EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - A Right to Green, Part I, policy advice

A Right to Green, Part I, policy advice - The Netherlands

Introduction

How can the dutch government maintain or improve the green quality of public parks and gardens?

Description

In the decades to come, city dwellers will still not be getting the green environment they would like to live in. Over the next five years, 350,000 houses will be built in urban areas. At the same time, too little space will be allocated for parks, water gardens, public gardens or playgrounds. Public green spaces contribute much more to the quality of life, public health and the economic development than many people think. In the policy advice document ‘A Right to Green’ issued by the Council for the Rural Areas on 24 June 2005, the Council states that the stakeholders must trade in their own short-term interests for the greater social interest of creating a greener environment for all people to live in.

The advice is divided into two parts. This first part contains the policy advice and the recommendations. In Part 2, the Council analyses the balance between the public space and urbanisation.

Conclusions

In real terms, the Council sees a number of cases where on the regional and local level a proper balance between ‘green’ and ‘red’ is definitely possible. Existing tools can be used (e.g. protection in terms of urban planning, so that the land price for public parks and gardens can be kept low) and valuable other tools are being discussed or developed (e.g. the exploitation law, the provincial land clauses act, regional equalisation and formation of funds). In principle, entering into public-private partnerships offers a great many opportunities. Sufficient space is available and the costs are feasible.

The Council feels that the use of these tools is crucial: the perceived options as to how the available instruments can be used. Motivation and decisiveness are what is needed to offer the planning-related, legal and financial security required for a proper 'green-red' balance, given the tools currently available.

The conclusions lead to the following recommendations:

research institutions will demonstrate the social benefits of green quality;
municipalities will professionalise their decision-making procedures with respect to green quality;
central government will actively share the responsibility for the green quality of public space in the urban environments and for every citizen’s ‘right to green’;
provinces will promote the town-country relationship;
implementation of this advice will begin with the ‘Green Quality Incentive Office’.

Contact info

Council for the Rural Areas
Phone: +31 33 461 99 48
raad.landelijk.gebied@minlnv.nl

Publication date

25/06/2005

Article info
ISBN: 90-77166-20-3

Links

Council for the Rural Areas

Recht op Groen (PDF, Dut, 2.2 MB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Urban environment > Urban renewal

Keywords

City centre development