Transformative or piecemeal? Changes in green space planning and governance in eleven European cities

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Rieke Hansen
  • Marleen Buizer
  • Arjen Buijs
  • Stephan Pauleit
  • Thomas Mattijssen
  • Hanna Fors
  • Alexander van der Jagt
  • Nadja Kabisch
  • Mandy Cook
  • Tim Delshammar
  • Thomas B. Randrup
  • Sabrina Erlwein
  • Kati Vierikko
  • Hanna Nieminen
  • Johannes Langemeyer
  • Camille Soson Texereau
  • Ana Catarina Luz
  • Mojca Nastran
  • Anton Stahl Olafsson
  • Maja Steen Møller
  • Dagmar Haase
  • Werner Rolf
  • Bianca Ambrose-Oji
  • Cristina Branquinho
  • Gilles Havik
  • Jakub Kronenberg
  • Cecil Konijnendijk

External Research Organisations

  • Hochschule Geisenheim University
  • Wageningen University and Research
  • Technical University of Munich (TUM)
  • Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
  • Forestry Commission
  • VA SYD
  • Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)
  • Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB)
  • Universidade de Lisboa
  • University of Ljubljana
  • University of Copenhagen
  • Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin)
  • University of Lodz
  • Nature Based Solutions Institute (NBSI)
  • Heriot-Watt University
  • Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ)
View graph of relations

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2401-2424
Number of pages24
JournalEuropean planning studies
Volume31
Issue number12
Early online date11 Nov 2022
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Abstract

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.

Keywords

    climate change, Co-governance, green infrastructure, participation, sustainability transformations

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Sustainable Development Goals

Cite this

Transformative or piecemeal? Changes in green space planning and governance in eleven European cities. / Hansen, Rieke; Buizer, Marleen; Buijs, Arjen et al.
In: European planning studies, Vol. 31, No. 12, 2023, p. 2401-2424.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Hansen, R, Buizer, M, Buijs, A, Pauleit, S, Mattijssen, T, Fors, H, van der Jagt, A, Kabisch, N, Cook, M, Delshammar, T, Randrup, TB, Erlwein, S, Vierikko, K, Nieminen, H, Langemeyer, J, Soson Texereau, C, Luz, AC, Nastran, M, Olafsson, AS, Steen Møller, M, Haase, D, Rolf, W, Ambrose-Oji, B, Branquinho, C, Havik, G, Kronenberg, J & Konijnendijk, C 2023, 'Transformative or piecemeal? Changes in green space planning and governance in eleven European cities', European planning studies, vol. 31, no. 12, pp. 2401-2424. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2022.2139594
Hansen, R., Buizer, M., Buijs, A., Pauleit, S., Mattijssen, T., Fors, H., van der Jagt, A., Kabisch, N., Cook, M., Delshammar, T., Randrup, T. B., Erlwein, S., Vierikko, K., Nieminen, H., Langemeyer, J., Soson Texereau, C., Luz, A. C., Nastran, M., Olafsson, A. S., ... Konijnendijk, C. (2023). Transformative or piecemeal? Changes in green space planning and governance in eleven European cities. European planning studies, 31(12), 2401-2424. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2022.2139594
Hansen R, Buizer M, Buijs A, Pauleit S, Mattijssen T, Fors H et al. Transformative or piecemeal? Changes in green space planning and governance in eleven European cities. European planning studies. 2023;31(12):2401-2424. Epub 2022 Nov 11. doi: 10.1080/09654313.2022.2139594
Hansen, Rieke ; Buizer, Marleen ; Buijs, Arjen et al. / Transformative or piecemeal? Changes in green space planning and governance in eleven European cities. In: European planning studies. 2023 ; Vol. 31, No. 12. pp. 2401-2424.
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title = "Transformative or piecemeal?: Changes in green space planning and governance in eleven European cities",
abstract = "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.",
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AU - Hansen, Rieke

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AU - Buijs, Arjen

AU - Pauleit, Stephan

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AU - Fors, Hanna

AU - van der Jagt, Alexander

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AU - Branquinho, Cristina

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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.

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