Ambitious sustainability targets can only be achieved by means of socio-technical transfor-mations. But how can the urgently needed upheaval be initiated and supported adequately in terms of time and its impact on society? And which sectors of society and stakeholders need to be taken into account? The contribution which this book presents is a review of the current status of research complemented by practical case studies. The results of the analysis are merged into one heuristic. Hence, for example, the social subsystems that should be addressed in the context of a transformation are collated and their relevance is illustrated. In addition, governance challenges arising from the special nature of transfor-mation processes are identified. The book offers both new concepts relating to transfor-mation research as well as important insights and examples for all those stakeholders who are interested in the initiation and management of transformations.