Citizen Participation in Local Planning Józefosław Case Study

Abstract

Citizen participation in the city development planning process is guaranteed by law in every civil society. In Poland, the participation of local communities in spatial planning has been evolving since the political transformation of the years 1989/1990. Changes that occur in the participation process are a result of the formation of civil society and a resulting increase in social awareness on possibilities of expressing one's needs and influencing planning decisions of local governments, as well as modifications in laws and regulations. The article presents the experience gathered in the field of extended social participation in the procedure of drawing up local spatial development plans, on the example of ongoing work on plans for the village of Józefosław in Piaseczno, nearby Warsaw. The problems identified in the area covered by the plans and their origins have been characterized, the assumptions of the plans, whose main purpose is to alleviate diagnosed problems and respond to the needs of the inhabitants, articulated at various stages of the planning process. Then the scope and results of the various phases of social participation – preplanning and based on formal planning procedures – have been described. The experience gained from the phase of public consultation during the preparation of local plans for the village of Józefosław allowed us to draw more general conclusions about participatory procedures specified in the binding regulations, which were included in the summary.