Urban regeneration programming in Poland in the years 2014–2020

In 2015, the National Urban Policy, The Urban Regeneration Law, and the Guidelines regarding urban regeneration in operational programmes for the years 2014–2020 were adopted in Poland. These documents marked a new direction for developing and implementing these difficult processes. Simultaneously, communes received support which was supposed to help them plan urban regeneration properly on the basis of reliable diagnoses of the initial state, considering their endogenous features and potentials, with active participation of local communities. The aim of the article is to present the Polish approach to regeneration programming. Its background is the analysis of the definitions of urban regeneration which have functioned in Polish literature since the 1990s followed by a presentation of Western European stages of the evolution of this subject. The analysis offered in the article as well as the resulting conclusions show that the Polish approach to regeneration follows the integrated model prevalent in Europe. It fits the discussions between the academics and practitioners regarding the designation of degraded areas in cities, the principles of regeneration programming, and active involvement of different stakeholders in the aforementioned processes.

Institutional capacity development within the national urban policy formation process – Participants’ views

In 2019, Serbia adopted its first national urban policy. This document was established through a communicative process during 2018–2019, formally encouraging urban governance as a practical innovation in Serbia’s planning doctrine. The main aim of this research is to explore institutional capacity development within a live setting of the policy formation process. The participants of this process are the primary subjects of the research. Data was collected through participatory events in four instances during the process. The concept of institutional capacity development is used in this paper as a basic framework to assess knowledge, relational and mobilisation capacity for urban governance. The main contribution of this paper is providing an understanding of the challenges and potentials for establishing urban governance practices in a post-socialist country planning context. Findings indicate an increase in the participants’ knowledge and understanding of governance instruments such that coordination and cooperation are continually unfolding. The identified challenges relate to the mobilisation capacity and fragility of institutions and resistance to change, while a need to deal with complexity and uncertainty remains present.

NATIONAL URBAN POLICY IN RUSSIA AND THE EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE

This article analyses the features, shortcomings, prospects, and limitations of Russia’s national urban policy (NUP) and its international counterparts to formulate proposals for the further development of the Russian NUP. To this end, the study examines international documents and publications on NUP, particularly German ones, and Russian regulatory legal acts. The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to the resilience of cities to crises and the development of urban green spaces. Germany’s current NUP, adopted in 2007, stands out for its complexity and congruence with the regional policy. The Spatial Development Strategy is the principal NUP document in Russia. However, it overlooks some issues essential for the development of the city system: the federal authorities support only selected types of towns, such as single-industry municipalities, and the NUP is not comprehensive as it pays little attention to the economic aspects. A feeble information framework and municipal authorities lacking the powers impede the further development of the NUP. A transition to a comprehensive and well-designed NUP in Russia is proposed, which includes counteracting the concentration of population and economic activity in Moscow and establishing Saint Petersburg as a centre of economic growth. There is also an urgent need to understand the economic development prospects of smaller towns.