Governance as a Remedy for the Process of Shaping Contemporary Urban Spaces: An Empirical Analysis on the Example of the City of Bydgoszcz, Poland

Abstract

Dynamic changes in the urban environment oblige us to look for new concepts for shaping city space. The concept of governance is becoming a current trend, often related to the idea of ​​sustainable development, which is the main development tendency of modern agglomerations. Governance is a valuable core for governing the city, an important element of which should be the participation and inclusion of all urban policy entities. Nevertheless, it is a universal concept. Due to the need to take into account specific local conditions, a case study of the city of Bydgoszcz was used. The research hypothesis was that the implementation of urban policy in shaping Bydgoszcz’s space is an ineffective implementation of governance assumptions. The author presented the determinants of urban policy in this area. She also conducted surveys on 800 residents of Bydgoszcz aged 18 and over. Their aim was to verify the residents’ position on the quality of Bydgoszcz’s urban space and the participation of Bydgoszcz residents in the process of shaping it. This led to a confirmation that the implementation of governance in the Bydgoszcz realities, although formally present, does not fully fulfill its functions and does not implement the assumptions effectively. The study is therefore a diagnosis that is a signal for decision-makers and urban practitioners.