With today’s mega-heat it is bad to stay in the city. Landscape designer Hanna Sierag explains what Alkmaar can do to make the stone jungle a bit more pleasant.
“7 degrees difference with the city center,” says Hanna, looking at the thermometer from the Singel in Alkmaar. “The trees in this area know how to retain a lot of coolness.” And that makes a difference of 7 degrees with the city center. With the heat of the last few days it is almost impossible to get rid of the heat there.
The green city
“Alkmaar is doing well in terms of landscaping, but especially outside the center,” says the landscape designer. “There are many parks that offer shade and cooling.” Stones actually retain heat.
To provide cooling, it is important that the trees have ‘dense crowns’, which means that there are many leaves on the trees. This provides shade, but at the same time also ensures that the moisture in the tree absorbs the heat.
Research by Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences shows that 10 percent more greenery in the city can save half a degree in terms of heat. Alkmaar takes this into account in its area development. For example, the municipality is planning De Laat shopping street a lot greener to make.
Not just cooling
Green in the city not only provides cooling, it also offers a space to meet each other and it promotes air quality and biodiversity. “And research shows that people stay healthier,” says Hanna enthusiastically.
In addition, a less petrified city – unlike Haarlem, which this year was proclaimed most petrified municipality of the Netherlands – also to prevent flooding. This is because water on, for example, a square, finds its way to the ground much less well than on a natural subsoil.
And that is important, says Hanna’s colleague Maartje Meijer. “Climate change is making the extremes more and more extreme. You have to deal with that when designing the city.”