Program management and the creative art of coopetition: Dealing with potential tensions and synergies between spatial development projects

Public ambitions have traditionally been implemented by line managers. Project management has become more prevalent in recent decades, especially in the domain of spatial investments. Recently, a new branch of management has emerged: program management. This can be seen as an attempt to overcome the fragmentation caused by several autonomous project organizations working side by side in the larger regional system.This paper describes the application of program management in comparison with project management. Both these types of management are aimed at integrating interrelated activities that are otherwise dealt with separately. Program management also aims to synchronize project implementation trajectories.A case study is conducted of a program management experiment in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region, where an analysis of how program and project management compete and complement each other is conducted. The case study shows that program management will not and cannot be a substitute for project management, but that attempts to combine the strengths of both have to be made.

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