The article presents issues related to the participatory budget as fast-developing contemporary tool of residents’ participation in local space management. It focuses on the benefits of the participatory budget shared by authorities and local communities. The article also presents threats to that vehicle of social participation, including one of the key ones, i.e. the weakening interest shown by residents in its creation and implementation. The main premise of the article in this case is that large cities are the most effected by the weak attendance of urban population in voting on the participatory budget, which is confirmed by the analysis of the functioning of the tool in question in Poland’s largest cities in the period 2014–2018. In the summary of the results of the analysis, the article highlights the fact that the participatory budget in large Polish cities continues to be not fully established or effective. It also requires further years of work of local authorities and society itself to become more popular among the public, both in terms of knowledge about it and civic participation in its creation and implementation.