Partnerships for Urban Forestry and Green Infrastructure Delivering Services to People and the Environment: A Review on What They Are and Aim to Achieve

Background and Purpose: Partnerships are a key mechanism in the planning, delivery and management of urban forestry (UF) and green infrastructure (GI). They can facilitate locally rooted co-management and polycentric governance. They can also achieve synergies by combining the resources, commitment and expertise of diverse stakeholder groups in order to generate valuable outcomes and build social capital. Unfortunately, the term "partnerships" is not used consistently in literature and requires clarification. The characteristics which distinguish a partnership approach from other modes of cooperation are identified and described. The diversity of existing UF and GI oriented partnerships is outlined, with reference to their stakeholders, drivers, activities and goals, together with potential advantages of the partnership approach. Considerations to be made in their evaluation are derived from this background analysis and possible success factors are discussed.