Green Vision for Assen

The green city of the north

Assen has the ambition of becoming the ‘green city of the north’ by 2040. Our Green Vision sets out the route to achieve this goal. It is based on three times ‘I’: the Improvement of the greenery; the Interconnection of the greenery; and the Increase of the greenery.

Location

Assen

Principal

Gemeente Assen

Surface Area

8345

Design Year

2023

Implementation

2024-2040

Assen is strengthening its ambition for the years ahead to become the ‘green city of the north’ by 2040 by implementing a new green policy. Our Green Vision sets out the route. It is based on three times ‘I’: the Improvement of the greenery; the Interconnection of the greenery; and the Increase of the greenery.

Assen is getting there: becoming a green city – Assen was declared the greenest city in the Netherlands in 2023 – means working hard to keep it green as well. There are challenging developments in the city such as urban renewal, the modernisation of industrial sites, and major transformation tasks, such as that for the Havenkwartier. In addition, there is the need to respond to the consequences of climate change, energy transition and the decrease in biodiversity. This is why the city is pushing ahead with its ambitious environmental vision with a new green policy: the Green Vision. The Green Vision that we drew up shows which challenges confront Assen in the years ahead and how greenery will be deployed to face up to them.

We have incorporated six themes in the Green Vision that describe the various challenges and the local authority ambition in this respect. The three I’s –the Improvement of the greenery; the Interconnection of the greenery; and the Increase of the greenery – are embodied in the approach to the challenges and ambitions: . 

  1. A green, interconnected network.
  2. Attractive, diverse and easily accessible green zones<br>
  3. Healthy residential, work and shopping zones<br>
  4. Future-resistant and accessible outskirts.<br>
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These challenges and ambitions lead to down-to-earth, more direct actions, as well as charting the direction in which the local authority intends to work in the coming twenty years. We have drawn up principles for each component that set out the route for projects and secondary elaborations.

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