One of the forms of public participation in the local governance system is civic budgeting which actively engages residents in developing projects and voting on the submitted proposals. Civic budgeting aims to involve local communities in deciding how a defined portion of public resources should be allocated by means of a democratic debate. Public spaces are the essence of urban life; therefore, the aim of the study was to analyze civic budget records relating to public spaces. The study was conducted in the largest Polish cities. The research involved quantitative and comparative analytical methods. The analysis focused on community involvement and local community needs, represented by a wide array of public space-related project categories. The analyzed cities were ranked according to their civic engagement, and the resulting classification was compared with voter turnout during polls on the proposals adopted as part of the CB process. The results revealed considerable diversity in both civic engagement and local needs, and they could be used to develop guidelines for designing public spaces in the urban planning process. The present findings are also a valuable source of information for local governments in their efforts to improve the functioning, attractiveness and development of user-friendly spaces in citizen-oriented cities.

Public spaces play many important roles and constitute a vital component of the urban fabric, in particular in towns with historical centers. Effective management of public space should be based on the results of qualitative assessments. The quality of public space is usually evaluated directly during field surveys. However, field methods require considerable effort and time, which is why a remote sensing method based on satellite images and the Street View technology was proposed in this paper. Two Polish towns were evaluated, and the results generated by the direct and the remote approach were compared. The assessment focused on public spaces which constitute public property and promote direct human interactions. Both methods produced highly similar results, which indicates that remote sensing is a suitable technique for assessing the quality of public spaces.

Public spaces exert a direct influence on quality of life, which is why their qualitative and quantitative attributes should be evaluated. In the literature, public spaces have been assessed with various methods, but external conditions, including season, weather, and time of day, and internal conditions, such as lighting and color, have rarely been evaluated. These factors affect the appearance of public spaces, and they can play an important role in assessments and perceptions of space. The presence of such relationships was verified by evaluating the same public space in four seasons of the year. Assessments were based on color photographs. Public spaces were evaluated in a survey where questionnaires were filled out by the respondents at time intervals. The survey was anonymous, and it was conducted online. The population sample comprised 111 people, including local residents and people residing in other parts of Poland. The results of the study clearly indicate that seasons directly affect perceptions of public spaces.

Centrally located public spaces, such as old towns, are an important feature of historic towns. They are often the most characteristic and representative element of a town that brings together members of the local community, plays various sociological and social roles and promotes direct interactions between the users of space. Only high-quality public spaces can effectively fulfil their role. The aim of this study was to analyse spatial order in public spaces on the example of the Old Town district of Morąg in North-Eastern Poland. The quality of public spaces was analysed with the use of a self-designed method, a field inventory and a questionnaire survey involving 100 members of the local community who were asked to evaluate the quality of public spaces in the town. The results of the comparison were used to identify public spaces that require revitalisation. The study demonstrates that spatial order directly influences the quality of public spaces. Our findings indicate that multidimensional analyses of spatial order and opinion surveys provide valuable inputs and should be included in studies evaluating the quality of public spaces.

Motives: The COVID-19 pandemic directly affected the lives of Polish workers. The literature on the subject focuses its attention on the medical sector, security services, education, and commerce. Aim: In order to broaden the analysis, the impact of the pandemic on the investment and construction sector, closely related to spatial management, was assessed by conducting a questionnaire survey among its workers. The survey was anonymous and conducted remotely via the Microsoft Forms platform. The study sample comprised 109 workers. Results: The study results show clearly that the pandemic had a significant impact on working life. The negative effects include a deteriorated mental state and a feeling of increased anxiety, problems with the timely completion of investment projects, prolonged working hours, and numerous absences from work. As regards the positive phenomena, the respondents indicated the flexible working hours (remote and hybrid work), the advantages resulting from the accelerated digitisation of the administration (faster acquisition of data), and a change for the better in terms of the forms of communication with superiors and co-workers.