Participatory Co-Governance Architectures for Community-Driven Just Green Transformation in European Neighbourhoods.

Title: Participatory Co-Governance Architectures for Community-Driven Just Green Transformation in European Neighbourhoods.

Acronym: CoGreenX (pronounced “co-green-ex”) combines co-governance and green transformation, while the superscript “X” symbolises systemic, exponential change. It also evokes neighbourhood squares as civic spaces where democratic participation and just green transformation intersect, interact, and scale, reflecting the project’s ambition to amplify democratic participation and advance just sustainability transitions in European neighbourhoods.

Project idea. Concept note.

Rationale and problem framing. The green transition is unfolding unevenly across European neighbourhoods, often driven by top-down technical interventions that insufficiently address democratic legitimacy, social equity, and community ownership. While municipalities implement climate strategies, structural mechanisms for shared decision-making, co-production, and power redistribution at neighbourhood scale remain underdeveloped. This gap generates participation fatigue, social resistance, and risks of green gentrification and exclusion. CoGreenX addresses this structural governance deficit by exploring participatory co-governance architectures that enable communities to actively shape just green transformation pathways within their neighbourhoods. CoGreenX will offer a shift from participatory consultation models toward institutionalised co-governance systems embedded in local governance ecosystems.

Core concept. CoGreenX conceptualises neighbourhoods as civic squares of transformation – arenas where environmental sustainability, social justice, and democratic participation intersect. The project develops Participatory Co-Governance Architectures (PCGAs) that: a) redistribute decision-making power between municipalities, citizens, civil society organisations (CSO), NGOs and local actors; b) institutionalise co-creation and co-production mechanisms; c) integrate justice criteria into green transition planning; d) ensure inclusion of vulnerable and underrepresented groups; and e) create durable governance structures beyond project lifetime These architectures move beyond isolated pilots by embedding co-governance into regulatory, financial, and administrative systems at neighbourhood level.

Central innovation. The two central innovations of CoGreenX is a) the PCAX – the policy client-accordance index and b) the NGCRA - the Neighbourhood Green Co-Governance Readiness Assessment. Each pilot neighbourhood will undergo a multidimensional readiness analysis assessing: a) institutional readiness (legal and administrative flexibility); b) community capacity (social capital, organisational density); c) justice risk factors (energy poverty, vulnerability exposure); d) participation infrastructure (existing deliberative mechanisms); and e) transition maturity (existing sustainability initiatives); This assessment allows tailored architecture design and prevents governance over-engineering in low-capacity contexts. The readiness tool produces a Co-Governance Readiness Index, supporting comparative learning and scalability across pilots.

Planned implementation methodological design.

1)     Develop Geen Transition Policy Client Accordance Assessment Index GTPCAX Methodology.

2)     Develop Neighbourhood Green Co-Governance Readiness Assessment Methodology.

3)     Conduct the GTPCAX in partners countries and NGCGRA assessments pilot neighoubrhoods.

4)     Collect the good-case and bad-case practices.

5)     Develop participatory green transition actions (e.g., energy retrofitting strategies, mobility redesign, circular resource initiatives).

6)     Pilot-implementation of co-governance mechanisms within municipal and neighbourhood organizational structures.

7)     Monitor democratic and environmental performance.

Expected impact. Impact will be evaluated along two integrated axes: a) Governance transformation indicators (participation diversity, decision legitimacy, co-budgeting adoption) and b) Just green transition indicators (access to benefits, reduction of inequality exposure, sustainability performance). We expect tha CoGreenX delivers institutionalised neighbourhood-level co-governance models, a scalable readiness-based governance deployment methodology, policy recommendations for embedding co-governance within NEB and Green Deal frameworks, increased democratic legitimacy and social acceptance of green transition measures. By combining governance architecture, justice-oriented sustainability, and readiness-based implementation, CoGreenX transforms neighbourhoods from passive recipients of policy into active arenas of democratic green transformation.