All Things Urban

What’s That Green? Governance Lab is excited to launch an open call for projects that demonstrate good practice in the long-term co-care and co-maintenance of urban green spaces together with civil society.

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.
Our focus is on blended stewardship models - where cities, private organizations, and civil society care for green spaces together.

What we're looking For:

We welcome projects that include, but are not limited to:

• Maintenance and care: joint actions that keep the green space healthy and functional.
• Inclusion and activation: collaborative initiatives that bring people together and encourage shared use, appreciation, and care of the space.
• Monitoring and assessment: cooperative efforts to observe and evaluate ecological, social, or governance aspects.

Why Participate?

• 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.

Eligibility:

• 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.

Submission Process:

• 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

All Things Urban is one of the official partners of the open call.

What’s That Green? (WTG?) is a non-profit, voluntary global initiative where urban practitioners learn through practice to accelerate nature-driven transformation. The WTG? Governance Lab focuses on exploring blended stewardship models - collaborative approaches where cities, communities, and other actors jointly care for and sustain urban green spaces.

We are currently looking for collaborators to co-develop this initiative.