1st Edition
The Governance of Urban Green Spaces in the EU Social innovation and civil society
Across European cities the use of urban space is controversial and subject to diverging interests. On the one hand citizens are increasingly aware of the necessity for self-organising to reclaim green spaces. On the other hand local authorities have started to involve citizens in the governance of urban green spaces. While an increased level of citizen participation and conducive conditions for citizens’ self-organisation are a desirable development per se, the risk of functionalising civil society actors by the local authority for neoliberal city development must be kept in mind.
Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data collected in 29 European cities from all four European geographic regions, this book examines the governance of urban green spaces and urban food production, focusing on the contribution of citizen-driven activities. Over the course of the book, Schicklinski identifies best practice examples of successful collaboration between citizens and local government. The book concludes with policy recommendations with great practical value for local governance in European cities in times of the growth-turn.
This book will be of great relevance to students, scholars, and policy-makers with an interest in environmental governance, urban geography, and sustainable development.
- Framing the research
- Towards a post-growth society and economy
- Governing commons
- Methodological approach
- Urban spaces – green spaces, and observed socio-ecological transition
- Social innovation and urban spaces of civil society action
- Reappropriating urban green spaces and urban food production
- Actors’ motivations
- Proposing an innovative policy framework as resulting from identified barriers and conducive conditions for citizen participation, self-organisation, and the socio-ecological transition
- Steps to post-growth European cities
Biography
Judith Schicklinski completed her PhD at the Free University of Bolzano, Italy. Her special interests are civil society’s role in the socio-ecological transition, urban development, and EU-migration and development policy. She currently works as a volunteer for a local non-governmental organisation in Quito, Ecuador.
