Bundling transport infrastructure projects to achieve equitable development: a review of governance arrangements across international cases

Recent governance approaches bundle infrastructure projects into arrangements to promote equitable development. However, analyses of their multi-level governance (MLG) arrangements remain limited. We explore government intentions on how equity in transport infrastructure planning is addressed through various MLG arrangements for bundled project approaches in France, the Philippines, Colombia, South Korea and Thailand. The findings reveal an emphasis on vertical equity – prioritizing disadvantaged regions for balanced development, implemented through state-regional contracts and ad-hoc regional organizations. These governance forms rely on reciprocal capacity between government levels, warranting future research on optimizing them to strengthen local capacity and foster economic growth.