Amsterdam Maps Greening Opportunities for Climate Adaptation

- The "Koele Groene Stratenkaart" is a key component of Amsterdam's broader Green Vision for 2050, which aims to ensure residents are a 10-minute walk from a park and a 15-minute bike ride from a nature reserve. This initiative is designed to create ecological corridors that connect existing parks and nature areas, thereby enhancing biodiversity. A core principle of the program is that residents should have access to a cool place in the public realm within a 300-meter walking distance. - The map not only identifies locations for greening but also specifies which "guide species" (important local animal species) each ecological connection is intended to support, ensuring that designs are tailored to the local ecosystem. This is part of a larger strategy that includes creating new urban forests and parks to improve the city's livability for both people and animals. - This tool integrates various data sets on heat, green spaces, and paved surfaces to provide a comprehensive decision-making framework for street-level interventions, which was previously lacking. It moves beyond simply adding greenery by considering the specific needs of different areas; some streets may require wadis for water retention, while others might only have space for green facades. - Amsterdam's focus on greening is a response to the urban heat island effect, which can make the city more than five degrees warmer than surrounding rural areas, with nighttime temperatures being particularly impacted. Research in Dutch cities shows that increasing green vegetation cover has a quantifiable cooling effect. - The initiative aligns with national and European policies, including the Dutch National Climate Adaptation Strategy (NAS) and the European Green Deal. The Netherlands' national spatial planning policy, outlined in the Spatial Vision on Infrastructure & Spatial Planning (SVIR), delegates the preservation of green spaces to the provincial and municipal levels. - This project is part of a comprehensive approach to climate adaptation in Amsterdam, which includes other initiatives like the "Amsterdam Rainproof" program for stormwater management and the RESILIO project that is creating 10,000 square meters of smart blue-green roofs in climate-vulnerable neighborhoods. - The Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security, and Nature, in cooperation with the recently re-established Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning, champions a "Green in and around the city" program. This program provides guidelines and shares best practices with local governments to foster green and healthy living spaces. - To support such greening projects, Amsterdam established a €75 million Amsterdam Investment Fund for climate, sustainability, and air quality projects. The city is also one of 13 in the Netherlands to implement the i-Tree software suite, which helps quantify the benefits of trees, including heat reduction.