The Mayor of Almere in The Netherlands, will open the AIPH International Green City Conference to be held at One Great George Street in London, UK on 01 April 2014.
Mayor Annemarie Jorritsma, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Affairs in The Netherlands, has made the greening of Almere a priority for her administration. The city is planning rapid expansion and Annemarie Jorritsma will explain how she intends to use Green City concepts as well as the Floriade exhibition in 2022 to help her achieve her goals.
Further international case studies include:
Chinese Taipei – Monica Kuo from the Chinese Culture University in Taipei will show how theory has been put into practice to bring about real greening change in Asia. Monica has a deep grasp of the thinking behind the Green City concept and has monitored its results.
Australia – Dr Anthony Kachenko from Nursery Garden Industry Australia is one of the key players in the establishment of the impressive ‘202020 Vision’ campaign which is driving the nation towards having 20% more green space by 2020. Anthony has collated numerous case studies of how Green City concepts have been applied in Australia and the benefits that can be gained.China – Hongming Peng, Deputy General Secretary of the China Flower Association and the Eco-culture Association, will provide an overview of China’s approach to greening cities. In a country seeing significant urbanisation and industrialisation the talk will show how Green City concepts are being applied on a huge scale across the country.
United Kingdom – Mark Camley from the London Legacy Development Corporation will illustrate how the development and legacy of the Olympic Park can be used as an international example of city greening for the long term.
Other topics covered are: the importance of the domestic garden, the role of green planting in improving public health, calculating the financial benefit of green planting and the future for the UK’s Green Infrastructure Partnership.
Commenting on the programme Mike Kiely, President of the Planning Officers Society, said “Within the UK Government’s National Planning Policy Framework there is scope to stimulate more green planting within urban areas. I am looking forward to hearing how other countries have made this work and how we can make this happen during these challenging times.”
The conference, with the theme ‘Growing green and healthy places’ is aimed at planners, local authorities, health authorities, the construction industry, landscape architects, green space experts, landscapers and the horticultural industry. It is followed by a dinner on board HMS Belfast and delegates have the option of a pre-conference Green City tour on 31st March.
For more details and to book places visit www.greencity-events.org.
