Nijmegen European Green Capital 2018

March 23, 2018

Perhaps you’ve not heard of Nijmegen before? This inland port city situated on the River Waal, just 8km from the German border and within the Dutch province of Gelderland, has always been strategically important. Whilst once this was for political battles, it’s now for its clear-sighted approach to developing as a green and sustainable city.

With a population of 176,000, boosted by its large student body, it’s not a huge city in terms of numbers. However, it is the tenth largest in the Netherlands and what it lacks in population size it certainly more than makes up for with its green ambitions, and now its green credentials.

There are a staggering 92m² of green spaces for each and every citizen, making up 24.8% of the total surface area of the city. You can just imagine the inspiring power of this green city, even if you’ve never stepped foot inside Nijmegen.

But dip your toe inside and you’ll be able to discover for yourself why Nijmegen is worthy of becoming Europe’s latest Green Capital.

The Waagh is situated in the city centre of Nijmegen, and is very much the cultural epicentre of the city

IMAGE: European Union

A Green Capital – What is this?

Driven by the European Commission, the European Green Capital Award (EGCA) is not simply another accolade; rather, it is a celebration that can be shared with thousands, if not millions of people around Europe and the rest of the world. Awarded since 2010, the ECGA is about rising to the challenge that our urban societies are placing on our global environment. It’s the driver for change and sustainability. It’s about promotion, recognition, and reward.

The key original goal of the EGCA is to “recognise cities that are leading the way with environmentally friendly urban living”.

Through reward, collaboration and a driven environmental strategy, the award motivates cities across the continent to become healthier, greener, more sustainable and ecologically sound. These cities then lead the way, becoming role models, and setting the bar high as to what can be achieved with our urban plans, living, and future.

As the European Commission states: “The overarching message that the award scheme aims to communicate to the local level is that Europeans have a right to live in healthy urban areas. Cities should therefore strive to improve the quality of life of their citizens and reduce their impact on the global environment.”

And becoming a recipient of the award is no mean feat. European Green Capitals must wholly demonstrate:

• A consistent record of achieving high environmental standards: this is no one-off competition entry.
  
  
• That it is committed to ongoing and ambitious goals for further environmental improvement and sustainable development: achieving Green Capital status is just a marker on the future journey and strategy.
  
  
• It can fulfil the position of role-model inspiring other European cities.
  
  
• Past winners include Stockholm, Ljubljana and Essen. An expert panel comes together to review applications for the award in terms of 12 environmental indicators.

These 12 indicators are:

1. Climate change: mitigation
2. Climate change: adaptation
3. Sustainable urban mobility
4. Sustainable land use
5. Nature and biodiversity
6. Air quality
7. Noise
8. Waste
9. Water
10. Green growth and eco-innovation
11. Energy performance
12. Governance

Nijmegen has demonstrated exceptional success across all of these criteria.

The Visitor Centre on Kelfkensbos Square is the headquarters of Green Capital 2018 and is the best place to go for all your information about Nijmegen

IMAGE: European Union

Sustainable housing in Nijmegen

IMAGE: European Union

Overlooking the River Waal

IMAGE: European Union

Nijmegen: Climate Change – Living with Water

It seems as though a week doesn’t go by these days without another alarm bell going off about the threat of climate change and global warming to the planet. This is of increased significance because of the extremely likely fact (i.e. greater than 95% probability) that this is down to human activity. This means that we need to be the ones to step up and take the necessary active measures and do something about it.

This notion is something that Nijmegen is taking extremely seriously. Climate change is resulting in more heat waves and extreme rainfall in the area, which has brought with it elevated threats of flooding. Therefore, rivers, particularly in low-lying urbanised areas, need to be carefully managed. The dykes that protected the city from extreme flooding events have been at imminent risk of failing.

Thankfully, the Dutch have a strong history in this area and nowhere is that more apparent than in Nijmegen. In fact, they’ve taken a radical approach and advanced national understanding and implementation of strategies further. The urban river system has seen the relocation of the Lentse Waaldijk by 350m and installed a secondary channel for the river as part of the ‘Room for the Waal’ project. This is something that many cities from around the world could learn from.

This Nijmegen approach to water management creates much better flood protection whilst also offering a sustainable solution for the future and encouragement for new, green recreational facilities. By constructing a secondary channel in the flood plains, a new island in the river is created, which adds to the diversity of habitats within the city.

At the ground level, residents are becoming engaged in a project called ‘Operatie Steenbreek’ (or Operation Steenbreek), which is inspiring them to transform their gardens into green gardens. The project focuses on the negative consequences of paving over gardens, such as the threat to biodiversity, and takes a ‘stones out, plants in’ approach to a greener, more environmentally-conscious city.

Cycling on 'The Crossing’ (De Oversteek) bridge over the River Waal

IMAGE: European Union

Nijmegen: Circular Economy – Everything is Useful

In Nijmegen, waste isn’t seen as a waste product, but instead a resource which can and should be used repeatedly. The city has a committed recycling programme with ambitious goals.

Awareness is at the heart of its waste strategy and waste generation has massively reduced in recent years through campaigns such as ‘Look! Waste = Raw Material’ which even sees residents benefiting from free compost generated from their waste. Recycling rates are currently at 67%. The remaining 33% of domestic waste is handled by a local facility in the nearby town of Weurt which turns it in to energy for electricity and heating.

Nijmegen: Smart Mobility – Sustainable Transport

It will come as no surprise to those acquainted with Dutch culture that sustainable transport in Nijmegen focuses enormously on the use of pedal power. And that makes perfect environmental sense: after all, you don’t get much greener other than cycling!

And Nijmegen isn’t just another Dutch city which has embraced cycling whole-heartedly: they have been named the ‘Cycling City’ of the Netherlands by the Dutch Cyclists’ Union. It has a huge, interconnected network of cycle paths which other cities should strive to emulate.

There are a staggering 60km of cycling ‘super highways’ in the city thus far, such as the Snelbinder cycling bridge which was added in 2004, and the super highway on the De Oversteek bridge in 2013, whilst a further 20km are already in the works. Electrical, or e-bikes, are also being pioneered together with mobility services such as electric vehicle pick-ups and drop-offs for those whom regular cycling isn’t possible nor an option. If that’s not enough, the public buses also do their bit by running on green fuel. There are also initiatives to encourage car-sharing, and they’ve really been taking off in the city.

How Can You Get Involved?

It’s not surprising, given the extreme success of sustainability in Nijmegen, that more and more people interested in sustainable living and environmental advocacy will want to become involved. There are a huge number of ways in which you can learn from and experience Nijmegen and the changes the city is making.

Events: Your first port of call should be the calendar of events which outlines each and every event coming up this year as part of Nijmegen’s award accolade. Events range from festivals to sporting meets, marches and symposiums. The Film Festival is also being used as a highlight of the year.  There will be the Fietsvierdaagse 4-day cycling festival. The aim is for these events to be ‘green’ in themselves too.

Green Routes: Visit Nijmegen an experience one of the city’s 5 green routes. These routes allow you to delve in to each of the five areas of action Nijmegen is focused on. The route maps show you not only where to go, but what you will see and how this fits in with the overall sustainability vision. Just make sure you do it on a bicycle for the truest experience!

Challenges: To inspire change you need to be continuously stretching to the next goal. There are monthly challenges that are geared towards getting residents, visitors, businesses and

organisations involved in what’s happening. The challenges are themed, so pick your interest and sign up.

Visit: To get the deepest understanding of the changes Nijmegen has made you need to make your way to the city itself. De Bastei is a visitor and education centre which allows you to

experience and learn from the changes. It’s a great place for sustainable business meetings

and for collaboration on projects.

Nijmegen has become the European Green Capital because of its achievements across the scope of  economic, social and environmental sustainability. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to visit this beautiful city and experience the very best of both Dutch and European sustainability first-hand.

To find out more about  Nijmegen European Green Capital, please visit the official website:

www.greencapital2018.nl