The article deals with the issue of spatial plans at the local level. The aims of this paper are (1) extracting the characteristics of local spatial plans that can be compared more broadly (2) identifying, on this basis, the role of spatial plans at the local level in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). In achieving these aims, the authors have critically examined spatial plans and their performance, as well as the planning systems they belong to. Hence, they have investigated the types of local plans in each country, their legal features, and the layout of their content. This examination has revealed a host of problems in the workings of the CEE planning systems. The article highlights those spatial planning issues that could be the subject of more in-depth international comparisons. The study provides additional evidence that in countries where spatial plans are legislated, there are more (mutually differentiated) legal problems in their application. Such problems have been analyzed. Besides procedural problems, discrepancies between the contents of different types of plans (e.g., general plans and detailed plans) are very often a problem. The paper also proposes a novel method for detailed comparisons of selected aspects of spatial plans. It can be applied to a large number of countries and also to other aspects of spatial planning. Last but not least, the paper emphasizes the need for a detailed multi-stage consultation of each aspect to be compared.

The article aims to compare the local tools of Ukrainian and Polish spatial policy. It includes legal solutions (with a particular emphasis on the basics of development restrictions) and problems related to their application diagnosed in the literature on the subject. Based on the analysis of the spatial management systems of both countries, the similarities and differences were determined, referring them to the international discussion and suggesting directions for further research (on the spatial management systems of Central and Eastern European countries). Ukraine and Poland were selected for analysis in terms of similarities (partially similar historical conditions, location) and differences (status of a European Union Member State, spatial planning traditions).

The article addresses the smart city concept in reference to two neigh-bouring countries – Poland and Ukraine. The paper also analyses various research trends in the scope of the smart city concept, as well as the process and conditions of the concept's implementation in the studied countries. The detailed analysis covered the implementation of the smart city concept in two cities in Poland and Ukraine belonging to neighbouring second-order administrative units, namely Lublin and Lviv. It was determined that both in Poland and Ukraine, the smart city concept is at its initial stage of implementation. This results from a number of different conditions, primarily including the socio-economic transformation of the countries, and inconsistency in reforming different spheres of socio-economic life in Ukraine. Local initiatives (analysed in detail based on the example of the cities of Lublin and Lviv) were determined to be of key importance in the implementation process.

Ukraine is an important component of the world market for inbound tourism. From the beginning of the twentieth century in some years it was included in the list of the world leading tourist countries in terms of international tourist arrivals. To study modern trends in the development of inbound tourism in Ukraine, during the period of independence, the concept of tourist transit, developed by D. Hill, is applied. It is а part of the wider concept of political and economic transit, well known in the social sciences. The indicators of dynamics of tourist arrivals, incomes from incoming tourism and its geographical structure analyzed in the article indicate incompleteness of tourist transit in Ukraine. Tourist arrivals in Ukraine are more vulnerable to economic and political crises compared with developed countries. Incomes from foreign tourism are an order of magnitude lower. The share of several neighboring countries – Moldova, Belarus, Russia, Poland, Romania, and Hungary – in the geographical structure of the inbound tourists is too high. Accordingly, the index of geographical concentration of inbound tourism is considerably higher than the optimal one; that is the market of inbound tourism in Ukraine is not sufficiently diversified. The development of tourism is negatively affected by the unsettled military conflict in the eastern part of the country. Some indicators of the development of inbound tourism, in particular, its excessive dependence on Russia by 2014, too high share in the structure of arrivals of tourists from countries that were a part of the former USSR, bring Ukraine closer to post-colonial countries. For the sustainable development of inbound tourism in Ukraine, it is necessary to continue the democratic reforms in order to complete the political transit, to overcome finally the consequences of the domination of the communist authoritarian regime. Also, important tasks are the settlement of the political conflict in the East, the improvement of the tourism policy and the improvement of branding of the national tourism product, the creation of competitive niche tourism products, as well as the improvement of the quality of tourist services. If these tasks are not fulfilled, foreign tourism in Ukraine will enter the stage of stagnation.

Comparisons of spatial planning systems still require in-depth reflection, especially in Central and Eastern European countries. This article compares national (central) government approaches to spatial planning in Belarus, Ukraine and Poland, answering the following research questions: (1) How are spatial planning issues regulated nationally? Which topics do laws focus on? What values and objectives are laws particularly emphasizing? (2) Are there any central/national strategic documents dealing with spatial planning, and which spatial issues do they address mostly? The article covers two key issues: comparing national approaches to spatial planning systems and comparing spatial planning issues in the three countries. We focus on statutory approaches and those contained in central-level strategic acts. In each country, spatial planning issues are covered by numerous laws, generating confusion when interpreting individual provisions. Our study makes an important, innovative contribution to the academic discussion by proposing a way of comparing and analyzing approaches of national authorities to spatial planning.