The role of partnerships in municipal sustainable development in Portugal

Partnerships are crucial for municipal sustainable development, leveraging diverse expertise and resources. Collaborations between local governments, businesses, NGOs, and community groups drive innovation and shared goals, ensuring more comprehensive and resilient solutions. This study aims to characterise and understand the role of municipal partnerships as a vital tool for driving sustainable progress. A mixed-methods methodology was applied by collecting 874 projects from 308 municipalities in Portugal. The findings identify 506 partnerships and reveal significant asymmetries in the distribution of municipal sustainable development projects. The results also identify 9 motivational factors for the emergence of these initiatives, with the economic and community dimensions standing out. Additionally, 11 actors involved in these initiatives and 4 clusters of collaboration between these entities are mapped. Finally, this study is particularly relevant for establishing public policies that can reduce geographical asymmetries and maximise the impact and resilience of these municipal sustainable development projects.