Although Groningen takes first prize, Emmen is in second place. They are the healthiest cities in the Netherlands.
The consultancy and engineering organization Arcadis has made an inventory of the health of 25 Dutch cities. Groningen, Emmen and Apeldoorn came out as the top three.
Five different factors were compared by the researchers: whether the city has a healthy built environment; whether a city is bicycle and pedestrian friendly and has a good public transport network; whether the city has healthy outdoor space; what about the air quality, noise pollution and heat stress and whether there is enough room for social interaction.
Amsterdam, Zaanstad and Rotterdam ended up at the bottom of the list. Nevertheless, all cities have become healthier in the past two years, but some have progressed more slowly than others. Utrecht and The Hague are also low on the list, in fourteenth and sixteenth place respectively.
The explanation for the improvement in healthy cities over the past two years is that more people have started walking due to the corona crisis. As a result, the public space is divided differently. In addition, working from home also makes people want a more attractive living environment. This ensures that cities invest in improving the green in the city. Finally, parking lots are increasingly being moved to the outskirts of the city and roads are being narrowed to encourage cycling and walking.