Nijmegen may be the oldest city in the Netherlands, but it punches above its weight in terms of environmental initiatives and sustainable development.
In the east of the Netherlands, only 10 km from the border with Germany, is Nijmegen, a dynamic and progressive university city.
This clean, compact city is the oldest in the country, and its number of green initiatives rivals that of Amsterdam, where residents prioritize quality of life and sustainability. Its historic center is car-free, it has 60km of cycling ‘superhighways’, its buses run on environmentally friendly fuel and there are schemes to encourage car-sharing.
Although no city can be 100% green, Nijmegen is making some of the boldest strides in Europe in this area. In 2016, they even decommissioned their coal-fired power plant and turned it into a solar park that houses 9,000 solar panels and two wind turbines that power nearly 400 homes in the city.
However, few outside the Netherlands have even heard of it.
“Nijmegen is called ‘Havana by the Waal’ in Holland,” said Margot Ribberink, a climate activist and the Netherlands’ first female meteorologist, referring to the mighty Waal River that bisects the city. “People here are very open.”
Nijmegen’s Grote Markt dates back to the 15th century, but the city was actually founded by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago (Image credit: AleksandarGeorgiev/Getty Images)
Ribberink and I met at the Grote Markt, a 15th-century cobblestone square in the center of Nijmegen, so she could show me how the city packs a punch. As we strolled past the traditional Dutch townhouses, I breathed in the clean, fresh air. One of the main streets – Lange Hazelstraat, the oldest street in the Netherlands – was filled with independent shops, vintage boutiques, vegan and vegetarian cafes. I was struck by the potted olive trees lining the litter-free streets, the people passing by on e-bikes, and the surprisingly few chain stores.
Nijmegen was awarded the title of European Green Capital in 2018, but its progressive roots go back much further. The city has a long history of student activity. It was a center of Dutch counterculture and protest in the 1960s to the mid-80s. In 1963, the Dutch national student trade union movement was founded by a student from Nijmegen named Ton Regtien. By the 1970s it had become a venue for other socialist gatherings such as women’s groups and communes. And today, its enduring values continue to thrive thanks to its large student body.
I fell in love with this city because of the people. Especially students who are also very concerned about the world, environment and climate
Ribberink came to Nijmegen in the 1980s to study biology. Here she met her best friends, as well as her partner, and they settled in Lent, a village on the left bank of the Vaal River. “I fell in love with this city because of the people,” she said. “Especially students who are also very concerned about the world, the environment and the climate.”
Nijmegen’s coal-fired power station has been decommissioned and is now home to solar panels and wind turbines (Image copyright Mischa Keijser/Getty Images)
“In Nijmegen there is a lot going on around sustainability and the environment,” she added. “Radboud University has put sustainability at the forefront of all relevant research areas, and business people in the city are actively trying to make our city more sustainable, healthy and green, including working together to become energy neutral by 2030 and creating opportunities for green mobility . and sustainable stores”.
When she told me about it, we arrived at Het Duurzame Warenhuis (department store), the first and only ecological department store in the Netherlands, which opened in 2014. The spacious store on the first level was a Zen-like space with white walls, low lighting and lots of natural, untreated wood. “We try to stock almost everything you need to live a less wasteful life,” explained shopper Lisette Hijink. “We mostly sell clothes, all of which are eco-friendly and fair trade… We have an eco-friendly hair salon and a fully vegan kitchen. Zero waste is one of our core values, and reducing waste in our business is also important, which is difficult, but we try.”
We got lost in the cobbled streets of Nijmegen for lunch at De Nieuwe Winkel , a gourmet vegetarian restaurant with two Michelin stars and one Green Michelin star. Opened in 2011, chef Emil van der Staak and his team create an experimental tasting menu of several meat-free dishes using a variety of herbs, roots, flowers, nuts and plants – some common, some less so – grown in a “food forest “. ” in the village of Grosbek, 13 km from the restaurant. If you don’t know what you’re looking at, this six-acre plot of land looks like an ordinary forest, overgrown with free-growing bushes and trees. But there is one main difference: everything in it is edible.
This is the first “food forest” of its kind in Europe and we are one of the few restaurants worldwide to collaborate in this way
“This is the first ‘food forest’ of its kind in Europe, and we are one of the few restaurants worldwide to collaborate in this way,” Van der Staak said. “The menu consists of over 400 different types of edible plants grown in the forest, such as peach, chestnut, walnut, pawpaw and Japanese plum.”
The Waal River is the longest river in the Netherlands, connecting the Rhine in Germany with the port of Rotterdam (Image credit: Frans Lemmens/Alamy)
Surprisingly full after my lunch of acorn seitan kebabs, sunflower seed risotto and other vegan delights, we boarded the Zonnetrein ( Solar train), a new and ecological mode of transport, which consists of two connected buses powered by solar batteries, which transport visitors along an ecologically safe route. excursions in Nijmegen. Looking out over the vast Waal River, which is the longest river in the Netherlands at up to 400 meters long, it was easy for me to see how it shaped the city both geographically and psychologically.
This is because living in Nijmegen goes hand in hand with the risk of flooding, so the effects of climate change cannot be ignored.
In 1995, the city experienced one of the worst floods in its recent history. The river burst its banks (or dams as they are called in the Netherlands), causing extensive damage and temporarily evacuating 250,000 people from their homes. After lengthy community discussions about how best to protect the city from future flooding, residents voted to create a river bypass, which led to the launch of a project aptly named Room for the River.
For centuries, the Dutch have dealt with river flooding by building dams to hold back the water. Instead, this new project worked from a stream of water, diverting it. For the dam to be effective, it was necessary to move and recreate some of the original river floodplain on the north bank of the river. This meant cutting through the village of Lent, where several houses were located, including Ribberinka.
Nijmegen was awarded the title of European Green Capital in 2018 (Photo: Frans Blok/Getty Images)
“The local authorities saw this as a chance to change the whole area, which meant clearing 56 houses, including mine,” Ribberink said. “Most people offered money to leave their houses for demolition. But our house is considered a landmark, so we decided to move it together. We put it on wheels and we moved it 1 km in one day. We were on local TV for a while.”
The result was a massive urban revitalization project that created a wildlife refuge, an urban beach and acres of recreational space where people can swim, take classes, listen to concerts and be outdoors, including a newly created central island filled with flowers. spring. The project, which Ribberink described as “the largest climate adaptation project in Europe”, proved that it is possible to improve infrastructure while respecting and taking into account the environment.
“The people of our city like the new environment, especially the island we have for recreation, but as a climatologist, I think we still need to be aware of fluctuating water levels,” Ribberink said. “We need to remember the summer of 2021, when there was a catastrophic flood in Germany, Belgium and South Limburg in the Netherlands. It may happen again in the future.”
Nijmegen is making great strides in sustainable development and is a great example for the rest of the world
She added: “Nijmegen is making great strides in sustainability and is a great example for the rest of the world. Room for the River has enormous power to influence other cities experiencing climate change, especially in how local governments engage the community in decision-making. Of course we were shocked to find out we had to leave our homes, but in the end everyone found a nice new place to live and are proud of how the area looks now.”
Wanderer: Konstantin Kryvopust
