Kim's Keen on Green #2
In this edition of Keen on Green, I wanted to give a little shout-out to the Dutch, who seem to be coming up with some wonderfully simple ways to make their cities greener.
One of my favourite accounts on Instagram, @SamBentley, recently featured a Dutch business that has developed an easy way to grow moss on buildings and concrete walls. Concrete absorbs and radiates heat, contributing to already-hot urban environments, whereas giving those surfaces a living green coating can help cool them down, while also filtering the air, absorbing carbon and releasing oxygen.
I’d love to see this kind of “greening” incorporated into new developments – but what I find particularly exciting is the potential for all those existing concrete walls and structures already around us. Imagine transforming some of those hot, bare surfaces into living green spaces that could help improve air quality and reduce urban heat.
And apparently, the Dutch aren’t stopping at walls.
The Netherlands also runs an annual competition encouraging people to remove concrete pavers and tiles from their gardens and communities. It’s called Tegelwippen, or “tile whipping”, and was launched in 2021 as a fun way to encourage the greening of urban spaces. By 2025, more than 11 million pavers had reportedly been removed.
Concrete pavers absorb and radiate heat, but replace them with trees, plants and garden beds and those spaces can instead help absorb rainfall, provide habitat for insects and other wildlife, and reduce urban temperatures. There’s a human benefit too – greener streets and neighbourhoods are simply more attractive and pleasant places to live.
Apparently, many of the removed pavers are collected by local councils, crushed and recycled into construction materials – hopefully destined for a lovely coating of moss!
There’s a serious purpose behind the initiative, though. Much of the Netherlands lies at or below sea level, making the country particularly vulnerable to flooding and extreme rainfall. Replacing hard surfaces with greenery allows more rainwater to soak naturally into the ground, taking some of the pressure off drainage systems during heavy downpours.
It all seems so wonderfully simple: less concrete, more green. And perhaps there’s something the rest of us could learn from that.
Sources and links if you need them:
Leave a comment