About the Living Lab
The Living Lab in rural Poland will look at how to enhance participation in rural planning and how can digitalisation improve the involvement of local communities in spatial planning processes in the Lodz region.
According to the smart rural development research results undertaken in the Lodz region, only few municipalities have implemented GIS technology in spatial planning procedures at local level. E-services are on a rather low level due to financial, human and technological obstacles.
The region of Lodz has a total area of 2500 km2, of which 20% is the city of Łódź, 20% are urban-rural areas and 60% are rural areas.
The planning interactions of the areas happen at different levels. The urban-rural fringe has new business developments. Entrepreneurs relocate their activities to rural areas surrounding urban hubs because of the low fees and taxes, with simultaneous good access to resources and markets. New developments associated with agriculture (e.g. large-scale pig and poultry farms) are being located in this area, sometimes in close proximity to urban areas.
On the less economically active and depopulating peripheries of the region, manufacturing plants, wind farms, a recycling plant, and controversial social facilities such as a prison or a centre for migrants are located, also causing conflicts in local planning, which could be limited along participatory procedures assisted by digital technologies.
Living Lab coordinator: University of Lodz
Domain: Rural
Focal question
How to enhance participation in rural planning? And how can digitalisation improve the involvement of local communities in spatial planning processes?
Objectives
- Build up a group of relevant stakeholders for future debate about the role of digital technologies in participatory planning in rural areas,
- Characterise, understand and explore the challenges and opportunities of the digital technologies by different stakeholders;
- Develop scenarios addressing the challenges of implementing geodesign concepts in participatory planning systems.
Main stakeholders
Local and regional public authority: Marshall of the Lodz Region, local authorities of few rural municipalities in Lodz region, Head of Regional GIS Lab
Digital technology operators: ESRI Poland
Non-government organisations: LEADER Local Action Groups, local NGOs
Citizens: members of local communities (farmers and rural newcomers)
Others: researchers at the University of Lodz, Polish Academy of Sciences, Polish Economic Institute.
Key documents
Policy brief: Geodesign in Rural Poland
National Policy Analysis: Poland
Practice Abstract: Geodesign in Rural Poland