Special Issue 'Green Urban Development'

Cities worldwide are growing fast, compromising their surrounding landscapes, and consuming too much of scarce resources. At the same time, due to the changing climate, temperatures in cities are rising and weather extremes have become the new normal. Most (western) cities are facing a worrying loss of biodiversity, and inhabitants are more and more alienated from daily experiences of nature, the environment and food. To be liveable in 30 to 50 years, cities have to face these challenges and it is inevitable that they develop towards liveable green sustainable circular systems. This Special Issue focuses on the transition that this involves: which combination of social and ecological changes should take place and how can we prepare ourselves for these changes? We should be very much aware of the local conditions that enable specific solutions, such as culture, the layout of a city, the quality of an embedding into the surroundings of the city, and existing policies. We are also curious about lessons learned and how they can be implemented elsewhere. Both aspects should be taken into account in contributions to this Special Issue. Papers discussing emerging green practices that address themes like liveability, food production, ecology, heat reduction, water retention, and combine the strengths of the involved stakeholders are very much welcomed. We are, therefore, interested in integrated, sustainable and green solutions for multiple socio-ecological problems in dense situations. In addition, we are interested in whether these practices comply with existing theories of sustainability transition processes?