OUT NOW: The Country Profile of Belarus

ARL International ARL International
published on 02/02/2024

Spatial planning in Belarus was developed within the planning system of the USSR until the 1990s. That period was characterised by the predominance of national over local interests, and centralised systems of spatial planning and governance with two main actors: the state and large state-owned industrial enterprises. The procedure for public participation in the spatial and urban planning process was quite formal (National Report 2016).

From its independence in 1991, Belarus embarked on a transition to a market economy. New approaches were introduced in the development of planning documentation which ensured not only the interests of the state and of inhabitants, but also those of private business and investors. Belarus is one of the few countries that have preserved the Soviet tradition of integrated spatial planning, supplementing it with modern approaches and methodologies (UNECE 2019).

Read more about the planning system in Belarus.