Summary:

The paper presents spatial planning system currently mandatory in Poland, as well as main changes concerning the principles of spatial planning and man-agement in Poland after the system transformation. The work addresses particu-larly the issues of de-centralization of public administration and establishing com-mune self-governments, socialization of spatial planning, protection of private property and also the obligation to consider appropriate instruments of natural pro-tection in the process of spatial planning and management. The paper presents also the basic principles of spatial planning in the United States of America and points out the similarities and differences between the methods, procedures and assump-tions of spatial planning systems in both countries. The work presents potential ar-eas of cooperation between both universities comprising sharing knowledge and exchanging experiences in the filed of spatial planning and management.