Public-Private Partnerships in Urban Development and Housing

Abstract

The right to housing, enshrined in the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil, faces enormous challenges regarding its effective implementation in the country. Over the past ten years, however, the model of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) for Urban Development and Housing has been successfully implemented in São Paulo, primarily aimed at the regeneration of degraded areas of the city. This model allows the Public Administration to plan the establishment of new sustainable housing centers, taking into account the social and environmental issues of the regions where the projects are to be implemented, as well as addressing the demands of the incoming population through, for example, the construction or refurbishment of public facilities in these areas. In this sense, the adoption of the PPP model enables the channelling of private resources to achieve eminently public objectives, although a central concern in the project’s structuring is to ensure the economic and financial balance of the undertaking, as occurs in traditional concession models. This article aims to present the Brazilian experience by analyzing the legal structuring applied in these projects under Brazilian law, in order to assess the possibility of their implementation in Portugal—particularly for the urbanization of rural land and the renaturalization of urban spaces. This comparative law approach seeks to evaluate the compatibility of the proposed model with the Portuguese legal framework, with the expectation that the article may offer viable and secure alternatives for the implementation of such projects in Portugal as well.