Ah! This is the meaning behind the tiles with a blue forget-me-not in Rokkeveen

Have you ever seen them opposite the Rokkeveen shopping center? Tiles with a blue forget-me-not on them, which together form a path. Maybe you’ve walked past it a few times without even thinking about it. But did you know they have a special meaning?

The colored tiles look cozy in the street scene of Zoetermeer, but they are not just decoration. They are there to remember elderly people with dementia.

Signposts or art?

The flowers together form the Forget-me-not path. Gerjanne van Gink, one of the designers, explains that the path was created in 2017 during the project ‘Dementia in the Public Space’set up by the Incentive Fund and the municipality of Rotterdam. “During our research, a woman with early dementia said that she no longer dared to go to the store because she was afraid that others would see that she no longer knew her way around,” says Gerjanne.

Origin of the Forget-me-not path

Together with landscape architect Sanne Janssen, she designed a crossing to create more awareness for elderly people who sometimes get confused. “We want to be able to take people with dementia into account at the pace of our city,” says Gerjanne. The Forget-me-not path is also intended to give people with dementia the opportunity to take a daily walk and keep moving, alone or together with an informal caregiver or grandchild.

Do-It-Yourself

You can also request a Forget-me-not path yourself. On this website read how it works and what it costs.