Chosen aesthetic problems of Polish cities and the capacity of law as a tool for shaping their public space.

Dość powszechne jest oczekiwanie, że prawo pomoże w kształtowaniu lepszej przestrzeni publicznej. Nie należy jednak przeceniać jego roli. Na przestrzeń publiczną wpływa wiele czynników, a prawo wcale nie musi być tym najważniejszym.This paper examines the problem of the extent to which law regulations can be an efficient tool for policies aiming at improving the quality of public space. There are three main issues discussed in the article: the number of cars used in the city, the problem of parking spaces and the lack of coherent planning of urban development. As far as the use of vehicles is concerned, it is legally impossible to introduce congestion pricing schemes in Poland. To allow the application of such an idea, a change of law regulations pertaining to public roads would be required. When it comes to the parking spaces, one needs to distinguish between the legal and empirical aspects of the problem. From the legal standpoint, there is an obligation to arrange parking places, imposed on the investors. A derogation from this obligation might lead to serious consequences. The emphasis should be put on the administration practices in supervising the fulfilment of this duty. As for the coherent planning of urban development, it is argued that the role of law is overrated. One may distinguish two models of legal regulations regarding urban development: the liberal and the paternalistic one. The present Polish legal regulations are rather liberal, however their critics claim that “anarchistic” would be a more proper term. It should be pointed out, however, that an attempt at a more precise, rule-based regulation would not be free of disadvantages and would not guarantee reaching the aim, namely the improvement of the quality of public space in Polish cities