The Activities of Local Governments in the Revitalization of Public Space in Bulgaria and Poland

The research discussed in the article focuses on public space in urban areas and revitalization activities carried out by local governments. The goals of the paper are to identify the conditions and opportunities for the development of public space by local governments of Bulgaria and Poland, to find regularities (similarities and differences) and to assess the actions taken. The specific objective is to illustrate the process of planning and managing selected large revitalization investments in urban public spaces in Bulgaria and Poland. The research methods used comprise the analysis of literature, including official documents and acts of law and case studies.

The paper analyzes the conditions and manifestations of activities taken by local governments regarding investment in public space (development and revitalization of public space programs and investing in real estate) in Bulgaria and Poland, using examples from selected cities. The authors selected two comparable urban areas: Varna in Bulgaria and Poznań in Poland, chosen intentionally due to the similarity of the two post-socialist bloc countries and the availability of information. Bulgarian and Polish state law and various acts of local law were analyzed. The experimental part of the publication introduces case studies of investments in the revitalization of real estate in public space managed by the local governments. It shows examples of projects which are relevant to the development of the cities under study.