Abstract
At the beginning of the 20th century, many Polish cities modernised their main market squares. The new squares did not meet the expectations of residents – urban greenery was removed and replaced with empty concrete spaces. In 2025, two towns in the Podkarpacie region – Dębica and Ropczyce – embarked on plans to redesign their town centres, using a different approach to the design process. The aim of this article is to examine contemporary trends in the design of public spaces and to assess their quality on the basis of planned investments in these towns. A comparison of design processes and concepts has made it possible to identify the leading trends in public space planning. The results show that there is a strong need to bring greenery back to cities and to provide places for social integration. The qualitative assessment of the projects may guide further actions in other cities in the region.