City-civil society dynamics in urban green infrastructure development in Munich: governance features and their impacts

Abstract

Global climate change and urbanization exacerbate challenges like biodiversity loss and environmental injustice. Urban green infrastructure (UGI) offers ecological, social, and economic benefits, fostering resilient and sustainable cities. However, UGI development is significantly hindered by the limited collaboration between governmental and non-governmental actors.

Market, state, third sector and civil society engage in UGI governance modes that range from hierarchical to non-hierarchical. The interplay between city administrations and civil society is particularly crucial, as it enhances democratic decision-making, transparency, and alignment with strategic UGI planning goals.

Applying the Environmental Governance Framework, this study analyzes seven UGI interventions in Munich representing different governance modes to explore the factors influencing city-civil society interactions throughout the UGI development.

Four shared factors emerged: limited information distribution during idea development, which plays a dual role as both a barrier and an enabler, knowledge ownership, limited motivation to collaborate during implementation, and ambiguity in responsibilities spanning both implementation and management phases.

The study highlights the role of spatial factors in shaping actor arrangements and reveals that governance modes shift throughout the UGI development process, underscoring the importance of prioritizing shared barriers, as they impact both governance modes.

To enhance city-civil society interactions, we advocate for a systems thinking approach that prioritises shared factors while moving beyond addressing barriers in isolation toward a systemic understanding of governance interactions.

This approach supports scholars and practitioners in identifying pathways to enhance city-civil society interactions, ultimately contributing to more adaptive and inclusive UGI governance, regardless of the governance mode in place.