Public Participation in Land Use Planning and the Building of a Civil Society

Poland is going through the process of building social capital. The process requires citizens’ involvement in local matters. The country has created institutional instruments to foster a sense of collective responsibility for local matters, such as public consultations and debates, access to public information, referenda, and participatory budgeting. The practical use of these instruments and the slow process of building a civil society, however, pose a problem.

Land use planning has a multifaceted character and is the arena for many local conflicts frequently fuelled by discrepancies between private and public interests. The participation of local communities provides an opportunity to work out socially acceptable solutions and helps identify likely sources of conflicts, as well as preventing the isolation of local authorities. It is also a necessary building block in creating a civil society.

The author’s search for the causes of citizens’ reluctance to actively participate in land use planning processes is set in the context of social capital and the laborious process of building a civil society. The conclusions of the study offer a critical perspective on the current solutions regulating the residents’ involvement in land use planning. The study is based on a review of literature and the author’s own research.