Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 26th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview VI. Public Policy Analysis Development Author(s) Mariusz Sienkiewicz Maria Curie-Sklodowska University Lublin Poland Title Public Participation and spatial planning Policy at the local Level in Poland File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Mariusz Sienkiewicz Abstract Contemporarily, in the face of global and European trends in shaping the development of territorial units, integrated city planning requires the involvement of the local community in these processes. This enables citizens to actively participate in shaping their surrounding and the quality of life. The fulfillment of social expectations in the process of shaping public space is primarily determined by the law and conducted public policy. The subject of the article is to define the level, instruments and role of public consultation in the process of spatial planning and development. The conducted studies and analyzes concern in particular the following issues: 1) shaping and conducting spatial policy – the analysis of the structure of the spatial planning system; 2) the description of forms and guarantees of social participation in local spatial policy; 3) the results of questionnaire surveys conducted in 25 Polish municipalities concerning the problems of social participation in spatial planning and in the creation of public space. In the Polish legal order a key category in which the legislator included the obligation for the planning authorities to take into account social expectations is the legal category of spatial order. It is contained in the Polish law, in the Act of 27 March 2003 on Spatial Planning and Development. This Act was the result of, among others, the Habitat Agenda, adopted by the Polish government at the United Nations Conference in Istanbul in 1996. This Agenda devoted a separate subsection 3 to the question of social participation in the development of human settlements. In turn, according to the New Urban Agenda, adopted in 2016, the most important are: focus on proper planning and designing, the subsidiarity principle, social participation, and the smart city idea. The issue of participation of various actors of local life is contained in the Agenda practically in each area related to the future development of urban areas. It also concerns the process of shaping public space. It is also worth emphasizing that the issue of social participation is reflected in the National Spatial Development Concept 2030 which promotes, inter alia, the rule of integrated planning based on the “smart growth” model in which social participation is one of the main principles. The basic thesis adopted in the article is based on the assumption that the existing international and national legal regulations only partially affect the realization of the adopted objectives of public participation. A key element is the local government’s policy aiming at the use of a variety of instruments and incentives to engage local communities in the processes of co-management of territorial development. To verify the thesis presented in the article a descriptive method, a systemic analysis, a document analysis and surveys results were used.
