Impact of Public Management Approaches on Municipal Real Estate Management in Poland and The Netherlands

Abstract

Since the economic crisis (2008) municipalities became more aware of their real estate portfolio. Their first reaction to the sense of urgency to pay more attention to this extensive property was to improve their real estate administration. Now, ten years later, municipalities are ready to focus more on the professionalization of the management of their real estate. The purpose of this study is to present the role of individual concepts of public management in Polish and Dutch municipal (public) real estate management. The paper is based on the results on survey research based on public real estate management theory and two public management approaches: new public management and good governance. First, preliminary research was carried out in a Polish metropolitan area after which all Polish metropolitan areas where questioned about their real estate management issues. This questionnaire was also sent to all Dutch municipalities one year later. The Hellwig’s taxonomic method was performed on both separately to assess the level of implementation of good governance and new public management principles in real estate management practices. The research shows that new public management standards are applied at a similar level in municipal real estate management in Poland and The Netherlands. Good governance standards are used a little more broadly in Poland than in The Netherlands. The research shows that in Poland and The Netherlands the concepts of new public management and good governance are not applied as a whole but are deployed as a collection of instruments. Most municipalities choose some of these instruments to apply to their municipal real estate (MREM). Both in Poland and in The Netherlands there are differences noticed in the application of new public management and good governance principles depending on the type of municipality. Besides this originality and scientific relevance, municipalities of both countries could benefit from this comparison by learning from best practices. Practical recommendations and suggestions for public administration concern: (i) the necessity to develop municipal real estate management plans; (ii) increase regularity of asset valuation and (iii) assessment of real estate management performance; (iv) greater transparency in real estate management; and (v) increasing the participation of citizens in the process of managing real estate.