The purpose of this article is to identify the directions and scope of inclusion of the residents’ participation into the concept of city’s sustainable development and the smart city concept, taking into account national and international conditions, on the basis of Wroclaw’s practices in 1998–2018. Many researchers have emphasized the necessity of including residents’ participation in both the smart city concept and the sustainable city development concept, but they do not focus on a coherent linking of these activities during evolution toward a sustainable smart city (SSC). The in-depth case study analysis considered, i.e., three subsequent Wroclaw development strategies (1998–2018) and implementation of the smart city concept in Wroclaw (2015–2018) with particular emphasis on the issue of public participation and sustainable development of the city. The results of study show that in the case of the developments in the activities of smart city and sustainable city development carried out by Wroclaw, it is possible to identify two different approaches to residents’ participation in city activities. In Wroclaw, ‘residents’ participation’ in the framework of the sustainable city development activities currently covers all theoretical levels of participation, while within the smart city activities it focuses mainly on the participatory budget and the limited use of ICT. The conducted research indicates that for the implementation of the SSC concept it would be important to integrate these approaches in order to ensure the full range of residents’ participation in accordance with theoretical postulates. The conducted analysis therefore covers mostly unexplored area of research, which is important from the point of view of a city’s evolution toward becoming a sustainable smart city. The conclusions from the research are also an empirical contribution to the analysis of the changes of cities towards SSC and indicate the need for further, extended research on the undertaken problem.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/332/pdf

Towards a Smart and Sustainable City with the Involvement of Public Participation—The Case of Wroclaw

A smart city is one of the latest concepts in the development of modern cities. It has evolved from the foregoing smart cities 1.0 and 2.0 to the smart city 3.0, where members of the local community play the main role as not only the recipients of the introduced changes and modern technology, but also as the creators of urban space. One of the goals of a smart city 3.0 is to promote sustainable urban development by improving the quality of life, enhancing social participation, and involving local community members in planning and decision-making processes. This study set out to determine the role and significance of e-participation methods in the smart city concept. The results of questionnaires exploring the importance of e-participation in urban development are presented. The paper also discusses changes in the availability of information and communication technologies (ICT) in Poland. The secondary goal was to present the geo-questionnaire and Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) as modern research tools. Internet tools based on geoinformation systems have considerable potential for mobilizing social participation in spatial planning (Public Participation GIS). The present study postulates the need for modern social participation methods in shaping urban space and promoting the sustainable development of cities. The study highlights the main challenges in the research process. The cooperation between the authorities and the citizens contributes to the development of a civil society, informed decision-making, social involvement in public life, and more effective governance at the local, regional, and national level. Measures that foster cooperation between the authorities and local communities, the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), and growing social awareness and social participation in managing development are the components of a modern smart city and the building blocks of an e-society. The study also revealed positive changes in access to ICT and their contribution to bridging the digital divide in Poland. Higher levels of social awareness regarding participation and e-participation promote the growth of smart cities.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/5/2136/pdf

Access to ICT in Poland and the Co-Creation of Urban Space in the Process of Modern Social Participation in a Smart City—A Case Study

This Special Issue of Sustainability was devoted to the topic of “Sustainable Smart Cities and Smart Villages Research: Rethinking Security, Safety, Well-being, and Happiness”. It attracted significant attention of scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers from all over the world. Locating themselves at the expanding cross-section of the information systems and policy making research, all papers included in this Special Issue contribute to the debate on the exploitation of advanced information and communication technologies (ICT) for smart applications and computing for smart cities and rural areas research. By promoting a thorough scientific debate on multi-faceted challenges that our villages, cities, urban and rural areas are exposed to today, this Special Issue offers a very useful overview of the most recent developments in the multifaceted and, frequently overlapping, fields of smart cities and smart villages research. A variety of topics including well-being, happiness, security, Open Democracy, Open Government, Smart Education, Smart Innovation, and Migration have been addressed in this Special Issue. In this way they define the direction for future research in both domains.

Sustainable Smart Cities and Smart Villages Research: Rethinking Security, Safety, Well-being, and Happiness

Growing urbanization trends, together with a greater environmental awareness, are transforming cities into game changers in the sustainability game. Cities are under pressure in both developed as w...

Reforming traditional PPP models to cope with the challenges of smart cities

Conference proceedings THE LAW TOWARDS FINANCIAL CHALLENGES OF
THE XXI CENTURY is compiled from the contributions of
participants in the 4th International Baltic Financial Law
Conference - Financial Law towards Challenges of the XXI
Century. Thematically it is focused on financial law and public
finance, local self-government financing, tax law and financial
market law and reflects the authors' research in these areas.
Given the breadth of financial law, proceedings is divided into
five parts: 1. Axiological and philosophical aspects of the
financial law, 2. Selected problems of public financial law, 3.
Tax law, 4. International Financial Law, 5. Banking Law. Each
post contains the aims and eventual hypothesis, methodology and
adequate conclusions de lege ferenda. All contributions were
double blind reviewed by experts in the area of tax law not
only from the Central and Eastern European Countries.

The Financial Law towards Challenges of the XXI Century:(conference proceedings)

Since the announcement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the need for localization of SDGs has been emphasized. In this context, sustainable rural development is still a relatively undescribed area in the context of using the participatory budget as a tool to implement SDGs. Few countries have introduced legal regulations in practice, enabling the creation of participatory budgets (especially in rural areas), so a multifaceted analysis of a decade of Poland's experience may provide important guidelines for countries considering introducing such solutions, which we consider to be the main purpose of this study. This is the first study covering all communes where participatory budgets (Solecki Fund—FS) were created in Poland during the 2010–2018 period (up to 60% of all), covering both the analysis of the process of creating FSs, the directions of spending and the scale of spending (including regional differentiation), as well as legal regulations and the consequences of including central government support in this mechanism. On the basis of the research, it can be observed that, despite the small scale of FS spending, the number of municipalities using this form of citizen participation is increasing. At the same time, there is significant variation between regions, which indicates the flexibility of the FSs in adapting to the needs reported by residents. The analysed directions of expenditure indicate that the FSs are in line with the SDG objectives related to the improvement of residents' quality of life. It can be concluded that, despite the existing legal regulations, the introduction of the Solecki Fund undoubtedly depends on the political will of the local government's legislative authorities and the willingness of residents to participate in decisions on spending directions.

How a Participatory Budget Can Support Sustainable Rural Development—Lessons From Poland

The hereby article is targeted at the analysis of participatory budget's evolution for the city of Wroclaw (WBO) within the context of this process being incorporated in the concept of Smart City. The research encompassed the principles of social consultations realized by Wroclaw in the years 2013-2016. Furthermore, the results of voting in the individual conditions of WBO in terms of the number of voters and the structure of the selected projects. The analysis also covered the information concerning WBO and the "Smart City Wroclaw" project included on internet websites of the city and within the strategies and programming documents. Key changes observed in the principles of forming WBO concerned the scale of the financed projects, increases of the scope of preparatory works, increase of the role of project leaders, strive for more even distribution of the realized projects within the area of the city, increase of citizen participation in the creation of projects through implementing alternative planning methods (i.e.. Citizen Labs). The conducted analysis revealed that WBO is not just an element of actions in the scope of social participation. It is also a uniquely important area of actions contributing to the formation of Smart City 3.0. Its form is subject to constant improvement thanks to efficient communication of the authorities and the inhabitants by means of a number of information channels (including innovative ones) and the analysis of the obtained through this information. These are essential both at the stage of picking up the ideas and their subsequent selection as well as realization assessment. The budget evolution is directed also at increasing activeness of the inhabitants within the regions which were so far characterized by their relative passivity. The basic determinants of changes are on one hand the postulates of activation of individual groups of inhabitants, while on the other hand, the search for optimum model of selection of projects which considers sustainable growth of the entire city.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2797701_code1921531.pdf?abstractid=2797701&mirid=1&type=2

Participatory Budget of Wrocław as an Element of Smart City 3.0 Concept

This article is an attempt to present and analyse the changes in the scale and scope of the significance of participatory budgets introduced in the years 2014-2016 in most Polish cities with district rights (MNP), as well as to determine the importance of activities in the field of marketing communication for the effective implementation of the objectives related to its functioning. The analysis carried out in the article concerning PB development in MNP clearly indicates the rise of interest of this form of citizens’ participation in deciding about MNP expenses. Simultaneously, differences in scale and range of implemented PB among examined groups might be visible. As an example, the city of Wroclaw shows that an adequate marketing communication of the city as well as local project leaders with inhabitants is a fundamental factor influencing forming an active participation among inhabitants.

Participatory Budgeting in Poland – Finance and Marketing Selected Issues

This paper was mainly intended to enable a preliminary assessment of the factors qualifying the out-of-town full-time students, temporarily staying in Wroclaw, for the participation in creating the participatory budget of Wroclaw. We can observe that only small group of students voted for participatory budget of Wroclaw. Main reason of non-voting was a lack of information about participatory budget and possibility of voting. Some of respondents were also misinformed about possibility of voting. It seems also that that main reason of non-voting is really lack of interest. In introducing participatory budget one of main players is local community. Applicants, non-governmental organizations, district councils, schools or other institutions are able to motivate citizens for voting. In our survey we discovered that these actors didn’t play a single minute. Surveyed voting-students had heard about participatory budget from friends, family members, or they had found information from social media, town internet page and posters. The main factors influencing the choice of the projects by surveyed students were in general: descriptions of tasks in the electronic voting system, tasks descriptions available on the town website, information spread by the applicants (online, by leaflets, posters, banners and other ones) and opinions of family members. Summarizing we can notice that main problem is lack of information provided by different town and non-governmental bodies and what results poor acquisition of voters.

Jarosław Olejniczak

Papers

Towards a Smart and Sustainable City with the Involvement of Public Participation—The Case of Wroclaw

How a Participatory Budget Can Support Sustainable Rural Development—Lessons From Poland

Participatory Budget of Wrocław as an Element of Smart City 3.0 Concept

Participatory Budgeting in Poland – Finance and Marketing Selected Issues

Participation of Non-Resident Students in the Creation of Participatory Budget in Wroclaw