Greening cities e To be socially inclusive? About the alleged paradox of society and ecology in cities Dagmar Haase a, b, * , Sigrun Kabisch c , Annegret Haase c , Erik Andersson d , Ellen Banzhaf c , Francesc Bar  o e , Miriam Brenck f , Leonie K. Fischer g , Niki Frantzeskaki h , Nadja Kabisch a, c , Kerstin Krellenberg c , Peleg Kremer i , Jakub Kronenberg j , Neele Larondelle a , Juliane Mathey k , Stephan Pauleit l , Irene Ring m , Dieter Rink c , Nina Schwarz n , Manuel Wolff a, c a Humboldt Universit€ at zu Berlin, Institute of Geography, Rudower Chaussee 16, 12489 Berlin, Germany b Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research e UFZ, Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Permoser Str.15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany c Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research e UFZ, Department of Environmental Sociology, Leipzig, Germany d University of Stockholm, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm, Sweden e Universidad Aut onoma de Barcelona, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB), Spain f Technical University of Berlin, Planning & Construction Economics/Real Estate, Berlin, Germany g Technical University of Berlin, Germany h DRIFT, Faculty of Social Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands i Department of Geography and the Environment, Villanova University, Pennsylvania, USA j University of Lodz, Faculty of Economics and Sociology, Lodz, Poland k Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development, Dresden, Germany l Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany m Technical University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany n University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, The Netherlands article info Article history: Received 25 October 2016 Received in revised form 26 January 2017 Accepted 7 April 2017 Keywords: Green infrastructure Nature-based solutions Cities Social inclusiveness Green and eco-gentrification Urban renewal abstract Greening cities, namely installing new parks, rooftop gardens or planting trees along the streets, un- doubtedly contributes to an increase in wellbeing and enhances the attractiveness of open spaces in cities. At the same time, we observe an increasing use of greening strategies as ingredients of urban renewal, upgrading and urban revitalization as primarily market-driven endeavours targeting middle class and higher income groups sometimes at the expense of less privileged residents. This paper reflects on the current debate of the social effects of greening using selected examples. We discuss what trade- offs between social and ecological developments in cities mean for the future debate on greening cities and a socially balanced and inclusive way of developing our cities for various groups of urban dwellers. We conclude that current and future functions and features of greening cities have to be discussed more critically including a greater awareness of social impacts. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Global environmental change and urbanization are major issues of the international political agenda and are highly interlinked. As of today, 54% of the world's population resides in urban areas, and more than two thirds of the world's population is projected to ur- banize by 2050 (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2014). One of the major challenges for future urban planning is, thus, to prepare urban spaces for an increasing number of people while developing and maintaining cities as sustainable and liveable places. When urban green areas are put increasingly under pressure, e.g. because of ongoing urban land conversion for housing and transport, it becomes important to acknowledge their * Corresponding author. Humboldt Universit€at zu Berlin, Institute of Geography, Rudower Chaussee 16, 12489 Berlin, Germany. E-mail addresses: dagmar.haase@geo.hu-berlin.de, dagmar.haase@ufz.de (D. Haase). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Habitat International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/habitatint http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2017.04.005 0197-3975/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Habitat International 64 (2017) 41e48