Diploma thesis addresses an issue of the spatial planning process with the emphasis on public participation because this contributes to acceptance of certain spatial solutions with a higher legitimacy rate. The thesis consists of two parts, theoretical and empirical. The theoretical part presents the key concepts of the discussed issue and Slovenia's legislative arrangement of the spatial planning, where we focused on public participation. In the empirical part we introduced the international project NATREG- Managing Natural Assets and Protected Areas as Sustainable Regional Development Opportunities, which promotes early involvement of public in the spatial planning process. Additionally, a survey was conducted on residents of Rogaška Slatina and data analyzed. We wanted to learn about their knowledge of the spatial planning process and their willingness to participate in it. Results of the survey lead to the conclusion that the issue is still unknown and uninteresting to residents of Rogaška Slatina
