After 123 years of nonexistence on the political map of Europe, Poland reappeared as an independent state in 1918. The formal regulation of the planning system was introduced by the Regulation of the President of Poland of 16 February 1928 on the building code and the construction of settlements (Rozporządzenie Prezydenta o prawie budowalnym i zabudowie osiedli). The main instruments of the planning system were regional and local plans. The quality of planning in those times can be demonstrated by innovative plans on different scales: neighbourhood housing projects (i.e. Rakowiec or Żoliborz in Warsaw), a plan of functional Warsaw (1934) on the metropolitan scale, the Central Industrial Circle (Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy) or the new port and new town of Gdynia (1926–1930), which has a functional and elegant urban structure, especially in the centre, which can still today be considered a masterpiece of modern urban planning.

From the very beginning of the reborn state, planning professionals were trained at Polish universities, in particular in Lviv and Warsaw, where the active urbanists Ignacy Drexler and Tadeusz Tołwiński (a graduate of Karlsruhe) were based, respectively. The first Chair in Urban Planning was established in Lviv (Technical University) as early as 1913. The Polish Society of Town Planners initiated its activities in 1923.

Polish planners and architects were also active on the European level. Helena Syrkus, thanks to her language qualifications, served as secretary of the 4^th CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne) and was in the inner circle of the editors of the Charter of Athens (1933).

The Second World War left Polish territory not only heavily destroyed (catastrophic damage to infrastructure; comprehensive damage to two million housing units; many cities, including the capital city of Warsaw, in ruins), but also with its territory ‘shifted’ towards the west, which caused considerable migration: Poles were expelled from their properties in the eastern part of the country and Germans were forced to move out of the new Polish territories. The population of Poland decreased from 35.1 million in 1939 to 23.9 million in 1946. It also lost its ethnic heterogeneity.

In the new political situation that emerged after the war, the planning system was based on the 2 April 1946 Decree on the Planned Development of the Country (Dekret o planowym zagospodarowaniu kraju), together with the 1 October 1947 Decree on the Planned National Economy (Dekret o planowej gospodarce narodowej). These two decrees created the legal framework for the planning system for the next 15 years. This system was then replaced by the Act of 31 January 1961 on spatial planning (Ustawa o planowaniu przestrzennym) and then by the Act of 12 July 1984. The key elements of all three acts were:

• the interdependency between socio-economic planning and spatial planning;
• the hierarchical, three-level system of planning: national, regional and local;
• a planning administration on each level of planning.

It is important to be aware that local self-government did not exist during the era of so-called ‘actualy exsiting socialism’. Therefore, even if plans were drafted and adopted at regional or local levels, the central government and ruling party could exert top-down influence at any stage, as regional and local powers were appointed by them.

After the transformation of 1989, the planning system was redefined and adapted to the new political arrangement. The first, and indeed the most important, factor of change was actual self-government, which had been introduced as early as 1990 by the Act on Territorial Self-Government (Ustawa o samorządzie terytorialnym). This was one of the fundamental changes that transformed the organisation of the centrally governed state into one in which self-government played an essential role. At this stage, the administrative structure was based on a two-tier organisation comprising municipalities, which were defined as the basic territorial units, and 49 voivodships. The new Act on Spatial Development (Ustawa o zagospodarowaniu przestrzennym) introduced in 1994 complemented the political change in the field of planning. The title of the regulation itself was significant. ‘Planning’ was associated with the central planning system of ‘actualy exsiting socialism’ and, as such, was not particularly well-received at the beginning of the transformation process. Many people at the time believed that so-called Western countries did not engage in any form of planning. Furthermore, they believed that this absence of planning was a defining feature of the so-called market economy.

The planning system defined in 1994 transferred most planning powers to local authorities and, after 1998, also to regional authorities. However, the central government retained certain planning powers at a national level. Two planning instruments were defined at a local level: the local spatial development plan (miejscowy plan zagospodarowania przestrzennego), commonly referred to as the local plan, and the Study of the Conditions and Directions of Spatial Development (Studium uwarunkowań i kierunków zagospodarowania przestrzennego). The latter was to define the spatial policy for the entire municipality, and was binding only for local plans and the local administration. The regulations of the local plan formed the legal basis for issuing building permits. On the regional level, the main instrument was the spatial development plan of the voivodship (plan zagospodarowania przestrzennego województwa) and on the national level, the central government remained responsible for the spatial development concept for the entire country (Koncepcja przestrzennego zagospodarowania kraju). The planning of Polish maritime areas also remained under government control. It is quite evident that the planning system did not change as much as the system of governance did: the existing three-tier structure of planning instruments was simply incorporated into the new system of territorial governance. In the absence of a local plan, land development was permitted through an administrative decision on building conditions (decyzja o warunkach zabudowy) issued by the local authorities. This solution had a significant adverse impact on spatial development in Poland (cf. Kowalewski et al. 2013, Kowalewski et al. 2018, Mironowicz 2017).

In 2003 the new Act on Spatial Planning and Development (Ustawa o planowaniu i zagospodarowaniu przestrzennym), the Planning Act for short, was adopted by parliament and forms the foundation of the planning system in Poland to the present day (2026).

It is important to point out that the current planning system in Poland, as outlined in 2003, has undergone continuous evolution since then. Not only has the statute itself been amended numerous times, but the planning system has also been modified by regulations in other areas, such as the environment, landscape protection, transport, development policies and conservation, among others. More than 100 legal acts currently form the Polish planning system. This system has also been modified by regulations intended to be temporary, but which remain in force to this day. One example of this is the Act on the Preparation of the European Football Championships EURO 2012 (Ustawa o przygotowaniu finałowego turnieju Mistrzostw Europy w Piłce Nożnej UEFA EURO 2012).

The spatial planning system in Poland has undergone two significant changes in recent years.

The first of these, implemented in 2020, established a strong link between spatial and strategic planning. The two systems are now closely integrated. This is why the Act of 6 December 2006 on the Principles of Conducting Development Policy (Ustawa o zasadach prowadzenia polityki rozwoju) constitutes the second pillar of the spatial planning system in Poland. Previously, spatial policy was defined in a planning document known as the Study of the Conditions and Directions of Spatial Development (see the section on the history of spatial planning); now, it is defined in development strategies. Consequently, the former document was removed from the Polish planning system. At the national level, this change signifies that planning instruments are no longer being prepared; only strategic documents with spatial implications are now being produced.

The second major change, introduced in 2023, brought new planning instruments and new procedures for drafting existing instruments into the planning system. It also changed the rules for public participation in the planning process.

Although the system is still formally based on the 2003 Planning Act, it is now completely different to how it was two decades ago.

The new planning system is expected to be fully implemented over the course of 2026. This means that a transition period is currently (in 2026) underway, moving from the ‘old’ system (prior to the aforementioned amendment to the Planning Act in 2023) to the ‘new’ system. Although some instruments from the ‘old’ system are still in force, this description will generally refer to the new system.

The Urban Planning Register (Rejestr urbanistyczny) is expected to be operational in 2026. Administered by the ministry responsible for construction, spatial planning and housing, the register will contain spatial planning and development information and data, including spatial data, for the whole country. Everyone will have free access to the register. Alongside various adopted or approved planning instruments, the register will contain subsequent versions of the spatial planning instruments that are currently being drafted. Register users will be able to receive information by email.

Since the spatial and strategic planning systems are now integrated, they must be presented together.

The Planning Act defines: 

• the principles of spatial policy formulation by local governments and (central) government administrative bodies, and,
• the scope and methods of action relating to the designation of land uses and the establishment of rules for its development, 

while indicating that spatial order and sustainable development should underpin these activities.

The terms ‘spatial order’ and ‘sustainable development’ are defined in law. Spatial order is defined as ‘the shaping of space in such a way that it forms a harmonious whole, taking into account all functional, socio-economic, environmental, cultural, compositional and aesthetic conditions and requirements in an orderly manner’ (Article 2(1) of the Planning Act).

Sustainable development, on the other hand, is defined as ‘social and economic development in which political, economic and social activities are integrated while maintaining an environmental balance and the sustainability of basic natural processes in order to guarantee that the basic needs of particular communities or citizens, both present and future generations, can be satisfied’ (Article 3(50) of the Act on Environmental Protection). 

The essential elements that have to be taken into account in spatial development as defined in Article 1(2) of the Planning Act include: landscape, urban and architectural values; the natural environment and its protection, including water management and reducing vulnerability to climate change; heritage protection; human health and safety; the economic value of space and property rights; public interests; infrastructure development; public participation and the transparency of planning processes; preventing serious accidents; shaping agricultural production areas.

Additionally, in spatial development, the balance between public and private interests as well as between the protection of the existing land use and transformation is to be maintained.

Furthermore, the planning of new spatial structures should minimise the need for mobility, ensure access to public transport and facilitate cycling and walking. New development should be located within urbanised areas, with greenfield development only being used as a last option when there is no possibility to densify or transform existing structures.

In Poland, both spatial planners (who have studied on programmes officially called ‘spatial management’) and architects are authorised to draw up plans. 

There are two territorial levels with spatial planning powers: local and regional. At the national level, the government only retains planning powers in relation to Polish maritime areas.

There is no planning instrument at a national level in relation to land. Instead, the government prepares a Concept for the Development of the Country (Koncepcja rozwoju kraju), which, according to the Act on the Principles of Conducting Development Policy, is not a strategy per se and includes the following: (1) conclusions from the analysis of domestic development trends; (2) conclusions from the analysis of global development trends and their potential impact on domestic trends; and (3) development scenarios and challenges for the country relating to social, economic and spatial dimensions. This document has a time horizon of 30 years. This document does not explicitly define development goals. While these may be included in the development scenarios, this is neither clear nor obvious. It is telling that the identified challenges do not include environmental issues, despite these being the most pressing today.

The ‘KRK 2050’ Concept for the Development of the Country, adopted by the Council of Ministers on 25 July 2025 (Resolution No. 93), is currently in force.

At a national level, the development strategies set out in the Act on the Principles of Conducting Development Policy are: the mid-term development strategy for the country; other strategies developed by ministers that are consistent with it, such as the national urban policy; and the national regional development strategy.

The government must assess the social, economic, spatial, climate and environmental circumstances of these strategies, taking functional areas into account, including urban areas. Before it is adopted, the development strategy must also be evaluated in terms of its relevance, expected effectiveness and efficiency.

The mid-term development strategy for the country is intended to define the basic conditions, goals and directions for its development over a period of 10–15 years. However, just like the national development concept, it can only define these in social, economic and spatial terms. The current (2026) mid-term national development strategy is the Strategy for Responsible Development until 2020 (with a perspective until 2030) (Strategia odpowiedzialnego rozwoju do 2020 (z perspektywą do 2030)), adopted by the Council of Ministers in 2017. This is an update of the previous version of this document.

According to the Act of 21 March 1991 on Maritime Areas of the Republic of Poland and Maritime Administration (Ustawa o obszarach morskich Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej i administracji morskiej), the government adopts spatial development plans for internal sea waters, the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone in the form of a resolution. According to the provisions of this Act, the process of spatial planning and development of Polish maritime areas involves the competent authorities analysing and organising the use of these areas in order to ‘achieve environmental, economic and social objectives’. These plans are drafted by the Maritime Office, a territorial governmental administrative body. When drawing up these plans, the Maritime Office must apply an ecosystem approach, taking into account support for sustainable development in the maritime sector (including environmental improvement and climate change resilience), national defence and security, the coordination of the activities of relevant entities, and how the sea is used. The Act also contains a precise definition of the ecosystem approach. An environmental impact assessment must be prepared for the draft plan. 

Plans for maritime areas determine the basic functions and permissible uses of specific areas, prohibitions and restrictions on these uses, the location of public investments, and directions for the development of transport and technical infrastructure. They also define areas and conditions relating to environmental and cultural heritage protection, fishing and aquaculture, energy production, and the exploration, identification and extraction of minerals. The Act prohibits the construction of wind farms in internal sea waters and the territorial sea.

The procedure for drawing up a plan for maritime areas is similar to that for land areas, including a public consultation in the form of collecting proposals and comments. The draft plan must also be made available for public inspection for at least six weeks. The local authorities bordering the planned maritime area must consent to the draft plan. 

There are two main planning instruments on the regional level: the regional spatial development plan, officially called the spatial development plan of the voivodship (Plan zagospodarowania przestrzennego województwa), or regional plan for short, and the Landscape Audit (Audyt krajobrazowy). Apart from these two compulsory instruments, the regulations allow the regional (self-governing) authorities represented by the Marshal to conduct spatial analyses as well as to elaborate sectoral spatial plans or/and programmes according to the local needs (Art. 38 of the Planning Act). However, these remain optional.

At the regional level, a development strategy for the voivodship must also be established. The Act on Voivodship Self-Government (Ustawa o samorządzie województwa) imposes several objectives on this development strategy, one of which is the shaping and maintenance of the spatial order. This strategy must be consistent with the mid-term development strategy for the country and the national regional development strategy.

The development strategy for the voivodship outlines the spatial policy for its area. 

A mandatory element of this document is the model of the functional and spatial structure. This is essentially a plan, albeit not formally designated as such, that presents the spatial structure of the region in a concise form. There is no requirement for this component of the strategy to be drawn up by planners or architects.

A development strategy for a voivodship may only be dispensed with if several voivodships decide to prepare a joint supra-regional development strategy. In this case, the strategy would apply to each of the regions involved and would perform the same functions as a development strategy for a voivodship. This legal option has never been used in Poland to date.

A Landscape Audit shall be prepared at least every 20 years. This instrument was introduced into the planning system in 2015 as part of the implementation of the European Landscape Convention. The landscapes within the region must be identified, described and evaluated in this document. In particular, it shall define so-called priority landscapes, which are of especially high value for society. The appropriate means to protect the landscapes and their components are to be indicated. Prior to its approval by the voivodship board, the regional director of environmental protection, the directors of the national and landscape parks (which are legal forms of environmental protection), the regional heritage officer, and the councils of the municipalities located in the region shall all be consulted on the Landscape Audit. A draft of the Landscape Audit shall also be made available for the general public, and the comments on it shall be either included in the final version or reported to the regional parliament before approval. Although the Landscape Audit is not legally binding, its conclusions and recommendations shall be taken into account while drafting the regional plan and planning instruments on the local level (Attachment 3).

Drafting the regional plan is the responsibility of the Marshal. The document must take into account the recommendations defined in the development strategy for the voivodship and in the mid-term development strategy for the country. The regional plan must incorporate assessments of the social, economic and spatial situation with a particular focus on the functional areas, including the urban functional areas, which have been prepared for the above-mentioned strategies.

The regional plan must define: the settlement structure of the region, including transport and infrastructural connections and transboundary interrelations; areas that are protected because of their environmental or cultural values; principles for climate protection and adaptation measures that reduce the region’s vulnerability to climate change; the location of investments of supra-local importance; flood risk areas; ‘restricted’ areas, which are defined by the government for national defence and security reasons; documented mineral deposit areas and underground storage areas for carbon dioxide. If there are central investments defined in the documents which have been adopted by parliament, the government or an empowered ministry, they must be included in the regional plan. The regional plan should also take into account the location of aquifers and underground carbon dioxide storage facilities.

The regulations allow for a plan of the functional area of the capital(s) of the region to be drafted as part of the regional plan.

The regional plan must be prepared in a way that enables all relevant stakeholders to participate (see Attachment  4). The most significant group at the regional level comprises institutional actors. This group includes the Regional Commission on Architecture and Urban Planning, which, according to the Planning Act, consists of professionals appointed by the Marshal to advise them on spatial planning issues.

The monitoring procedure requires the Voivodship Board to examine changes in spatial development at least once during its term of office, and to compile a report on the state of spatial development in the region. This report must be evaluated by the aforementioned Commission and presented to the voivodship parliament. A copy of the report must also be delivered to the ministry responsible for spatial development.

At the local level, the only mandatory planning and/or strategic instruments are a General Plan (Plan ogólny) and a development strategy for the municipality (Strategia rozwoju gminy), or a Local Strategy for short, which defines the municipality’s spatial policy. All other planning instruments may be used by the municipality as needed.

Only at the municipal level do selected planning instruments have the status of local law.

Each municipality must draw up a development strategy. This strategy must be consistent with that of the relevant voivodship.

According to the Act on Municipal Self-Government (Ustawa o smorządzie gminnym), which regulates the content of the Local Strategy, it must include provisions and recommendations on the formulation and implementation of spatial policy concerning the following: (1) principles for protecting the environment and its resources, including the air, nature and landscapes; (2) principles for protecting cultural heritage, monuments and contemporary cultural assets; (3) directions for changes in land use, including identifying specific needs for new housing developments; (4) principles for the location of large-scale retail facilities; (5) principles for the location of key public investments; (6) directions for developing transport systems as well as technical and social infrastructure; (7) principles for the location of energy generation facilities with an installed capacity exceeding 500 kW; (8) rules for the location of developments that may have a significant environmental impact; (9) rules for the development of agricultural and forest production areas; (10) rules for spatial development in degraded areas, areas undergoing revitalisation and areas requiring transformation, rehabilitation, reclamation or remediation.

The model of the functional and spatial structure, which must be included in the Local Strategy, is intended to define the ‘planned configuration of spatial components’, including the settlement structure, nature networks, major transport corridors, and key elements of technical and social infrastructure. In other words, as was the case at the regional level, it is a type of plan, albeit not formally defined as such. As with the regional level, this document can be drafted by those without planning qualifications.

In another parallel with the regional level, several municipalities may collaborate to develop a supra-local strategy, replacing the local strategy in each participating municipality.

The General Plan must define planning zones (strefy planistyczne) and municipal urban planning standards (gminne standardy urbanistyczne). 

The Planning Act defines 13 planning zones. The territory of the municipality should be divided into defined areas, which should be assigned to one of the 13 planning zones. No part of the municipality may be assigned to more than one planning zone. Each zone has a minimum ‘environmentally active area’ (powierzchnia biologicznie czynna) assigned to it. This term is defined as ‘an area that ensures the presence of natural vegetation and the retention of rainwater and meltwater, an area covered by watercourses or water reservoirs, excluding recreational and industrial pools, as well as natural vegetation covering 50% of the area of terraces, roofs and other surfaces, with an area of not less than 10 square metres’ (Article 2(28) of the Planning Act).

A primary and secondary functional profile (profil funkcjonalny) is assigned to each planning zone. It remains unclear whether this functional profile corresponds to the ‘land use’ that must be defined in the local plan. Since a different term has been used, it should be assumed that these are two different concepts (Mironowicz 2024a). 

For the ‘greenery and recreation’ zone, for example, the primary functional profile is ‘landscaped green areas, beach areas, water areas, transport areas, allotment gardens and technical infrastructure areas’. The secondary functional profile comprises ‘sports and recreational services, cultural and entertainment services, retail services, restaurant services, tourism services, scientific services, educational services, health and social services, and natural green and forest areas’. There are no established proportions for the individual functions listed in the primary and secondary sections.

Municipal urban planning standards are intended to stipulate the minimum distance between residential areas and certain services (such as schools and kindergartens), or between residential areas and specific types of land use (such as parks). The Planning Act specifies distances of 1.5 km for primary schools in cities and 3 km for those outside cities. There should also be a public green area of at least three hectares within 1.5 kilometres of a home, and at least 20 hectares within three kilometres. However, the Planning Act permits municipalities to define different distances between residences and the aforementioned facilities. In other words, this provision is intentionally ineffective and does not require municipalities to comply with even this modest standard (Mironowicz 2024a).

Municipalities may also set standards for other facilities and forms of land use.

Prior to the delineation of the remaining components of the General Plan, it is essential to elucidate that within the Polish planning system, the development of land is permissible even in the absence of a local plan for it. This is achieved through the execution of individual administrative decisions by the mayor. These individual decisions encompass the determination of the location of a public purpose investment (decyzja o ustaleniu lokalizacji inwestycji celu publicznego) and that of the building conditions (decyzja o warunkach zabudowy).

The General Plan may regulate two additional issues, but this is not mandatory.

The first of these concerns the designation of areas for completing development (obszary uzupełnienia zabudowy). These are areas where decisions on building conditions can be issued. In other words, no decision on building conditions can be issued if no such areas are designated in the General Plan.

Secondly, the General Plan may designate inner city development areas (obszary zabudowy śródmiejskiej). In these areas, the standards for access to natural daylight may be reduced to half the values specified in the technical building regulations. This means that the distance between buildings can be significantly reduced, increasing the density of development.

The General Plan must comply with the spatial policy set out in the local strategy.

The General Plan is a new planning instrument that was introduced by an amendment to the Planning Act in 2023. According to current legislation, all municipalities in Poland are required to adopt a General Plan by September 2026. 

As of 19 November 2025, only two municipalities in Poland had adopted a General Plan. Around one-third of municipalities have drafted a plan, but the process is ongoing (gathering opinions and approvals, public consultation). Over 90% of municipalities have started drafting the plan, but most are still in the early stages. For instance, nearly 40% of municipalities have not yet selected an external contractor to draft the plan because they lack their own planning unit. However, some examples of General Plans in progress, such as those in Gdańsk, Wrocław and Warsaw, are already available for public viewing.

The General Plan is a local law. As it must cover the entire municipality, it also covers areas where local plans are already in force. These plans will remain in force in accordance with the regulations. Local plans are also acts of local law. It is not yet clear how disputes will be resolved in the event of a conflict between a general plan and a local plan. Court judgments in such cases will be necessary to answer this question.

It is also worth noting that the General Plan exists as an electronic document in the Urban Planning Register. In other words, the plan has no physical form. While it is possible to print a drawing from the plan from the register, the plan’s proper legal form is the spatial data and related indicators in the register.

However, there is also a downside to this ‘technological progress’ in the way the General Plan is drawn up. The ministry provides the tool used by municipalities to draw up the plan. This tool features a drop-down menu, and the General Plan can only comprise the elements prescribed in this menu. Thus, the executive power has taken over the municipalities’ right to interpret the provisions of the Planning Act, thereby depriving them of their decision-making power. It seems that it should be the courts, rather than the executive, that decide how to interpret the law. This is a classic example of how a tool becomes an end in itself (Mironowicz 2024a, 2024b).

Local authorities may draw up local spatial development plans (miejscowe plany zagospodarowania przestrzennego), or local plans for short.

The local plan must define land uses and land development rules; how the environment, landscape and cultural heritage are to be protected; requirements for shaping public spaces; land development parameters such as the minimum and maximum floor area ratios, the minimum share of environmentally active areas, the maximum building coverage ratio and building height, the minimum number of car parking spaces, building lines and overall building dimensions; land development rules for specific areas such as mining areas, flood and landslide risk areas; detailed conditions for merging and dividing plots, and a planning levy. The local plan may prohibit the construction of new buildings. 

It is perhaps worth mentioning that the planning levy in Poland does not cover public investment costs and is easily avoidable. It is calculated based on the difference in land value before and after the plan is approved, and can amount to up to 30% of the increase in land value. However, it is only payable if the land is sold within five years of the local plan coming into force. After this time, the planning levy is no longer applicable. Consequently, landowners typically do not sell their land for five years. This levy is also not applicable if the ownership of the land remains unchanged.

The local plan can define, among other things, the boundaries of different types of area (e.g. areas requiring the renovation of buildings and infrastructure), the locations of supra-local investments for public purposes, and the specific locations of buildings in relation to roads, public areas and neighbouring properties. It can also define the types and colours of roofing, building lines for underground floors, and the minimum size of new building plots.

The local plan must be prepared at a scale of 1:1000, but 1:500 and 1:2000 scales are also permitted in certain cases. If the local plan is prepared exclusively for forestry or building interdiction purposes, a scale of 1:5000 is permitted. 

The local plan must be coherent with the general and regional plans, and incorporate recommendations from the Landscape Audit and local strategy.

A document outlining how public infrastructure investments introduced in the local plan will be implemented and funded must be voted on by the municipality council, along with the local plan itself.

There are three procedures for drawing up a local plan: the standard (see Attachment 5), simplified, and integrated investment plan or IIP (zintegrowany plan inwestycyjny, ZPI).

The simplified procedure only applies to certain plans. For example, it may be used if the planned changes result from the introduction of legal provisions or newly arising conditions, such as hydrological, geological or natural conditions relating to the occurrence of floods. Interestingly, however, the simplified procedure also allows for changes in land use and land development/arrangement under certain conditions, provided that the urban parameters do not change by more than 10%.

Public participation is strongly limited in the simplified procedure, and the participation of institutional actors is restricted by more stringent deadlines.

The IIP is a new procedure that enables public and private entities other than municipalities – referred to as ‘investors’ – to develop a local plan according to their needs and submit it to the municipality for processing and adoption. Consequently, it is most often a plan prepared by a private entity for its own investment purposes. The municipal council can only accept or reject such a plan; it cannot make any changes to it. In order to proceed, the investor must sign an urban development contract with the municipality, undertaking to make an additional investment in the municipality. However, this additional investment must be related to that resulting from the plan. There are no minimum financial requirements for these additional investments.

For instance, the plan adopted by the municipality of Goczałkowice-Zdrój in 2024 involved allocating land for single-family housing and a solar power plant, and the construction of a bus stop was an additional investment.

Participation is even more limited in the IIP procedure than in the simplified procedure (encompassing only the submission of comments within a period reduced to 21 days).

There is also a specific type of local plan: the local revitalisation plan (lokalny plan rewitalizacji). This can only be implemented in an area of revitalisation established under the Act on Revitalisation, which came into force in 2015. To develop this type of plan, the municipality must first adopt a Local Revitalisation Programme (Lokalny program rewitalizacji). The local revitalisation plan allows for additional regulations compared to the ‘standard’ local plan. These include rules for harmonising new buildings with existing ones, detailed regulations for building façades and public space equipment, including traffic organisation strategies, limitations for specific retail or other services, and requested technical infrastructure and public services. This kind of plan is drawn up at a scale of between 1:100 and 1:1000. This plan requires additional procedures, which can be quite complex, to regulate the roles of the public, private and civil sectors in the revitalisation process. To date (2025), only two local revitalisation plans have been adopted throughout Poland: in Kalisz and in Świnoujście. This type of plan presents a challenge to local authorities, not only due to the complicated and highly participatory procedures, but also due to the substantial costs involved, including compensation and investment costs.

Local authorities are empowered to regulate street furniture, outdoor advertising, media and fences throughout their city or municipality. This is commonly referred to as a Landscape Resolution (Uchwała krajobrazowa). Such a resolution is a local law. It must cover the entire area of the municipality.

Finally, as mentioned above, in areas not covered by local plans, the mayor may issue individual administrative decisions. Decisions on building conditions may only be issued in ‘areas for completing development’ as designated in the General Plan. In contrast, decisions on the location of public purpose investments may be issued anywhere where there is no local plan.

Despite new forms of participation being introduced into the planning process (see Attachment 5), public participation has lost its importance in the current system compared to the 1994 Planning Act – the first to be introduced after the country’s socio-political transformation. Indeed, local stakeholders have little or no decision-making power, and public authorities are increasingly able to disregard public opinion. This applies to both planning and strategic processes (Mironowicz 2024b, 2025).

Use of soft planning

Although ‘soft planning’ tools are known in Poland, they are rarely used to empower citizens and local communities in the decision-making process. They are sometimes employed to facilitate dialogue between different levels of government. One example of this is the Territorial Dialogue process in the Pomeranian Voivodship. It is worth noting that ‘soft planning’ tools are also used in relations between local authorities and developers, particularly those implementing housing investments under the Act on Facilitating the Preparation and Implementation of Housing Investments and Accompanying Investments (o ułatwieniach w przygotowaniu i realizacji inwestycji mieszkaniowych oraz inwestycji towarzyszących), commonly referred to as ‘Lex Developer’.

Effective citizen participation in shaping space is also an important area of activity for many NGOs, urban movements and activists (Gawda/Mergler 2025). These organisations also run training courses for citizens, such as the ‘Space for Participation’ project, which aimed to prepare local authorities and residents for cooperation before work on planning instruments began (Mironowicz/Ciesielski 2023).

In Poland, building permits can be granted even without a plan through an administrative process resulting in a individual decision. These decisions can therefore be regarded as a type of ‘soft planning’ method, although they are not always beneficial for spatial development.

Some environmental regulations can also be considered a ‘soft planning’ tool.

Challenges and key policy debates

Since the political transformation in 1989, the majority of the political class has been convinced of the need to ensure ‘development’ and facilitate ‘investment’. From this perspective, planning is viewed as a restriction on individual freedom and entrepreneurship. This class does not recognise the potential of planning to improve the quality of life. Consequently, many planning instruments are weak, and it is possible to undertake developments without using them.

A serious problem is legislation that undermines the planning system. One example is the aforementioned ‘Lex Developer’, which permits development contrary to the provisions of local plans with the approval of local authorities.

The authorities are easily swayed by speculative pressures. This is why still valid studies (until the General Plans come into force) of spatial development conditions and directions designated residential areas that can accommodate between 130 and 300 million people, depending on the calculation method, while local plans are made for 60 million inhabitants (Śleszyński et al. 2015). However, the population of Poland is only 36.5 million and declining. 

The problem of the oversupply of residential areas, which are often planned in a way that facilitates urban sprawl, remains unresolved because the authorities fear compensation claims from landowners. In Poland, property tax is paid based on the actual use of land rather than the planned use. This means that owners of undeveloped land designated for housing do not incur high maintenance costs. 

Similarly, the issue of issuing building permits in the absence of a local plan remains unresolved. The 2023 amendment to the Planning Act shifted the decision-making process regarding the retention of individual decisions (through the designation of ‘areas for completing development’ in the General Plan) to the local level. However, because the problem has been postponed, almost all interested parties already have indefinitely valid decisions on the possibility of developing their land (sometimes more than one for the same area). It is also difficult to believe that local authorities will resist pressure from investors in this matter. 

Another serious issue is the potential conflict between the General Plan and local plans.

Spatial policies and planning instruments in Poland are unresponsive to change, and this is becoming increasingly evident over time. They do not respond, or only respond to a very limited extent, to challenges such as the planetary crisis (including the climate catastrophe, loss of biodiversity, and increased pollution), the need to protect Earth’s life-support systems, and the need to reduce inequalities and prevent poverty and social exclusion. Social movements are demanding that the authorities address these issues, but very few politicians and political parties are doing so. 

Planning is undergoing rapid digitalisation, which has many positive aspects, but also raises risks that are rarely discussed.

Finally, the lack of recognition of planners authorised to draw up plans and strategies leads to a decline in the quality of planning instruments and spatial policies.

The planning culture in Poland should be defined as a ‘culture of facilitating land development’. Despite Poland’s great urban planning traditions and the contributions of its urban planners to planning theory and practice, local and central authorities are currently focusing on ‘facilitating the investment process’. While every action in the spatial domain should theoretically be based on the principles of spatial order and sustainable development, in practice it often amounts to the mechanical fulfilment of indicators usually demanded by developers. It is mainly non-governmental organisations and local activist groups that uphold these principles. Social needs expressed during the consultation process are rarely considered. Stakeholders, especially local communities, are rarely involved in formulating development objectives in strategies. Public authorities, on the other hand, almost always consider any ‘development’ involving the transformation of space to be beneficial, regardless of the actual costs generated (cf. Mironowicz 2024b, 2024c, 2025). Public discourse points to a crisis in local government institutions (Andrysiak 2022; Gawda/Mergler 2025).

While there are examples of cooperation between authorities and local stakeholders, including in informal processes (cf. Mironowicz/Ciesielski 2023), these are the exception rather than the rule. 

A sign of optimism, suggesting the emergence of a counter-trend towards strengthening citizens, is the Congress of Urban Movements (Kongres Ruchów Miejskich). This is an umbrella organisation that brings together urban activists from cities and towns, who collaborate to develop effective strategies and carry out activities in the fields of education and knowledge exchange.

The government believes that digitisation is the key to modern planning. While modern GIS systems offer useful possibilities, the quality of planning is determined by values and principles rather than the use of spatial data.

According to the Planning Act, graduates in architecture and spatial management are entitled to draw up plans. 

The architecture curriculum does not prepare students to develop plans. They are unfamiliar with the legal, environmental and social basis of the planning system, and they have no knowledge of local government or insight into the regional scale. These are just a few of the gaps in their education. Consequently, they are not sufficiently prepared to elaborate spatial plans, particularly in the form of local legal acts.

Studies in architecture take at least four years at first-cycle level and at least one-and-a-half years at second-cycle level.

A spatial management programme is offered by a variety of universities, including those specialising in technology, natural sciences, economics and the humanities. The education offered at each of these universities has a different focus and leads to the acquisition of different skills. While multidisciplinarity in planning is not inherently negative, the problem is that not all graduates are prepared to draw up plans, yet they are all authorised to do so. Consequently, some graduates of spatial management programs are underprepared to create various plans, even though they possess strong skills in areas like territorial governance, spatial analysis, and stakeholder collaboration.

The first cycle of education in spatial management lasts three years (three and a half years for engineers), and the second cycle lasts two years (one and a half years for engineers).