Square turned into attractive & climate-proof, green heart of the neighbourhood
Cromvliet square in the Laak district used to be characterised by asphalt, fences and limited green. Over recent years, the municipality has joined forces with local residents and a community association in order to turn the square into a nature-based and pleasant location full of activities for everyone to join. This has resulted in Cromvliet Community Park, an attractive and climate-proof park featuring an Urban Water Buffer with varied nature related activities, the new heart of the district.
Local
Netherlands
Municipality of The Hague
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Yes
NSCiti2S Interreg 2 Seas, period 2018-2023
No
Yes
2021-09-26
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Municipality of The Hague Type of organisation: Public authority (European/national/regional/local) First name of representative: Wiebke Last name of representative: Klemm Gender: Female Nationality: Germany Function: Sr policy advisor sustainable living environment & Project Lead NSCiti2S Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Spui 70 Town: The Hague Postal code: 2511 BT Country: Netherlands Direct Tel:+31 6 50051278 E-mail:wiebke.klemm@denhaag.nl Website:https://www.denhaag.nl/nl.htm
URL:https://naturesmartcities.eu/pilots/75 Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #UrbanGreening #GreenerCities #SustainableCities #SustainableLandscape #GreenInfrastructure #urbanwaterbuffer #climateadaptation #liveability #cocreation #community building #naturebasedsolutions #ecosystemservices
Like many European cities The Hague covers neighbourhoods, such as the Laak district, that are more vulnerable in terms of social and climatological sustainability. In their everyday lives residents face challenges related to housing, health and safety partly caused by the deteriorated and meaningless outdoor spaces in their neighbourhood. The municipality of The Hague started the redesign to transform the former Cromvliet square into a community park – attractive, climate-proof and inclusive. Throughout a continuous, still ongoing participatory approach, the new park has been designed, developed and managed by and for residents and local entrepreneurs. Now the park is home to a multitude of nature- and neighbourhood-related programs, such as an urban farm and local kitchen garden, a stage for performances, a tearoom and many sports and play facilities for children of all ages. At the same time an Urban Waterbuffer, integrated in the park design, closes the local water cycle: it turns rainwater from roofs, streets and sidewalks into a local source of freshwater to keep the public space climate-proof and green. After heavy rainfalls it collects, naturally purifies and stores water in the deep underground, that can be reused in times of heat and drought to irrigate the vegetation in the kitchen garden and urban farm. The result is Cromvliet Community park, a new beating heart of the Laak district, in which nature-based solutions provide a pleasant and climate-proof living environment. The park offers plenty of space for encounters, sports and nature education year-round. It invites various of activities, individual involvement and community events that strengthen health and wellbeing of residents as well as ownership, the sense of belonging and local entrepreneurship. Since the opening, the Cromvliet Community park acts as a showcase of urban regeneration related to social and climatological sustainability in our municipality and beyond in the Netherlands.
Climate-proof and nature-based solutions
Regenerating the local freshwater cycle
Co-design and community building
Attractive, inspiring living environment
Combining social and environmental sustainability
The municipality sought to create a new community park; a pilot project in terms of climate-responsiveness and biodiversity, and at the same time in terms of enhancing liveability in the neighbourhood. The original square was problematic due to heat stress during summer which made it an unpleasant place to be. At the same time the new park needed to be capable to collect and storage for re-use; not only to irrigate the park’s vegetation during summertime and as such mitigate heat but also to provide local freshwater to irrigate the vegetation of the urban farm and kitchen garden.
For this purpose, the innovative and award-winning system of the Urban Waterbuffer (UWB) was integrated in the park design. It collects surface- and rainwater from roofs, streets and sidewalks and turns it into a local source of freshwater. The UWB is composed of a 70 m³ crate system to temporarily store rainwater. The water is then led to a 30m² biofilter where it is naturally filtered. Subsequently, the cleaned water is infiltrated to a 35,000m³ deep underground aquifer about 15 á 20 meter below the surface. During warm periods the water can be pumped up and used to irrigate the urban farm’s vegetation and the park’s local kitchen garden. With this system the municipality managed to disconnect 7000m2 surface on ground level from the sewer system. In cooperation with the housing corporation Staedion additional 1000 m2 of roof tops are disconnected. It is the first realised UWB in a public place, also, the first to infiltrate both rain- and surface water.
Together with the UWB the green character of the park was realized. This includes the planting of 70 additional trees and 2000 m2 extra greenery, the construction of a nature-inclusive riverside with native species and separation of the urban farm and kitchen garden by beech hedges. As such Cromvliet Community park became a park that enhances the climate-responsiveness, biodiversity and liveability of the neighbourhood.
The new community park was designed to improve liveability of the neighbourhood. For that reason, residents, entrepreneurs and school kids were involved to collect ideas on how their future park should look like and which activities they would like to experience. In a co-design process, the green and traffic safe character and the functionalities of the park were defined: to become a place for residents to meet, stroll around and sit. In addition, it needed to provide room for schools and clubs to organise activities. Accordingly, the new park design offered the desired programme with a natural park experience and plenty of space for encounters. The park design invites movement, activities and events that strengthen social cohesion and the sense of belonging. In terms of safety, the surrounding roads have been narrowed and some sidewalks have been replaced with sections of plants, flowers, and hedges. In the new park design offers encounters in various ways; residents are encouraged to actively get in contact with each other and with nature. A multitude of neighbourhood- and nature related programs, such as the urban farm with its nature education programmes, the kitchen garden for individual residents as well as for school classes, as well as sports and play facilities offer something for everyone in the neighbourhood. Visitors can experience nature: trees changing in the seasons, vegetables growing in the kitchen garden and water burbling in the biofilter of the Urban Waterbuffer. The winding paths converge in the central park heart, a little square with a stage for local performances or small events of the neighbourhood. The beautiful design of stage out of wood and steel was nominated for the Dutch steel price award in 2022. When visiting the park nowadays one can see from the hustle and bustle how happy residents are with their Community Park. It is a dream, a wish and imagination of what the residents had in mind.
The Laak Distict is one of the more vulnerable neighbourhoods in The Hague in terms of social and climatological sustainability. In their everyday lives residents often face challenges related to housing, health and safety partly caused by the deteriorated and meaningless outdoor spaces in their neighbourhood. Also, most of its inhabitants do not have, or have little private outdoor space. Therefore, the redevelopment of the former square is fully aimed at transforming it into a pleasant place to stay for the whole neighbourhood and improving their quality of life. Consequently, the transformation was a common task for the whole community together with the municipality. We put in great effort to include all local parties into the co-creation and community building process. Through the Community Association Coalition Laak and its residents panel of 30 local participants we were able to involve residents that would normally not been as keen to participate into a municipal participation process. In addition, public activities have been organized on the spot to reach the widest audience of future customers of the park (in terms of age, cultural and social background) and create the greatest possible support and sense of ownership among local residents. The input from the local community is realized in many aspects in the final Cromvliet Community Park. For example, the introduction of a podium that can be uses by everyone for local performances or other activities described in the next textbox for question 10. The Community Park became the new, green heart of the neighbourhood where residents can meet, accessible and affordable for the whole community. The improvement of the quality of the public space and the community building though the co-creation process with inhabitants and local entrepreneurs has given an impulse to the entire district and strengthen it socially and economically.
Following up on the social inclusion (question 9) residents were involved in the entire redevelopment to the maximum, they acted as co-client. The intensive cooperation process was organized by the Coalition Laak community association with a neighbourhood broker in the lead and a residents’ panel of approximately 30 residents. Those residents were the ‘ambassadors of the neighbourhood’. As such Coalition Laak acted as a mediator between residents and local entrepreneurs and the local government. The objective was to have the plan implemented by parties that are as close and locally to the park as possible.
The park design was initiated by the municipality of The Hague, Coalition Laak Community Association and the Landscape Architecture office Sant & Co. From the beginning, the landscape architects held meetings, individual interviews, and workshops in order to include the ideas and wishes of the local residents in a co-creation process. The Coalition Laak and the residents’ panel have been (and still are) meeting on regular basis. During the realization phase the municipality could easily learn abouts challenges in the neighbourhood related to the building site and respond to it. After realising the park, the participation of local residents continued: A park prevention team has been appointed that keeps an eye on what is happening in the park, where necessary, they address people about their behaviour and ensures safety and order. Another local resident runs the tearoom in the urban farm, where in the afternoon many mothers meet with their kids. Like that the park has fostered community building and engagement in the neighbourhood, for example in the vegetable garden, in tearoom and urban farm or in organizing event on stage. But also health and well-being of local residents are improved, with more pleasant places to stay, play and sport in the park with also a tap with drinking water.
Strong cooperation with different stakeholders from various levels was crucial for the success of the project. Before we have extensively described how local residents were involved. Furthermore, the municipality was in the lead and coordinated together with the Coalition Laak Community Association. Also the housing cooperation Staedion joined the collaboration. The added value was double: to disconnect roofs of their assets from the sewer system (mitigate damage during heavy rainfalls) and connected with the new Urban Waterbuffer (UWB), store more local freshwater and re-use it during summer time.
On a regional level the water board Hoogheemraadschap Delfland was involved, since they are responsible for al surface water in The Hague. New knowledge was developed when connecting the UWB to the surface water of the adjacent waterway; both in terms of technology of the UWB and through intensive monitoring about water quality and – quantity. Also Dunea, the regional Drinking water company, was involved also for knowledge development, but also to add a drinking water tap in the new park. Both parties were involved from the start also to ensure monitoring, maintenance, and safety issues on the long term.
On a national level, the award winning Cromvliet Community Park was extensively presented as a reference for climate adaptation in urban areas. To this end we collaborated with the national organisation for climate adaptation or the national commissioner for climate adaptation to mainly sharing knowledge and profiling the results of the project.
On European level we collaborated with academic and city partners form Lille (France), Bruges, Antwerp (Belgium), Kapelle (NL) and Cambridge, Southend on Sea (UK) within the NSCiti2S Interreg 2 Seas consortium. The added value was a rich exchange of knowledge in terms of technology, governance and communication as well as the development of the Nature Smart Cities business model.
Within the project the key was to work trans-disciplinary and multi-departmental from the beginning. Within the municipality expertise from different departments were involved: (1) Urban Development, including the disciplines of urban planning and landscape architecture, (2) City Management, including biologist and hydrologist as well as experts for nature/biodiversity, environmental education, (3) City Residents Service with neighbourhood consultants, (4) Business Operations Service including financial, subsidy and communication advisors. Externally, we engaged with designers, landscape architects, engineers and scientists from Technical University of Delft/ VP Delta, a valorisation platform. In the process, two trajectories started parallel and were combined when the Urban Waterbuffer (UWB) was included in the redesign process. On one side, designers, experts in water, biodiversity/ nature and communication were engaged in the co-design and community building trajectory. Here professional knowledge from the municipality was combined with the experiential knowledge of residents and other local stakeholder. On the other side, technicians, water experts and designers were involved in the technical installation of the UWB. During the process both groups continuously informed each other and eventually the UWB was integrated in the design. Especially the collaboration between landscape architectures, the technicians and hydrologists, the neighbourhood broker and communication were key: to make a complex problem like climate adaptation or a technical system like the UWB understandable for everybody. Clear communication in terms of text and illustration is vital, from the design of the building bord until the spatial design of the park. Continuous interaction between disciplines enables bridging knowledge gaps between residents and professionals, and between experts from different disciplines to create new common public space that is sustainable, attractive and inclusive.
The Cromvliet Community park is an example for the physical transformation in a built environment that contributes to the regeneration of natural ecosystems, in particular the freshwater cycle, and biodiversity. An important dimension here was the use of nature-based solutions, including substantial enhancing of greenery in this public space and well as the integration of the innovative Urban Waterbuffer in this public space. The park is not only greener, but also more climate-proof guaranteeing the attractiveness and functionality as meeting place for the whole neighbourhood year-round and on the long term. Individuals and communities meet here, can sport and play and come closer to each other and experience nature.
All in all, the development of the new Cromvliet Community Park acts as a flywheel for knowledge related to social and climatological sustainability. In our municipality the park became the reference project for climate adaptation and co-creation, which are becoming more mainstream in urban projects. Through the ongoing monitoring process the municipality is also building up knowledge with external partners about the urban freshwater supply on the long term. The knowledge gained is also shared with local residents to make them more aware of the city's water system. During the opening event with many attractions for local residents in September 2021 there was much attention on and information about climate adaptation in general and the special technological solution of the UWB realized in their neighbourhood
This success is also seen from a wider, national audience. Cromvliet Community Park was nominated for the award “Zonnetje” from the National Deltacoalition in 2021 and won the national award for the most climate adaptive project “Steenbreektrofee” in 2022. Also the project is extensively presented as a reference for climate adaptation in urban area on the national website for climate adaptation.
Compared to mainstream actions this project is unique in its integrated approach to reach added values for multiple objectives (social and climatological sustainability) and the realisation of an Urban Waterbuffer in a public space financed by an EU subsidy. A trans-disciplinary approach with a strong co-creation and community building part with local residents enabled us to bring together knowledge and experience from different disciplines with often underrepresented experiential knowledge from the daily lives of the local community. Experiences, wishes, ideas from residents were included in the design process. Also, the strong multi-departmental approach inside the municipality was vital for this integrated approach. This approach enabled us to contribute to connect sustainable, social and technological parts of society and this way tackling multiple challenges at once. In mainstream projects often there is less space for co-creation processes and close, continuous collaboration with the local community. The role of the Community Association was unique compared to works in other districts. The Urban Waterbuffer (UWB) itself is a technological innovation, in which the knowledge of natural sciences, water engineering and design in combined. The UWB in Cromvliet is the first UWB realized within a public space for the common use. Its design is a closed freshwater cycles, based on the natural water cycles which we bring back to the urban context. For the first time the UWB infiltrates both surface water and rainwater, which is a technical innovation on its own. Mainstream projects often have a less innovative character due to limited budgets, limitations through (partly outdated) policy documents and rules and limitations in time and space. In this project the membership in an EU subsidy project brought advantages that enabled us to make use of the momentum and go beyond the normal and well-known here. Check the enclosed pdf ‘Lessons learned’ for more explanation.
In this project we applied a transdisciplinary approach; a vital collaboration between a variety of disciplines within and outside the local government and with local stakeholders such as residents, entrepreneurs and school classes. This approach is extensively described in pervious explanations.
A process with so many engaged parties needs a clear and tight organisation on one side and the willingness and open mind of all parties involved on the other side. The starting point is defining a common objective – what type of park do residents want and what aspects are important for the municipality? - including the residents as co-clients in the process. Incorporating their wishes and ideas produced the Community Park with happy users and engaged residents as it is now. Of course, not all problems are solved at once. But starting from the local community built we continue working on challenges such as garbage and waste left in the park together with the local park keeper.
Investing in good relations and continuous communication, announcing expectations, tasks and failures with all parties enable a fruitful cooperation on the long-term. It is very important to enter the process with an open and flexible mindset. Dare to go along if others come up with ideas that do not immediately tally with your expectations.
Elements of the methodology, technology and process from this project can easily be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and context. We know that in The Hague, in other Dutch but also other European municipalities feasibility studies for Urban Waterbuffer (UWB) are ongoing. For example, we co-organise a national knowledge event hosted at the Cromvliet Community park in February 2023. And interested technical engineers from Southend on Sea (UK) will come to visit us and learn more about the UWB and the holistic park approach. This is vital because climate adaptation and fresh water supply are challenges for cities globally. In terms of technology, the solution for both, climate adaptation and liveability – a greener, climate-responsive park with a can be adjusted to other situation and thus applied in other cities with similar social and environmental sustainability issues. Also involving a Community Association, like Coalition Laak, can be replicated elsewhere as a mediator between residents that are difficult to engage in public space projects and the local government. The long-term operation of the UBW will be checked through a monitoring program to guarantee safety and to learn lessons for follow-up projects. The knowledge gained is shared with other cities but also with local residents, to make them more aware of the water system in the city. They are informed about the principle of retaining, storing, and reusing water. The residents are then involved in retaining water on a smaller scale, for example by using rain barrels and greening the private gardens. All in all, the development of the new Cromvliet Community park works as a pilot project for knowledge regarding social and climatological sustainability. This can be replicated in other areas. That said, the municipality is more than willing to share experiences on methodology, technology, process and learnings with other interested cities throughout Europe and the world.
Climate change affecting disadvantaged neighbourhoods in EU cities disproportionally and aggravating socioeconomic issues, while urban authorities fail to use the potential of green areas for climate change adaptation and social inclusion. This challenge is addressed in the Cromvliet Community Park in Laak district in the Dutch city of The Hague, an area a) facing socioeconomic challenges, b) disproportionally hit by climate change effects (urban heat and flooding with extreme weather events) and c) has a need for fresh water supply. Parks/green areas can offer solutions to both climate change adaption, fresh water supply and social issues when sustainability, aesthetics and social inclusion are combined holistically. The Cromvliet Community Park shows that contributing to all identified challenges on the local is possible. Of course, the note needs to be made that monitoring all dimensions is needed to guaranty the positive development on the long term. Monitoring enables urban authorities to learn, adjust/ adapt and scale-up with the lessons-learned in other projects in order to contribute to a world more sustainable, beautiful and inclusive!
