Utrecht is taking radical steps to go green

Want to know what a sustainable city would be like? Check out Utrecht, the fourth largest city in The Netherlands. They dug up a motorway to return it to a canal, for nature and boating. There’s a huge parking garage…for bikes. And a new building doubles as a forest.

Catharijnesingel canal resurrected from roadway

A canal flowed here from as early as 1122, when it was dug as a defence line for the city. It was controversially filled in with concrete in the 1960s, when the world went gung-ho for cars. Cue a referendum in 2002, when residents voted to bring the water back. 

Bike parking

When I visited Denmark on a study tour, one of the government officials explained the importance of biking. He explained it wasnt about getting somewhere fast (he mimicked a bike racer) but instead, it’s about tooling around on an upright bike with a basket (yes, even guys have baskets on their handlebars), stopping to talk to neighbors, and taking in the scenery. He used as an example his 80 year old mother who still uses her bike, more like a walker than to ride upon, to talk to her friends and pick up groceries.

Utrecht has a similar culture. They’re building a multistory story to park bikes.

Wonderwoods vertical forest

Not too far from the train station is a residential/office building that’s covered in greenery.

When it’s completed (later this year, apparently), Wonderwoods will heave with 360 trees, 9,000 bushes and 10,000 plants. “There’s plenty of rain in Holland,” says Pathuis, as dark clouds threaten to prove his point. “In the basement there’s a basin that collects it. When it’s dry, we pump it up – hoses go to every plant.” 

If that sounds like a lot of upkeep, that’s because it is. Who’s going to do all the pruning? “A company has been contracted for 25 years to maintain the green,” says Pathuis. It’s a service that will cost residents around €60 (£51) a month – equivalent to a bouquet of flowers each week. Not an insignificant sum. And after 25 years? “The residents association will have to decide what to do.”

https://www.positive.news/society/utrecht-the-city-where-the-future-has-already-arrived/

Sure, there’s a cost involved, but what do you get for your HOA fees?