Amsterdam, Netherlands
City population: 1006832
Duration: 2016 – ongoing
Implementation status: Ongoing
Scale: Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level, Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Project area: unknown
Type of area: Central Business District / City Centre, Building
Last updated: October 2021

The Knowledge Mile Park initiative in Amsterdam aims to transform the long, busy and traffic-heavy street in downtown Amsterdam into an environment greener, more sustainable and more livable through the implementation on various Nature-based Solutions (9). Smaller projects include the creation and maintenance of pocket parks, green walls and facades, green roofs and living labs. The idea of the initiative came from the Knowledge Mile Community that aims at making Amsterdam more green, clean and smart by means of innovative solutions regarding air quality, climate change resilience, biodiversity and social cohesion. (1) municipality of Amsterdam and the business investment zone BIZ Knowledge Mile are working together with partners on the realization of the project (9) The project is still ongoing, although parts of the Knowledge Mile Park are already created in 2016 including one living lab, two green roofs, a green canopy and a pocket park and other parts are planned such as the smart green wall (1)

Knowledge Mile Park
Source: https://degezondestad.org/projecten/21/knowledge-mile-park

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Nature on buildings (external)
  • Green roofs
  • Green walls or facades
  • Grey infrastructure featuring greens
  • Alley and street greens
  • Parks and urban forests
  • Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces
  • Green areas for water management
  • Rain gardens
  • Sustainable urban drainage systems

Key challenges

  • Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Water management (SDG 6)
  • Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Environmental quality
  • Air quality improvement
  • Waste management
  • Regeneration, land-use and urban development
  • Regulation of built environment
  • Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Environmental education
  • Social interaction
  • Health and well-being (SDG 3)
  • Creation of opportunities for recreation

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Maintenance and management of urban nature existing green areas

Project objectives

1. To turn the longest street in Amsterdam into a green and sustainable environment (9) 2. To make the environment greener, more sustainable and more livable on the street (9) 3. Ensure a livable and future-proof city though green spaces accessible for all citizens acting as a recreational area or meeting spot (9) 4. Improve the city's resilience and ability to adaptation through storing CO2, lowering local temperature, air filtration and the sustainable management of storm water retention (1,4,10) 5. Increase urban biodiversity through diverse green areas attracting and providing a habitat for various animals (1,10) 6. Create the first PET bottle-free street in the Netherlands and the Waste Savings Program - ensure less waste in the street and use the ones circularly (6) 7. Improve knowledge on climate change adaptation solutions by means of living labs [1,7]

Implementation activities

Various projects are realised to achieve the goal-setting of the Knowledge Mile Park. These projects are about greening public spaces, green facades and green roofs (9). Installation of green facades (11) Installation of rooftop gardens and green roofs with Polder roof sustainable rainwater drainage system (11) Installation of green walls including one that is also a living lab (1,2) Roof lab, which is a living lab on top of the HvA (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences) on which green solutions and innovations are experimented. (7) Creation of pocket parks, and street greens (2,3) Organisation of events such as Roef (Rooftop Festival) and knowledge sharing activities (1)

Climate-focused activities

Climate change adaptation:

  • Increase or improve urban vegetation cover to help reduce outdoor temperature
  • Implement green walls or roofs to lower indoor temperature and provide insulation
  • Implement sustainable urban drainage infrastructure (e.g. to make space for water)

Main beneficiaries

  • Local government/Municipality
  • Private sector/Corporate/Company
  • Researchers/University
  • Citizens or community groups

Governance

Management set-up

  • Co-governance with government and non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Local government/municipality
  • Non-government organisation/civil society
  • Private sector/corporate actor/company
  • Researchers/university
  • Citizens or community group

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
  • Co-management/Joint management

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The Green Knowledge Mile or Knowledge Mile Park (refer to the same) was initiated by De Gezonde Stad (The Healthy City, NGO) and The Knowledge Mile Community with the Municipality of Amsterdam and BIZ Knowledge Mile as lead partners and several other collaborators as citizen groups, businesses (including the We The City and Royal Dutch Airlines), a bank (Rabobank), civil society organizations (including Waag Society) and the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences) (1) The specific NBSs are implemented by some of these actors under the guidance and coordination of De Gezonde Stad. For example, the first pocket park was designed and created by citizens and the living lab is created and run by the University of Applied Sciences and both are guided/supported by De Gezonde Stad (1,2)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? No
... a national policy or strategy? No
... a local policy or strategy? Yes ('Gebiedsplan 2017 Stadsdeel Oost, Oud-Oost' (Area Plan 2017 City Area East of the Municipality of Amsterdam) (8) which specifies the most important aspects which the municipality of Amsterdam will be focusing on in this part of the city.)

Financing

Total cost

Unknown

Source(s) of funding

  • Public local authority budget
  • Corporate investment

Type of funding

  • Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)

Non-financial contribution

Type of non-financial contribution
  • Provision of labour
  • Provision of expertise
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
  • Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
  • Other

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Climate change
  • Lowered local temperature
  • Enhanced carbon sequestration
  • Environmental quality
  • Improved air quality
  • Reduced noise exposure
  • Water management and blue areas
  • Improved stormwater management
  • Green space and habitat
  • Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Increased green space area

Economic impacts

  • Unknown

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Improved liveability
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Improved physical health
  • Improved mental health
  • Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
  • Cultural heritage and sense of place
  • Improvement in people’s connection to nature
  • Increased awareness of flora and fauna as culturally and historically meaningful
  • Increased appreciation for natural spaces
  • Education
  • Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits

Type of reported impacts

Expected impacts, Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Yes

Presence of indicators used in reporting

Yes

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

Yes

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

Yes

References

1. De Gezonde Stad. (n.d.). Projecten. Knowledge Mile Park. Website not available
2. Unknown. (n.d.). Knowledge Mile Park. Website not available
3. Amsterdam Creative Industries. (2016). Opening Ruyschtuin – Park om de hoek – 19 oktober 2016. Accessed on November 2, 2020, Source link
4. De Gezonde Stad. (n.d.). Park om de hoek. Website not available
5. De Dakdokters. (n.d.). Daktuin Zoku. Accessed on November 2, 2020, Source link
6. Amsterdam Rainproof. (2016). Knowledge Mile. Accessed on November 2, 2020, Source link
7. Amsterdam Rainproof. (2016). Daklab. Accessed on November 2, 2020, Source link
8. Gemeente Amsterdam. (2017). Gebiedsplan 2017 Stadsdeel Oost, Oud-Oost. Amsterdam: Municipality of Amsterdam. Website not available
9. Knowledge Mile Park. (2020). Introduction - Knowledge Mile Park. Greening and sustainability together. Accessed on November 2, 2020, Source link
10. Knowledge Mile Park. (2020). The value of green - interview. Accessed on November 2, 2020, Source link
11. Knowledge Mile Park. (2020). Projects. Accessed on November 2, 2020, Source link
12. Rooftop Revolution. (n.d.). Knowledge Mile Park. Accessed on November 2, 2020, Source link
Knowledge Mile Park
Source: https://knowledgemilepark.nl/knowledge-mile-park/introductie/over-groen/
Knowledge Mile Park
Source: https://knowledgemilepark.nl/knowledge-mile-park/historie/#KMP