How can green events accelerate urban sustainability transitions? Insights from eight German regional garden shows

This paper builds on an acceleration mechanisms framework from transition studies and analyzes the role of green events for sustainable urban transformations. We study eight regional garden shows in German small and medium-sized cities, using interview and document data as well as on-site visits for an in-depth qualitative analysis. Our findings reveal that garden shows contribute to urban sustainability through implementing green projects and supporting small initiatives. We find that instrumentalizing and upscaling are crucial mechanisms for accelerating urban transitions, while replicating, partnering and embedding play a supporting role. The importance of these mechanisms, however, varies over time.