Dossier
Greenery in the city
A green environment has many advantages. It has a positive effect on people's health and contributes to the quality of life in a neighbourhood. Companies like to settle in a green environment and real estate is generally more in demand, which strengthens the economic growth of a city. Together with partners, Wageningen University & Research has been researching the effects of a green city for years.
Why a green city?
A green city improves the environment, ensures rich biodiversity, reduces air pollution, ensures water storage, dampens noise and help cooling down in warm periods. Green is also essential for a climate-proof and sustainable environment. In addition, there is a positive effect on the health and social connections of people living, working and recreating in a green environment.
7 reasons for investing in a green city
News about greenery in the city
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Fewer health complaints among people with a green garden
- More greenery in domestic gardens is not only favourable for climate adaptation and biodiversity in cities. It also seems to have a major impact on residents’ health and well-being. This is one of the outcomes of a study by Wageningen University & Research and the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research into the association between having a garden at home, and one’s health. -
Temperature Tiny Forest up to 20 degrees lower than on the streets on hot days
- Tiny Forests form an excellent solution to drought and heat stress in urban areas. Research by Wageningen Environmental Research shows that temperatures in a Tiny Forest may be as much as 20 degrees below those in the streets. Moreover, the mini forests store much water during heavy precipitation, which is sorely needed in the increasingly dry Netherlands. Tiny Forests also boost urban biodiversity. -
‘Landscape architects are genuine optimists who focus on creating a new future’
- Wageningen’s Landscape Architecture group is internationally renowned and has the world’s largest number of publications in this domain. Is there room for improvement? Certainly, says Sanda Lenzholzer, who has headed the group for the last two years. In her inaugural address, which was postponed due to the pandemic, she introduces her perspective on the group’s endavours. -
This is how a Dutch city may look in 2120
- Floating houses, self-driving cars, deer in the floodplains, streams with waterfalls, and greenery instead of asphalt. Welcome to the city of 2120. Contrary to what doomsday scenarios would have you believe, you can also work towards an attractive and prosperous city in a world of climate change. Research associates of Wageningen University & Research designed a scenario for the city of the future with Arnhem as the example. Their aim is to challenge cities to start thinking about their climate resistance for the long term. -
WHO stresses the importance of green spaces for mental health
- Green spaces are important to our mental health. With urbanisation on the rise, people living in cities have less access to green areas. At the same time, the number of Europeans with mental health issues has increased by 16% over the past fifteen years, which is alarming. Sjerp de Vries, researcher at Wageningen Environmental Research, is head of the EKLIPSE working group that investigated the link between greenery and mental health. The study resulted in a publication by the World Health Organization (WHO). -
How nature boosts the health of city residents
- Trees lining a street may encourage people to take a longer stroll or choose to bike to work. New research shows how access to natural areas in cities can improve human health by supporting physical activity. The researchers plan to equip city planners with tools to create healthier, more sustainable cities around the world. -
The missing chapter in the 2021 Housing Action Agenda: “The green acceleration”
- Within ten years not only one million houses have to be built in the Netherlands, they also need to be sustainable. This is a realistic ambition according to Marian Stuiver from Wageningen University & Research and Tim Vredeveld from het Oversticht. Building houses and neighborhoods that are nature-inclusive, circular and climate resistant. This is what they, together with 13 other organizations, endorse in the additional chapter "The Green Acceleration," a chapter of which they say it is currently missing from the Housing Action Agenda 2021.
News 2014-2020
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Seven reasons to choose green in the city
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Weather balloon research: Amsterdam’s urban dome 120 meters high during last heat wave
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Five governing approaches for greenspace in urban areas
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Designing urban water bodies that are really cooling
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Urban tiny forests are good for biodiversity
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The complex relations between city centres, suburbia and larger peripheries
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The Amsterdam Atmospheric Monitoring Supersite will soon be operative
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Arnhem plants the world’s first ‘urban climate tree’
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Resource: Urban vegetation makes heat bearable
Research on greenery in the city
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Accelerating nature-inclusive urban development
- In the last decade, the necessity for nature-inclusive urban design has increased within the world of private and public urban development worldwide. -
A digital inspiration map for greening neighbourhoods of Amsterdam
- This study shows how participatory GIS can aid in decision making around urban greening. In Amsterdam, this helped promoting a dialogue between stakeholders, linking spatial data with practical experiences and aligning local priorities with policy programmes. -
Nature-inclusive entrepreneurship in urban areas
- The green space in the city is under pressure. Although it meets important social needs, in practice nature and landscape often lose it through competing space claims. This can have a major impact on the living environment of people. In this study we have adopted a transition approach in which we explicitly seek a nature-inclusive contribution of the real estate sector to the biodiversity, quality of life and resilience of cities. To this end, current practices are being mapped out and ways are being sought to make these practices more nature-inclusive in order to achieve the desired transition. -
Adaptive Cities Through integrated Nature Based Solutions (ACT on NBS)
- The project Adaptive Cities Through integrated Nature Based Solutions (ACT on NBS) from EIT-Climate KIC, aims to scale nature-based solutions (NBS) in cities. In collaboration with Dutch and European cities, researchers and other stakeholders, a growing and sustainable innovation ecosystem is being developed to improve health and wellbeing for citizens, higher urban biodiversity and lower impacts from climate change in cities. -
Midden IN Delfland
- What future do 60 livestock farmers have among 2 million city dwellers? The open peat meadow landscape of Midden-Delfland is appreciated and used by people from Rotterdam, Delft, Vlaardingen, Schiedam, Pijnacker and The Hague. Until now, the beautiful landscape was the main reason to keep urbanization at bay. The city is sometimes experienced as troublesome by the farmers, but also contains opportunities. Working on the future means farmers working on sustainability, responding to the challenges of the future, and working on their relationship with the city. It is about innovation and collaboration, because the city and the countryside need one another. By means of future-oriented agriculture, the countryside can remain relevant for the city. -
Climate-Proof Cities: Practical guidelines for climate-proof cities
- Cities are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The most efficient way to make cities more climate-proof is through tailored relatively small and local measures, which can often be carried out parallel to major maintenance or renovation work. These were the findings of a final report published by the Climate-Proof Cities research programme. -
Towards Water Smart Cities
- Cities around the world face great challenges with water. We have to rethink the way we deal with water in our cities and need to (re)design cities from drained cities to green, resilient and circular cities, so called Water-Smart Cities. -
Healing Gardens
- We are testing to what extent gardening can help (former) cancer patients meeting the norms of physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake, and to what extent gardening in a group can function as a form of social support. -
The Feeding City
- The Feeding City — a collaborative research programme between the AMS Institute, municipality of Almere, province of Flevoland and Aeres University of Applied Sciences — is embedded on the Flevo Campus, thus facilitating opportunities for research, education and entrepreneurship relating to the ‘Food and the City’ theme. The programme objective is to innovate the urban food system by working closely with the business community, institutions and residents from the city and the surrounding region. -
Green Junkie
- Amsterdam, as many other cities, suffers from high particulate concentrations which have a negative impact on the air quality and the health of citizens. In this project we will analyse the effect on the particulate concentration of the special developed plant Green Junkie.
Blog on greenery in the city
Related dossiers
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Natural surroundings and health
- Natural surroundings can benefit human health in many ways. Wageningen University & Research studies issues concerning the optimal design and management of natural surroundings, the impact of landscape and urban design on social safety and possibilities for using the existing natural surroundings to influence human behaviour. -
Urban agriculture
- In 2050, the world population will grow to 10 billion people. More than half of the population already lives in the city and this is only expected to increase. This increases the pressure on land and space, increases the need for livable structures and increases the demand for locally produced food. Urban agriculture is a solution to achieve a sustainable and liveable city and possibly reduce the urban footprint. -
Urban climate
- A green environment is essential for a resilient climate and a sustainable environment in the city. It reduces air pollution, provides water storage, dampens noise and cools in warm periods. For example, the cooling of hot air in the city can be done by the strategic construction of open areas. In this dossier you can find news, background and results of research on urban climate.