Green citizenship towards spatial and lived perspectives

© 2020 selection and editorial matter, Simin Davoudi, Richard Cowell, Iain White and Hilda Blanco. Green citizenship has received growing interest in the past two decades given the current grave ecological concerns and an increasing awareness that environmental degradation and change implicates directly on the rights and responsibilities of citizens. Yet as a field, it still involves static and instrumentalist conceptions of citizenship and the environment. In this chapter, we propose more dynamic, transnational and inclusive notions of lived green citizenship, drawing on feminist theorisation and citizenship conceptions introduced by Engin Isin. We argue for a greater acknowledgement of spatial relationality and the multiple scalar and practised dimensions of citizenship in order to recognise the diversity of citizens represented in society, and their experiences and practices. We suggest that this broader understanding of green citizenship provides access to trans-local and networked thinking for environmental planning, citizenship and political theory, as well as highlighting the importance of lived experiences of citizenship.