The performance of transparency in public–private infrastructure project governance The politics of documentary practices

• Published in: Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland) Vol. 56; no. 4; pp. 689 - 704
• Main Authors: Valverde, Mariana, Moore, Aaron
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England Sage Publications, Ltd 01.03.2019; SAGE Publications; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Accountability; Disclosure; Documentation; Governance; Infrastructure; Internet; Legal studies; Openness; Partnerships; Politics; Public private partnerships; Public works; Regional planning; Sociology of law; Transparency; Urban planning; public–private partnerships; 公私伙伴关系; 基础设施治理; transparency; 问责; infrastructure governance; accountability; 透明度
• ISSN: 0042-0980; 1360-063X
• DOI: 10.1177/0042098017741404

That public–private infrastructure partnerships (P3s) present problems in relation to democratic accountability has often been noted, with calls for greater transparency often following. Such calls tend to assume that anything that promotes transparency will further accountability and openness. Drawing on socio-legal studies of the documentary and other information practices that underpin and operationalise governance, this article carefully examines the features and the possible uses of the documentation that is made public by the PPP sector, in Canada. We find that information practices that perform and produce transparency (such as posting project documents online) may produce a merely illusory accountability. Particular attention is paid to the scale at which infrastructure planning information is made public, the selection of content included in the documents (e.g. photos of buildings versus background information), and the information formats commonly utilised. Overall, we find that the information that is made public does not actually empower the concerned public: projects are presented out of context, devoid of historical or comparative context and without reference to any broader regional or other plan, and when ‘real’ documents are made public, neither the content nor their framing enables effective openness, thus hindering accountability. 公私基础设施伙伴关系（PPP)在民主问责制方面存在问题，这一点经常被注意到，呼吁更高 的透明度。这些呼吁倾向于认为任何提高透明度的做法都会进一步加强问责制和开放性。本文 借鉴对纪录片和其他为治理提供支持的信息实践之社会法律研宄，仔细考察了加拿大PPP部门 所公布文件的特点和可能用途。我们发现，执行和产生透明度的信息实践（例如在线发布项目 文件）可能会产生一个虚幻的问责制。我们尤其关注了基础设施规划信息的公开范围、文件中 所包含内容的选择（例如建筑物的照片与背景信息）以及通常使用的信息格式。总的来说，我 们发现公开的信息实际上并没有赋予相关公众权利：项目脱离背景，缺乏历史或比较的背景，也没有提及更广泛的区域或其他规划，并且当“真实”文件公开，内容或框架都不能有效开放， 从而妨碍问责。