Greening or greenwashing? Environmental projects in Polish regeneration programmes

The article analyses the relationship between ‘greening’ and greenwashing in Polish regeneration programmes. Based on the literature on green infrastructure and nature-based solutions and critical approaches to symbolic greening, it proposes the operationalisation of the ‘ecological depth’ of project specifications. The analysis addresses three key questions: the significance of environmental projects, their ‘depth’ (systemic vs. image-related), and the role of participation in shaping the environmental component. The method involves analysing data on projects included in regeneration programmes. It also includes an in-depth analysis of project content in the municipalities of the Poznań agglomeration’s green belt, as designated in the regional spatial development plan, supplemented by a case study of Budzyń Park. The coding distinguishes between systemic interventions and image-related solutions. The results indicate that while the proportion of projects with a dominant environmental component is growing, their financial weight remains lower than that of infrastructure and social investments. At the local level, the environmental component is often an addition: park modernisation, planting and recreational solutions dominate, with rare references to functional mechanisms and a lack of technical parameters in project descriptions. Participation tends to be ‘utilitarian’ (focused on comfort and aesthetics) and more often legitimises decisions than deepens environmental goals, which limits the potential for environmental justice.