{"id":382868,"date":"2024-08-08T09:26:31","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T07:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/08\/08\/trasformazione-cool-green-groningen-ue\/"},"modified":"2024-08-20T14:48:20","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T12:48:20","slug":"transform-cities-cool-green-groningen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/08\/08\/transform-cities-cool-green-groningen\/","title":{"rendered":"Transforming cities by keeping ‘cool’ and ‘green’ together: the Dutch example of Groningen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – From hot and\u00a0covered in concrete,<\/strong> surrounded by buildings and crisscrossed by heavy traffic, to the coolest square in town:<\/strong>\u00a0that’s the goal of the Life Cool Square\u00a0project<\/a>\u00a0in Groningen, the Netherlands, which aims to transform Damsterplein Square by holding together the creation of a green, livable environment with the need to adapt to climate change<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Damsterplein is\u00a0on the roof of an underground parking lot in a central area of Groningen.\u00a0In studying the effects of climate change, the municipality noted that the square is subject to high temperatures and at risk of flooding after\u00a0heavy rainfall<\/strong>. In addition, its specific location further exacerbates the adverse\u00a0climatic effects, making the place unattractive,\u00a0unsafe, and\u00a0busy with traffic. Central to the change is the Life Cool Square<\/strong> project – with an EU contribution of 1,031.596 euros<\/strong> – which will transform Damsterplein “into a climate-adaptive, resilient, flexible and multifunctional urban location.<\/strong>” The project team will pursue activities “to give the location and municipality of Groningen a ‘sponge city’ effect to prevent extreme drought and flooding,” explained the European Climate, Infrastructure, and Environment Executive Agency<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A \u2018sponge city\u2019 uses nature-based solutions such as absorbing and storing rainwater to mitigate the effects of climate change.<\/strong>\u00a0“Life Cool Square<\/a> will capture, store, and recycle rainwater by constructing \u2018bioswales\u2019 – landscaped channels designed to collect and filter rainwater. By replacing concrete surfaces with green areas and drought-resistant plants and trees, Damsterplein will be more likely to absorb excess rainfall and store water for use during dry weather. The plants and trees will also provide shade for the surrounding environment, which will help to reduce the effects of urban heat islands and improve the health of those living nearby,” the agency described.<\/p>\n

Work is scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2026, with the project yielding\u00a0several results<\/strong>. The first is\u00a0the contribution to the “sponge city”<\/strong> concept through the removal of at least 6 thousand m2 of paving, the disconnection of 2,700 m2 of roof surface\u00a0from the sewer system, the separation of at least 643 m3 of water from the sewer system for practical reuse, and the planting indigenous\u00a0urban greenery to absorb water and enhance\u00a0biodiversity. Then, the fight against heat islands,<\/strong> installing at least 1,800 m2 of vegetation and 50 trees (450 m2 of tree crown surface), aiming to lower the physiologically equivalent average temperature (PET) by 4\u00b0C to 5\u00b0C during warm days, when\u00a0greenery is fully mature, and reducing the asphalt temperature on hot days by 10\u00b0C.\u00a0Finally, generating stakeholder and citizen\u00a0awareness and involvement,<\/strong>\u00a0a 50% increase in resident use of Damsterplein Square<\/strong>,\u00a0and a 15% reduction in traffic speed<\/strong> while also cutting\u00a0emissions of air pollutants (NOx, PM) and noise.<\/p>\n

Residents will play an important role in\u00a0the project <\/strong>and are being encouraged to participate, for example, by creating and maintaining gardens and green islands on the square. “The residents came up with this idea themselves.\u00a0They asked if they could adopt green spaces and take care of them,” said project manager Hedwig de Boer. In addition, residents shared their ideas for making Damsterplein a cozy and pleasant neighborhood space with its special identity, such as installing more seating areas, more greenery, and areas for small events and activities. “Students from Hanze University Groningen are monitoring Life Cool Square to compare the current space with how it is used once the project is completed – providing valuable information about the effects of urban redesign for other projects in similar circumstances,” the agency specified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surrounded by old and new buildings, warm and crisscrossed by heavy traffic, the Damsterplein Square is undergoing a huge change promoted not only by the desire to create a “green and livable environment” for people, but also by the realization that it is essential to become more resilient to climate change. At the center is the Life Cool Square project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7874,"featured_media":382816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25706],"tags":[25746,28710,26164,28712,26527,28711,28713],"class_list":["post-382868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-economy-en","tag-city-en","tag-change-climate-en","tag-groningen-and","tag-paesi-bassi-en","tag-city-sponge-en","tag-transformation-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7874"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382868"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":382914,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382868\/revisions\/382914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}