OPEN CALL
Who Takes Care of the Urban Green Spaces? Tell Us Your Story.
We’re mapping real-life examples of governmental and non-governmental organizations working with civil society to sustain and care for urban green spaces beyond construction. Join the global call for shared stewardship!
About the Open Call
Think about it: after the ribbon is cut and a green space or tree-lined street is celebrated as complete – who keeps it alive? What makes the space vibrant, preventing neglect and vandalism?
It all depends on who uses the space, how it’s appreciated, and who cares for it over time. Here, the role of civil society is vital, as they are often the ones who give these spaces life through daily use, stewardship and commitment. Yet their contributions are often unseen, under-recognised or under-funded.
We are launching a global open call to highlight and disseminate good practice for co-governed urban green spaces – projects where the responsibility for stewardship is shared. We are not looking for governance models where green spaces are solely managed by public or private actors, nor where citizens are acting entirely on their own.
We are interested in blended stewardship models where actors care for green spaces together.
If you’ve been part of such collaboration – we are interested in a broad spectrum of representatives from a city officer, NGO representative, community member, or private sector partner and beyond – where civil society played a crucial role, we invite you to share your experience.
Civil society refers to individuals or groups of people who are not formally organized as an institution, but who participate voluntarily in caring for or using the green space.
We welcome examples that include, but are not limited to:
- Maintenance and care: joint actions that keep the green space healthy and functional (e.g., watering, pruning, mowing, or managing vegetation).
- Inclusion and activation: collaborative initiatives that bring people together and encourage shared use, appreciation, and care of the space (e.g., community events, educational programs, recreation, intergenerational or cultural activities).
- Monitoring and assessment: cooperative efforts to observe and evaluate ecological, social, or governance aspects (e.g., tracking biodiversity, air quality, safety, inclusiveness, or community well-being) to guide ongoing management and improvement.
Your story can help others learn and reimagine how urban nature can be co-cared for with civil society – as a new model for shared stewardship.
Why Apply:
- Be visible: Get featured on a global stewardship digital map*, be integrated into an exhibition on Nature-based Solutions**, and be covered in the What’s That Green? Blog & Podcast.***
- Connect: Join a worldwide community of cities, organizations, and citizens co-caring for urban nature.
- Exchange: Take part in international thematic dialogues on collaborative stewardship, share lessons and learn from each other****.
- Contribute: Inform future research and academic publications.
* Only projects that meet the Open Call criteria and provide complete information will be published on the map.
** Your contribution will be considered for integration into an exhibition on Nature-based Solutions that The Nature of Cities (TNOC) is currently preparing under the Horizon Europe project NetworkNaturePLUS. The final selection will be made by TNOC.
*** Selected projects will be invited to participate.
**** Topics and schedule will be announced later on.
Application criteria
- Applicants must be directly involved in the project and possess first-hand knowledge of its collaborative processes.
- Projects from every country in the world are welcome, but they must be situated in an urban and peri-urban area.
- Projects may include any type of urban green space.
- Projects must be in the post-implementation phase, with civil society actively participating in management, use, or care.
- The collaboration with civil society should have been ongoing for at least one year, demonstrating sustained shared stewardship.
How to submit a project
- Submit your urban green stewardship project via the google form
- Deadline: submit by the 14 February 2026, 9pm CET / 3 PM EST
- Any questions about the Open Call can be emailed to governancelab@whatisthatgreen.com
Ethics and Data Protection (GDPR) Notice
We follow ethical standards to ensure respectful engagement, accurate representation, and protection of participants and stakeholders, while safeguarding data privacy and security throughout this initiative.
By submitting your project and associated media (including photographs, images, videos, or other visual material) as part of the What’s That Green? Open Call, you confirm that:
- You are the copyright owner of the media, or you have obtained permission from the copyright holder to license its use for the purposes described below.
- You grant the What’s That Green? Governance Lab project team a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use the submitted media for all purposes related to the Open Call. You retain full copyright and may use your material elsewhere freely.
Participation is voluntary. We will collect only the minimum personal data necessary to administer the project (name and contact details). Your personal data will be stored securely, will not be shared, sold, or transferred to any third parties outside the project team without your explicit consent. It will be stored securely, used solely for the administration of the Open Call, and will be retained only for the duration of the Open Call and related follow-up activities.
The text and media you provide will be publicly displayed on the Stewardship digital map. They may also be used for communication, dissemination, research, analysis, and future project outputs such as handbooks, toolkits, or reports. All publicly available content will be presented in English. This licence does not permit third parties outside the project to use it for commercial purposes.
If images contain identifiable individuals, you are responsible for ensuring you have obtained explicit consent (image release) compliant with GDPR and relevant national laws. This ensures lawful use, respects privacy, and protects personal data rights.
You may request the deletion of your personal data as well as project or image(s) from the digital map at any time by contacting: governancelab@whatisthatgreen.com. Removal applies to future use and cannot affect materials already published before the request.
Team: Elizaveta Fakirova, Beatrice Annalisa Egidi, Carla De Agostini, Aleksandra Igumnova, Hemant Rakh, Bettina Wilk.
We thank the members and friends of the What’s That Green? Community for their support in preparing this open call: Julia Micklewright, Jennifer Dunn, Anna Yukelson, Ludo Pitte, Luis Romahn.
Partners:
