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Society takes place in cities and shapes them. The "city" is commonly attributed with certain objectified qualities, daily practices, perceptions and symbolic readings and is strongly linked to institutional arrangements. As various transformation forces and processes can be observed in contemporary cities, the question arises: what instruments and possibilities can be identified for steering urban structures and development by means of urban policy? The current shift away from a top down oriented city administration and planning towards the participatory governance suggests that cities are facing new challenges and requirements that are closely associated with a political dimension. The possibilities of influencing and steering urban development by urban planning and policy and participation as one element of those control options will be discussed in this paper. In order to understand the role and scope of new urban governance the societal context that frames contemporary cities will be outlined. Starting from the characteristics of new urban governance modes it will be discussed why governance and participation can be understood as reaction to the network society and its challenges of the established nation-state based democracy, traditional power relations and legitimation of political processes and institutions.

Society takes place in cities and shapes them. The "city" is commonly attributed with certain objectified qualities, daily practices, perceptions and symbolic readings and is strongly linked to institutional arrangements. As various transformation forces and processes can be observed in contemporary cities, the question arises: what instruments and possibilities can be identified for steering urban structures and development by means of urban policy? The current shift away from a top-down oriented city administration and planning towards the participatory governance suggests that cities are facing new challenges and requirements that are closely associated with a political dimension. The possibilities of influencing and steering urban development by urban planning and policy and participation as one element of those control options will be discussed in this paper. In order to understand the role and scope of new urban governance the societal context that frames contemporary cities will be outlined. Starting from the characteristics of new urban governance modes it will be discussed why governance and participation can be understood as reaction to the network society and its challenges of the established nation-state based democracy, traditional power relations and legitimation of political processes and institutions.

Building environmentally friendly, livable, socially integrative, green, healthy and energy efficient cities is high on the European Agenda, and it has also become one of the top priorities of the Chinese government's commitment to foster further urbanization and to improve its environmental conditions. Inclusion, poverty, housing, air quality, climate adaptation, energy transition, sustainable use of land and nature-based solutions as well as digital transition are among the 12 priority themes of the Urban Agenda for the EU (Pact of Amsterdam) agreed at the Informal Meeting of EU Ministers Responsible for Urban Matters in 2016. And in the European Green Deal, it is stated that the "urban dimension of cohesion policy will be strengthened", and that further initiatives "will provide assistance to cities to help them make best use of opportunities to develop sustainable urban development strategies" (European Commission 2019, 23). In China, with the National New-type Urbanization Plan (2014-2020) the government has promoted a new strategy towards a "people-centered" urbanization. It pays attention to related pressing challenges, such as sustainable urban development, the integration of rural migrant workers into urban societies, combatting regionally unbalanced urbanization trends, the future of "ghost cities" which had emerged due to land development exceeding population growth in cities, and the improvement of urban management to fight "urban diseases" like traffic congestion as well as air, water and soil pollution, the protection of natural environments, and the provision of adequate services and infrastructure, including the provision of energy. On this background, this research explores transformation processes towards urban sustainability in Europe and China. Its objective is to provide knowledge about and compare recent activities in Europe and China which promote urban sustainability transformations, especially regarding eco- and smart cities. It looks at the involvement of stakeholders as well as their ...