The project fosters community space planning in partnerships. Involvement of the public in the early development phases of procedures for community space planning will be implemented on two actual examples, which will strengthen and promote the awareness of space planning in partnerships in the local administration and in the general public as well as positively contribute towards the quality of public participation in community space planning.
DURATION: 1. 7. 2018 – 15. 10. 2019
DEVELOPER OF THE PROJECT: IPoP – Institute for Spatial Politics
PROJECT PARTNERS: Association for Culture and Education PiNA, Cultural Association prostoRož, HIŠA – Association for People and Places, social enterprise
THE PROJECT IS SUPPORTED BY: Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning
REFERENCE NUMBER: 2550-18-300014
KEYWORDS: PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT, COMMUNITY SPACE PLANNING
CONTACT: Borut Jerman
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Slovene municipalities are often faced with negative public opinion when it comes to introducing innovative measures or changing public space and traffic regulation through new approaches. Due to the negative response many municipalities sometimes abandon their efforts or go back to the old regulations. Such negative response is most commonly the result of inefficient public involvement in the decision-making processes.
Most Slovene municipalities have poor skills when it comes to using modern tools for public involvement. They are often worried that public involvement will delay or even hinder the implementation of measures, so they avoid using participation procedures that exceed regulatory requirements. What is more, solutions that are developed without the involvement of public can be inadequate, as public space planners have a different understanding and feeling of the space than those who use it daily.
Numerous European and even some Slovene good practices show that the involvement of public in the early development processes of community space planning is extremely beneficial and a good long term investment, as it improves the quality of the solution, changes public opinion of the solution and has a positive impact on the confidence in the local administration.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES:
By implementing two processes of public involvement – related to the city centre in Maribor and to the coastal road in Izola and Koper – we plan to educate and train employees (using the learning-by-doing method) in these three municipalities and administrative units about:
– spatial planning in partnerships,
– improve the quality of public involvement in the processes of public space planning in two local environments,
– test the effectiveness of different methods and approaches,
– present our findings to other municipalities, administrative units and the general public.
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