The balance of social imagination. A sociological comment to Poznań Civil Budget

Abstract

The paper is a critical analysis of the civil budget, with particular attention to Poznan´ civil budget of 2013. Based on the proposals submitted by Poznan´ inhabitants to their city civil budget, their investment priorities and preferred models of citizen-public official relationships are analysed. Next the probable directions of criticism of such a form of citizen participation in city planning are discussed, including the limitations and potential development paths of sociological reflection on so-called social feed-back. The paper is also an assessment of the formula of the current Poznan´ civil budget, examined from the point of view of its capability to equip decision-makers with imagination, sensitivity and investment horizons usually absent or little present in the most common development strategies. It also accounts for the participation in the planning process of the city inhabitants, who are usually ignored or excluded from similar forms of social participation. Finally, there are certain conditions proposed, which could possibly better support realisation of so formulated goals, using the civil budget.