PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING PRACTICES AND CIVIC ACTIVISM FOR URBAN SPACE RENOVATION: THE CASE OF KHERSON

Abstract

The article presents the results of the participatory budgeting research and urban activism in the renovation of the urban space of Kherson, and analyzes the modern features of urban space transformation.Participatory planning and budgeting today are the guidelines for the development of new, joint and integrated decisions in strategic development of the community. However, the Kherson city case study proved urban activism on issues of participatory budgeting to be small-scale in nature, which means that 2-5% of the city community is involved in budgeting, and the total cost of approved projects is less than 0.5% of the average annual city’s budget. Urban activism is quite sporadic beyond the participatory budgeting, which is the result of “small initiatives” of individual creative groups and entrepreneurs, rather than a strategic plan for spatial development of the community.The participatory budgeting in the Kherson city community development is still pseudo-participatory in its nature, given that much of decisions are aimed at solving the current domestic and communal problems, rather than implementing the agenda or strategic goals of community development. In the era of actual city deindustrialization, Kherson should not only be positioned as one of the leaders in foreign and domestic tourism, but also restore its status of a comfortable city and a unique recreational and logistics center. The article presents the author’s vision of the planning decisions and urban activism prospects in the urban spaces’ transformation. The key points are the next: 1) renovation and revitalization of urban space should be carried out primarily by creating different types and functional purposes of creative spaces (new formats of recreation, communication, information education, inclusive environment development); 2) creation or renovation of existing public spaces should be carried out only with the involvement of participatory management mechanisms in order to provide the city with the functional content really needed by the community; 3) a particular strategic direction of urban space renovation should aim at the increase of green public spaces and benefiting from the unique Kherson city community location at the mouth of the Dnieper.