Co-Creation of Public Services in Poland in Statu Nascendi. A Case Study on Senior Co-Housing Policy at the Urban Level

The paper impacts the current debate on governance system in Poland upon Europeanisation in terms of co-creation of public services at urban and regional level. In this context, it can be a part of a discussion on challenges related to cities’ and regions’ transition from industrial economy, society, city and government, to creative and knowledge-based ones. Due to its dynamic and vibrant character, the item can be also implemented into the debate on social and economic strengths in order to solving urgent problems in cities and city-regions linking to innovation in governance. Its clue is the concept of co-creation, which occupies an important space in the current study of European integration. However, the starting point for the considerations contained in the paper is the observation, that while it is commonly accepted that the co-creation of services with citizens and other non-governmental actors seems to be the most effective action to answer to the need for new social innovations and the growing demand for personalised services, the research agenda linked to this has investigated this aspect regarding Eastern and Central Europe not in an enough extensive way. In this regards, the paper can contribute to the field.

The aim of the paper is to present the results of the general review of key sources concerning existing knowledge in the field of co-creation in Poland, both in domestic science and institutional practice. In the paper author confronted the EU concepts of co-creation of public services, whereby the basis of this approach was the participation of stakeholders in the decision-making processes as a crucial element of co-governance. In the paper a local case study will be discussed on the basis of social housing policy in Wrocław, the 4th biggest city in Poland.

The proposed paper is a part of the international research performed upon the project “Co-Creation of Public Innovation in Europe” (acronym “CoSIE”) financed upon Horizon 2020.