ABSTRACT
Worldwide climate change, biodiversity loss, and the end of fossil resources require a paradigmatic shift in direction of sustainable forms of organising society and economy within a limited time frame. Such a shift can be conceptualised with the term 'socio-ecological transition', which first appeared in the title of a European Union (EU) policy document in 2009. In the scope of the WWWforEurope project, the role of urban green spaces and particularly the role of citizen participation and self-organisation in their governance was examined. One of the main findings was that, compared to the other resource systems under scrutiny, self-organisation emerges more easily and can be found more often and to a higher degree in the green spaces resource system, up to the point that in some places it has even become a transition driver. This introduction chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book.
