Participation of inhabitants in revitalization programmes. From diagnosis to implementation – the case of Town Wojkowice

Abstract

By introducing the assumptions of social participation into the practice of implementing revitalization projects, we assume that through dialogue, even if sometimes difficult, a compromise and agreement can be reached, which may result in cooperation in the implementation of a given project. The aim of this text is to present a practical application of the idea of dialogue and social participation, the theoretical context of which was de-scribed in the first part of the text in the process of developing and implementing the Local Revitalization Pro-gram of the City of Wojkowice which was reported in the second part of it. Civil dialogue can be understood as a more or less institutionalized form of conducting broad social consultations in the aspect of planning, solving and making decisions on socially important issues in a given group or community. Anna Olech and Tomasz Kaźmierczak (2011), proposed four models of public participa-tion. The basis for their separation and differentiation is the level and scope of their influence on the decision-making process of various social partners. The presented considerations refer to the experience and observations collected during the project titled Wojkowickie Social Revitalisation Laboratory implemented as part of the project entitled Silesian revitalization programs – support for municipalities, financed under the Operational Program Technical Assistance 2014–2020. The Social Work Unit of the Institute of Sociology, US team was involved in the work on the development of the Local Regeneration Program, especially in relation to the social issues of this document. Referring to the models of participation carried out in the revitalization activities referred by Krzysztof Skalski, it can be stated that the activities undertaken in the process of developing the Local Revitalization Pro-gram in the City of Wojkowice are close to the model with the highest degree of participation. Another issue is whether the idea of broad social participation will be maintained in practice at the implementation stage of this program.