TY - JOUR

T1 - Transformative or piecemeal?

T2 - Changes in green space planning and governance in eleven European cities

AU - Hansen, Rieke

AU - Buizer, Marleen

AU - Buijs, Arjen

AU - Pauleit, Stephan

AU - Mattijssen, Thomas

AU - Fors, Hanna

AU - van der Jagt, Alexander

AU - Kabisch, Nadja

AU - Cook, Mandy

AU - Delshammar, Tim

AU - Randrup, Thomas B.

AU - Erlwein, Sabrina

AU - Vierikko, Kati

AU - Nieminen, Hanna

AU - Langemeyer, Johannes

AU - Soson Texereau, Camille

AU - Luz, Ana Catarina

AU - Nastran, Mojca

AU - Olafsson, Anton Stahl

AU - Steen Møller, Maja

AU - Haase, Dagmar

AU - Rolf, Werner

AU - Ambrose-Oji, Bianca

AU - Branquinho, Cristina

AU - Havik, Gilles

AU - Kronenberg, Jakub

AU - Konijnendijk, Cecil

N1 - Funding information: This study did not receive any funding. It builds on research that was supported by the European Union’s Research and Innovation funding programme for 2007–2013 FP 7 (FP7-ENV.2013.6.2-5-603567). This research is a follow-up to GREEN SURGE, a collaborative EU-research project. A large number of researchers contributed to the base line data, in particular former task leaders Clive Davies and Raffaele Lafortezza. We would like to thank Elena Simon who helped to prepare the data and supported the coordination of this follow-up study. Furthermore, we would like to thank the representatives of the studied cities who generously provided their experiences and opinions. We dedicate this paper to the memory of Birgit Elands, who passed away in 2022. She was fundamental during the GREEN SURGE project and also helped developing this study.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Green (and blue) spaces receive attention as important components of cities that can help to mitigate the effects of climate change, support biodiversity and improve public health. Green space planning aims to transform cities towards urban sustainability and resilience. In a longitudinal study, representatives from eleven European municipalities that had previously been interviewed in 2014 were re-interviewed in 2020–2021 on changes in urban greening and related practices. The interviewees reported mainly advancements in dealing with ecological issues, such as new plans, strategies, regulations or funding programmes for climate adaptation or biodiversity support, as well as some progress in co-governance with non-governmental stakeholders. Promising developments include breaking professional silos by creating new units that can better deal with complex urban issues. In a few cases, high-level local politicians induced profound changes. These changes stimulated the development of new planning and governance cultures, resulting in more co-creation of urban green spaces. However, from a transformation studies perspective, incremental strategies dominate, and even when municipal representatives are aware that substantive changes are needed, they often lack the means to act. For more radical system change, significant extra efforts are needed.

AB - Green (and blue) spaces receive attention as important components of cities that can help to mitigate the effects of climate change, support biodiversity and improve public health. Green space planning aims to transform cities towards urban sustainability and resilience. In a longitudinal study, representatives from eleven European municipalities that had previously been interviewed in 2014 were re-interviewed in 2020–2021 on changes in urban greening and related practices. The interviewees reported mainly advancements in dealing with ecological issues, such as new plans, strategies, regulations or funding programmes for climate adaptation or biodiversity support, as well as some progress in co-governance with non-governmental stakeholders. Promising developments include breaking professional silos by creating new units that can better deal with complex urban issues. In a few cases, high-level local politicians induced profound changes. These changes stimulated the development of new planning and governance cultures, resulting in more co-creation of urban green spaces. However, from a transformation studies perspective, incremental strategies dominate, and even when municipal representatives are aware that substantive changes are needed, they often lack the means to act. For more radical system change, significant extra efforts are needed.

KW - climate change

KW - Co-governance

KW - green infrastructure

KW - participation

KW - sustainability transformations

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85142009210&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/09654313.2022.2139594

DO - 10.1080/09654313.2022.2139594

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85142009210

VL - 31

SP - 2401

EP - 2424

JO - European planning studies

JF - European planning studies

SN - 0965-4313

IS - 12

ER -