Social participation in spatial planning practice has been widely used since the 1960s, however, no coherent method of assessing this phenomenon has been established. The reason is the complexity of the issue, as well as the long time horizon needed to assess planning and revitalization processes. The aim of the article is to compile selected models and guidelines for space management and then to create categories from them for the analysis of the cases of social participation presented in the article. The assessment of the level of involvement in the planning process together with the valorization of the effects of social participation in spatial planning and revitalization are to be the basis for determining the initial measures of the effectiveness of social participation. The results of the research may be used in the future to create a tool for evaluating the effectiveness of social participation, helpful in determining the manner and level of community involvement in planning processes. As a result of the analysis, participation assessment categories were defined: innovation, social consent, inclusivity, identity, agency, awareness.