COVID-19 has presented considerable challenges to fiscal budget allocations in developing countries, significantly affecting decisions regarding number of investments in the transport sector where precise resource allocation is required. Elucidating the long-term relationship between public transport investment and economic growth might enable policymaker to effectively make a decision in regard to those budget allocation. Our paper then utilizes Thailand as a case study to analyze the effects on economic growth in a developing country context. The study employs Cointegration and Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) techniques to account for long-term correlations among explanatory variables during 1991–2019. The statistical findings reveal a significantly positive correlation between transport investment and economic growth by indicating an increase of 0.937 in economic growth for every one-percent increment in transport investment (S.D. = 0.024, p < 0.05). This emphasizes the potential of expanding the transport investment to recover Thailand’s economy. Furthermore, in terms of short-term adjustments, our results indicate that transport investment can significantly mitigate the negative impact of external shocks by 0.98 percent (p < 0.05). These findings assist policymakers in better managing national budget allocations in the post-Covid-19 period, allowing them to estimate the duration of crowding-out effects induced by shocks more effectively.

This article analyses the case of Dubai’s smart city from a public policy perspective and demonstrates how critical it is to rely on the use of the public-private partnership (PPP) model. Effective use of this model can guarantee the building of a smart city that could potentially fulfill the vision of the political leadership in Dubai and serve as a catalyst and blueprint for other Gulf states that wish to follow Dubai’s example. This article argues that Dubai’s smart city project enjoys significant political support and has ambitious plans for sustainable growth, and that the government has invested heavily in developing the necessary institutional, legal/regulatory, and supervisory frameworks that are essential foundations for the success of any PPP project. The article also points to some important insights that the Dubai government can learn from the international experience with the delivery of smart cities through PPPs.

Despite the existence of a voluminous body of literature covering the impact of infrastructure public-private partnerships (PPPs) on public value within the context of Western countries, scant attention has been paid to this topic in the Middle East. Given that the region has hosted numerous PPP projects that were implemented even without the rudimentary legal and regulatory frameworks considered essential for such projects to succeed, a study of PPPs within that region would thus be particularly useful, since an unpacking of the success factors for PPPs in the Middle East can reveal important practical insights that will advance the knowledge of PPP success factors overall. This paper, therefore, explores the rehabilitation and expansion of Jordan’s Queen Alia International Airport via the PPP route. It finds that the factors contributing to the project’s successful implementation can be categorized into those on the macro level related to political support, and the micro level factors concerned with management of daily activities involved in the partnership between the public and private sectors.

This paper aims to explain the administrative and the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) of the Indonesian Spaceport Project in Biak, Papua, Indonesia, under the Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) scheme, particularly from the protest to fear of environmental damage and traditional rights. This paper analyzes the factors that cause the local society’s reluctance to accept the development of Indonesia’s very first commercial spaceport. This paper uses a doctrinal methodology, which examines changes in the trend of ESG in implementing PPP projects. The method used is a qualitative systematic review of national and international studies. This paper finds that the lack of legal certainty for administrative and ESG as the main factor contributing to the pitfall of the PPP project in Biak Papua. No clear Government Contracting Agency (GCA), plus the fact that the Indonesian government puts too much weight on business consideration in PPP while Papuan people need more ESG, especially considering the historical conflict in the region, has been the epicenter of the problem. Given the ESG-PPP regulatory failure of spaceport development in Biak, more focused studies using comparative study methodology are needed to propose a more robust and customized ESG in PPP regulations in a politically and historically sensitive area. The authors forward a regulatory reform to balance administration, ESG, and business considerations in PPP projects for a spaceport.

Urban public spaces are the interface of any city that could tell about the city’s dynamic and status quo. In addition, Urban public spaces play a pivotal role in shaping societies’ dynamics and can significantly affect conflict and peacebuilding initiatives. In a context marked by Conflict’s profound impact, this article aims to contribute to the knowledge base for informed urban interventions that foster positive interactions and reconciliation in post-conflict cities. The article seeks to explore the intricate relationship between urban spaces and their influence on war or to promote sustainable peacebuilding through investigating the various roles of the urban public spaces during the war and peacetimes via residents’ experiences of the diverse spaces’ functions that shaped the city’s status quo. In addition, considering the interplay of social dynamics, conflict history, and the mental spatial map of cities in public urban spaces can influence lasting peace or upcoming conflicts. This article focuses on Aleppo as a case study, understanding the positive and negative experiences from the residents’ perspective before and during the current war in Syria, and even distinguishes between two periods during the recent war, which are the active violence and after the end of the direct active violence, where it could inform the decision-makers and urban planners on the areas of focus while developing post-war urban public spaces to ensure its positive role in fostering peace and be able to deal with the social dynamic and the mental spatial map that developed along with the conflict history. The paper utilised a mixed-methods approach, encompassing a case study review of Aleppo City from an urban perspective and fieldwork involving focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with Aleppian from different backgrounds and geographic areas that represent the social dynamic of the city, as well as approached Aleppian who are still in living in the city and those who flee out of it to ensure the coverage of different political direction in addition field work engaged with academia and technical from the city who shared their knowledge and experiences working in the city. Participants were prompted to reflect on their pre-war familiarity with public places and share their experiences. These experiences were categorized by enabling a comprehensive understanding of how conflict context influenced these spaces. The article results offer an understanding of the peace-guiding functions of the urban public spaces based on the city residents’ experiences that could inform architects and urban planners in designing spaces conducive to sustainable peacebuilding. The article’s findings underscore the importance of strategically designed urban public spaces in promoting peace and social cohesion.

Government performance means the results of government work. Its use is to evaluate government accountability, decision-making, efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, and achievement of goals. Purpose: This paper aims to explore the understanding of performance measurement tools commonly used in government, the reasons for using them, and the implementation of performance measurement in Indonesia. Method: This study uses a meta-synthesis method, an integrative review approach from 2000–2021, in the Scopus database using the keywords measurement system, performance measurement, performance measurement government, measurement system government. Results and Discussion: The final sample consisted of 23 studies, and the results showed that the most commonly used performance measurement was the balanced scorecard. This is because the balanced scorecard is able to explain the vision, mission, strategy, results, and operational actions, so that it can achieve local government goals. Research implications: Insight into government performance measurement can be used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of various performance measurement tools so that the government can implement performance measurement tools that are more appropriate for its government. Originality/Value: This study offers an adaptation of existing methods to measure government performance more effectively. In addition, this study focuses on the context of developing countries, which can provide new contributions to the literature.