The Municipality of Eindhoven plans to spend around 10.6 million euros on making the city centre greener. Wilhelminaplein, among others, needs a major metamorphosis.
The green ambitions are badly needed for Eindhoven, according to the college. Due to the leap in scale that the city is facing, an impulse from the greenery in the city is urgently needed to increase the quality of life in the ‘City of Light’.
Eindhoven is the greenest of the five major cities in the Netherlands, according to the college. “But it is not uniformly green everywhere. Around the city, 44 per cent of the land is green, but in the centre that is only 18 per cent of the land.”
For the realisation of the Green Plan in its entirety, 1.4 million euros is available from the municipal budget for ‘incidental expenditure’. An additional half million will come from structural resources for greening. For the remaining 8.6 million euros, the city council still must agree to an increase in the credit for the Public Space budget.
Research and development
Of those 1.4 million euros, the larger part (around 900,000 euros) must be spent on studies for the refurbishment of the Wilhelminaplein, the greening of streets and other greening projects for the longer term. Four hundred thousand euros will be set aside to fund initiatives from residents.
Wilhelminaplein
The Wilhelminaplein is one of the sites that must be greened from the 8.6 million euros. The municipality is allocating 2.8 million euros for this operation. The greening of the square fulfils a long-cherished wish of local residents and entrepreneurs. The first plans for greening the square were already unfolded in 2010, the council reports.
Several streets in the centre must also become much greener, the council believes. One and a half million euros will be earmarked for this.
Long term
All these are plans for the short term, while the medium-term focus is on greening other areas, for example the Dommel zone. The Dommel must play an important role in the greening of the city, master builder Don Murphy previously told Studio040.
The stream must be better connected to the built-up part of the centre. Biodiversity must continue to rise, but the Dommel must also become part of ‘an experience’, for example with more accessible banks.
Money is also allocated for the so-called ‘Eindhoven layer’ – or greening of the roofs of low-rise buildings in the city. The Municipal Executive sees the roofs as an important potential for further greening the city.
Stratumsedijk
Several roads, including the Stratumsedijk and the ‘Westtangent’ (the route Vonderweg-Mauritsstraat-Edenstraat-Dr. Schaepmanlaan, ed.) can also look forward to a major greening project in the future. Just under 4.2 million euros has been earmarked for the medium term plans.
It is said that the greening projects are not set in stone. Depending on the situation, the plans can be adjusted, according to the city council.
Source: Studio040.nl
Translated: Yawar Abbas
