Towards Collaborative Governance

A basic precondition for active participation of the citizens and other interested parties in making decisions of public interest and urban planning is approach to clear and reliable information. This requires understanding of the processes of preparation of urban and spatial plans. The processes of preparation of the plans are very complex – procedures and mechanisms are complicated, participants are numerous, and interests are often in conflict. In the cacophony which may ensue in every single case of building in Serbia, lack of information and absence of dialog obstruct the approach to reliable information. This puts the citizens in an unfavorable position and disrupts their active participation.

This training addresses those (citizens, experts and other interested parties) who want to understand better the basic elements of urban and spatial planning, and acquire skills for individual approach to information of public importance in these areas.

The training included three segments realized from February 8 to 10, 2021. The first segment was dedicated to understanding of the planning process – institutions which take part in it, plans and procedures of their preparation, and different interests involved in the process. The other two segments focused on training interested participants for individual approach to information of public importance, and use of publicly available information systems in the area of spatial development – geographic information systems (GIS) – at the national, as well as at the municipal level.

The video training was held in Serbian.