Utrecht, the Netherlands

Implementation, Impact and Replicability

How does the initiative demonstrate evidence of a track record of success against pursued objectives?          

In the Utrecht public health monitor, we keep track of a wide variety of figures. For example, we measure how the green facilities are assessed by the residents of the municipality of Utrecht. We can also view the health of the population in the different neighbourhoods in Utrecht.

https://www.volksgezondheidsmonitor.nl/groen-utrecht/page238.html

We measure different sustainability parameters for our whole city not for this specific initiative. The yearly report can be found here:

https://www.utrecht.nl/bestuur-en-organisatie/publicaties/onderzoek-en-cijfers/onderzoek-over-utrecht/duurzaamheidsverslag/.

Successes which this project has added to our objectives are:

• The biggest bicycle storage of the world
• Flowers for local wild bees

How has the initiative had a ripple effect beyond the scope of the initiative itself, thereby demonstrating a change in the city’s and/or its partners’ way of working with plants?

The initiative of the fish doorbell brings global attention to the migration problems of fishes.
With the project of green roofed bus shelters (these are placed in the Station area and throughout the whole city) we won a nomination for the European Bee Award.

How have other cities expressed interest in the initiative, or what potential does it have to interest other cities and be customised to their own circumstances?

Sustainable Development Goals

With our strategy for Healthy Urban Living for Everyone we also contribute to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs offer us an international language and an opportunity to share knowledge and contribute to a shared global agenda. In this way we can work together with cities worldwide on innovative solutions to make our city greener, more liveable and healthier for everyone.

With a local SDG Dashboard we create insight on how our local strategy for Healthy Urban Living for Everyone is connected to the 17 SDGs. That supports our efforts to mobilize additional investments such as the EU Green Deal and EU Cohesion Funds. We connect our public procurement policy to the SDGs supporting local entrepreneurs and buying social.