The heart of the approach of the conducted research is a greater level of responsibility of the local government of the city of Rijeka which includes the increase, primarily, of the quality and the availability, and then of other important characteristics of public services for all the citizens of Rijeka, in such a way as to strengthen the role of all the members of society in defining, creating and then implementing such local policies which will improve public services and increase the quality of life of the citizens; and creating a SWOT matrix as one of the instruments for a future economic and social development of the city of Rijeka. The data were collected by polling, while the methodology is based on gathering and analysis of the subjective opinions of the citizens. The results of the descriptive analysis showed that the users/citizens are dissatisfied with public services. The results of the qualitative analysis showed that the vision and future development strategies and the branding of the city of Rijeka and the Primorje-Gorski kotar County were key points, and they were considered the greatest weaknesses for a future economic and social development of the city. The carried out research led to a better understanding of the opinions regarding public services, which led to a series of suggestions based on which the city government can have and public policies can be made with a better perception of the current state and the performance of public services which then increases the responsibility of the units of local government and self-government to improve the quality of life of the citizens by accommodating the suggestions of the users, while the SWOT matrix served as the basis for a future draft of local strategies of economic and social development. The research contributes to the strengthening of the Development Plan of the City of Rijeka from 2021 to 2027.