Spatial Planning as a Public Management Tool in Poland: Premises and Reality

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to assess the functioning of spatial planning in Poland in the context of public management objectives. Drawing on the concepts of New Public Management, we use the category of stakeholders and public value generated for stakeholders. Two groups of stakeholders in spatial planning are distinguished, namely public (national and local government) entities, and private entities (including individuals and businesses). We describe the mechanisms of stakeholders’ influence on spatial planning and the effects of this influence on the development of space. We found that the actual spatial planning mechanisms in Poland are aberrational from the perspective of public management. The ubiquity of these aberrations (in diverse municipalities) allows us to rule out the most obvious types of causes, particularly the incompetence or corruption of local authorities or administrative apparatus. Therefore, it is postulated that the causes of the aberrations are structural and inherent to the legal system that impacts spatial planning both directly and indirectly. We propose solutions to improve the situation through the appropriate management of relations with stakeholders in processes implemented by a public entity. The article presents a model of such management. A change in the legal context – above all an amendment of the law regulating spatial planning procedures – provides an opportunity to balance the impact of various stakeholders on spatial planning arrangements.