ABSTRACT
Indications of the transformative role of civil society come from every region. Civil society becomes active next to established structures, sometimes in the form of protests against them, or activities emerge in cooperation with the local authority, depending on the specific political framework given. Citizen participation helps to achieve sustainability aims. In terms of the quality of the outcome, the results of participatory processes are considered to be better than those achieved in top-down procedures without citizen participation, since the probability is higher that local needs have been taken into account. The socio-ecological transition will only succeed if action is taken at all levels - from global to local. At the global level, the German Advisory Council on Global Change advises institutional changes. Self-organised and cooperative forms of the governance of urban green spaces emerge, greatly differing in terms of numbers, proportions, duration, and growth rates according to different urban contexts.
