Emmen is again the least attractive municipality to live in. This is evident from the Atlas for municipalities 2023which takes a closer look at the fifty largest municipalities.
To determine the attractiveness of cities, aspects such as employment, cultural offerings, safety and education are examined. All in all, municipalities in the Randstad dominate the top of the ranking. Amsterdam is at the top again, followed by Amstelveen, Leiden and Utrecht.
Atlas Research annually compares the fifty largest municipalities with each other on more than fifty points. When it comes to cooling in the vicinity of homes, Emmen is a positive outlier. This is where the largest share of homes are located less than 300 meters from a source of cooling.
Apart from Amstelveen, the Drenthe municipality also has “the largest share of green in the street”, the researchers report. In many other respects, Emmen scores low. Despite the abundance of greenery, the city is at the bottom of the list in terms of residential attractiveness.
The compilers of the list of municipalities point out that the combination of climate change and an aging population increases the value of “green and blue” in the neighbourhood. After all, water and vegetation provide shade and cooling. “The elderly are particularly sensitive to heat stress and will therefore greatly benefit from cooler streets in a changing climate.
Especially in times of ageing, in which it is also expected that the elderly will continue to live at home for longer, green and blue in the street can help to achieve that policy objective.
Most residents of Emmen do not agree with the last place in the ranking, as the reactions in the video below show. (Text continues below the video)