Online survey as a tool in participatory urban governance - The Polish experience

Abstract

Sustainable urban governance needs to be participatory. Municipal decision-making processes have to be responsive, transparent and inclusive, they should also actively promote citizen involvement. While the concept of participatory urban governance is increasingly popular in Western societies, in East-Central Europe it struggles to overcome the complex effects of system transformation. The Polish experience of participatory urban governance is still quite shallow with few examples of good practice in this field discernable. To stimulate cooperation between local authorities and citizens we need to develop new tools of social participation in decision-making. In this paper I present the results of public consultations held in Wroclaw and Zielona Gora in 2007 by means of online surveys. The findings of the studies were used to define the principles of the future development of the respective cities highlighting the growing possibilities for the use of using online surveys as effective mechanisms in cooperation and co-governance.