The importance of a participatory budget in sustainable city management

This article presents the participatory budget as a tool to support the sustainable development of a city, and in particular using it as the budgeting model of the city of Szczecin and the effects of using it. Based on a critical literature review, the first part of the article shows the connections between good governance and sustainable development. The meanings of the basic concepts in this respect are presented, as well as a simplified model of the construction of the sustainable development concept. Next, public participation tools were described, and participatory budgeting was defined as one of the tools applied in good governance, constituting the basis of sustainable city development. The latter part of the article describes the models of participatory budgeting based on a literature research and an analysis of selected cases. The second part of the article is of an empirical nature. The results of the literature research are juxtaposed with the management practices of the city of Szczecin, where participatory budgeting has used since 2014. In this part of the article, the qualitative single-case study method was applied to analyse and synthesise the strategic city development directions and participatory budget between 2014 and 2019. Their compliance with the concept of sustainable development was also verified. Finally, conclusions drawn from the performed research are presented.