Sustainable Efforts in Tilburg

Babette van den Berg

Hello everyone!

Today, I wanted to write a little bit about biodiversity and sustainability in our (maybe not so) beautiful city of Tilburg. Tilburg is known for being a very “gray” city, with a lot of buildings and stone, and only a little green. For comparison, in the outskirts of Tilburg there is 45m2 of green per person, while this is only 3,5m2 in the center! This little green results in problems such as insufficient capacity to catch water during heavy rainfall, and temperatures that can be up to 5 degrees higher in the center than in the rest of the city. This makes Tilburg one of the hottest cities in Europe, with it actually being the hottest one on July 10 in 2018 (I couldn’t find the exact temperature unfortunately).

Naturally, the municipality wants to change this and has implemented a multi-year plan to increase the biodiversity in the center. This change will be on three levels: on the level of the municipality, they will for example plant trees or create parks in public areas; on the level of individuals, who will be supported to make “geveltuintjes”* and other small projects; and on the level of both the municipality and individuals, with the co-creation of green areas.

The biggest changes in the center will be at Willemsplein, Schouwburgring and Koningsplein. These areas will change into a “Stadsforum” and “Koningswei”. They will become a lot greener, with space for events such as the fair, weekly markets and other events. The Koningsplein will turn into the Koningswei, a green area that is directly linked to the Piushaven.

Another big change will be the Cityring of Tilburg, which has already been under construction for quite a while now. The ring will become a one-way road, which means that there will be more space for trees and other greens, bicycle roads and sidewalks. Below, I have included a link of the article that contains the pictures of what these new greener areas in Tilburg will look like.

Moreover, on the 13th of May, there will be two events in Tilburg about sustainability and what you can do as an individual to make your house more green. These are the Groene Voorjaarsmarkt (Green Springmarket) and the Groene Voeten Markt (Green Feet Market). The Groene Voorjaarsmarkt will be held at the Pieter Vreedeplein and will have several stands. These stands will present green and sustainable products, but also offer information and free workshops on how to make your small garden in the city more green.

The Groene Voeten Markt is on the same day, but will take place in the gardens of Villa Familla in the Noordstraat. The theme is “Everything that can decrease your ecological footprint in a fun way”. There will be food, music, up- and recycling projects, as well as many other stands and workshops about sustainability. So if you are not going to Memberweekend (which you should if you can!), this will be a very nice alternative to do on your weekend. Again, the links to more information about the Groene Voorjaarsmarkt and Groene Voeten Markt are below.

Love, Babette

* A ‘geveltuintje’ is some kind of little garden on the front side of the house when lacking an actual garden in the front. 

Changes center of Tilburg 

https://tilburg.com/nieuws/gebied-rondom-paleis-en-koningsplein-op- de-schop-de-plannen-op-een-rijtje/

Groene voorjaarsmarkt 

https://www.centeroftilburg.com/nl/cityguide/nieuws/de-groene- voorjaarsmarkt-keert-terug-naar-het-pieter-vreedeplein

Groene voeten markt 

https://opgroenevoet.nl/groenevoetenmarkt/