality, low-priced vaccines. Specifically, it casts light on the important and largely complimentary roles of the World Health Organization, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Seattle-based non-profit PATH, in this process. The take away message is that external support remains critical to ensuring that developing country vaccine manufacturers have the tools needed to produce for both domestic and global markets, and the United Nations supply chain, and collaboration at the public–private interface is driving organisational innovation focused on meeting these goals.

PATH: pioneering innovation for global health at the public–private interface

Seattle-based PATH is one of the world’s largest not-for profit organisations focused on improving health in low-income countries. This article argues the history of this understudied organisation is critical to understanding how collective action focused on facilitating developing countries’ access to essential health technologies is structured. Since its establishment almost 40 years ago, the organisation has been a catalyst for multidisciplinary public–private collaboration that has produced affordable, culturally appropriate health technologies. From its origins in reproductive health, enabling contraceptive technology transfers and advising on regulatory standards, to its more recent managerial roles in the development of inexpensive vaccines produced in developing countries, PATH has repeatedly illustrated how public–private collaboration in product research and development can increase poor populations’ access to essential health technologies. This in turn has provided substance to the contested narrative that engaging business is critical to reducing global health disparities.

Simulative governance: on the collaborative narrative of civil society participation in the CDM stakeholder framework

ABSTRACTThe Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is often cited as an exemplar of new, hybrid forms of global environmental governance operating at the public–private interface. Practically, enacting this arrangement involves a wide range of non-state actors. This broad involvement is here assumed to mark a shift towards more polycentric and networked modes of governance in which agents collaborate as ‘stakeholders’ in the process of consensual rule-setting and implementation. Using post-political critique, the depoliticising effects of the stakeholder framework on civil society actors are interrogated, using formal and informal participation opportunities to raise concerns regarding specific CDM projects. The analysis suggests that the CDM’s collaborative narrative of stakeholding structurally fails to stimulate public (re)engagement and is, instead, a prime example of simulative governance that struggles to achieve the simultaneity of two incompatibilities: the participatory revolution and the post-political turn.

The Pluralization of High Policing: Convergence and Divergence at the Public–Private Interface:

High policing has long been associated with the preservation and augmentation of state interests by the intelligence community. However, this paradigm can neither be examined, nor theorized, within an exclusively ‘public’ framework; a host of ‘private’ actors must now be acknowledged on this conceptual terrain. Moving beyond well-acknowledged patterns of outsourcing intelligence, this paper brings sharper research attention to transnational security consultancies as well as the more shadowy realms of boutique intelligence firms, private detectives and freelance covert operatives. By examining these new private categories of high policing, this paper considers the complex patterns of convergence and divergence that characterize the public–private interface. Specific attention is devoted to resources of symbolic power and how these impact the capacity for coercive action.

Shitamachi as an Assembled Character in Nezu, Tokyo

This paper focuses on a specific urban situation in the precinct of Nezu, Tokyo, and uses assemblage theory to create an approach for its analysis. In spite of the change in the built landscape, Nezu has preserved its historical character. This suggests a different kind of preservation, one which is not based on the conservation of buildings. This study employs assemblage theory in order to clarify aspects that contribute to the preservation of this character. Assemblage theory is used as a toolbox to understand places through relationships between buildings rather than the buildings themselves. This paper develops a method for analysis of the physical structure, and focuses on the domestic, closeness, and neighbourhood feelings as main characteristics of the shitamachi Edo atmosphere of Nezu. This method is based on the application of assemblage theory through the visual analysis of streets and public-private interface patterns. The results show that the structure of the public-private interface in Nezu is one part of the assemblage which creates intensities and contributes to the sense of domestic, closeness and neighbourhood as the main elements that preserve the shitamachi character.

Pharmaceutical R&D Productivity: The Role of Alliance

In recent years, the major research-intensive biopharmaceutical companies (big pharma) have come face to face with a perfect storm of eroding profit margins from blockbuster expiration and generic competition coupled with growing R&D expenses and declining advances in truly novel therapeutics. With long-term research divisions shed in favor of short-term outsourcing options and with public good will at historic lows, industry innovators have sought to reinvent the model of big pharma, its relationship in public-private partnerships, and the role of technology and technology policy in reform. In this paper, we highlight a number of the major alliances reshaping the industry and the role of government, research institutions, and other players in the public-private interface in these endeavors. In particular, this paper looks beyond traditional biotechnology parternships and focuses instead on the developing consortia between biopharmaceutical companies and with clinical research organizations and academic institutions. We examined each alternative model of alliance, identified specific hurdles and potentials for increased productivity.

Tuberculosis control needs a complete and patient-centric solution.

Tuberculosis control needs a complete and patient-centric solution.

Managing private forestlands along the public–private interface of Southern Illinois: Landowner forestry decisions in a multi-jurisdictional landscape

Private forest landowners in the southernmost region of Illinois operate within a multijurisdictional, intermixed public–private landscape. As such, they operate within the context of traditionally studied drivers of forest management on private lands, but also manage their lands within the context of the contentious debate about how the Shawnee National Forest is managed. We posited that this debate about the management of public land could affect forest management actions on private parcels. We also studied the effects of traditional drivers in private forest landowner research: land characteristics, demographics, and landowner objectives. Mail survey results for private forest landowners in the southernmost 11 counties of Illinois were used to examine the factors influencing the adoption of four actions: seeking advice from a forester, obtaining a written forest management plan, doing a commercial timber harvest, and implementing timber stand improvement. Results highlighted that traditional personal factors—financial objectives and parcel size—were strongly related to forest landowner management action adoption. Landowners' actions were largely independent of proximity to the Shawnee National Forest and largely independent of overall satisfaction with Shawnee National Forest management. In the context of decreasing parcel size and generally low financial objectives for private forestland parcels, we emphasize the need for policy and practice to better adapt to address these trends in order to maintain sustainable forest management across the landscape.