News

Leiden to develop 'Sustainable Kilometre'

By 2025, the area around Leiden railway station will become the Most Sustainable Kilometre in the Netherlands. That’s the goal of residents, businesses, local government, the water authority, and the Zuid-Holland provincial government, who plan to put various green solutions into practice there. The city and province have called PosadMaxwan in to help. We will work with the parties to determine which steps toward sustainability they can take now and in the coming years. On Wednesday 6 June, at the Provada property trade fair, 22 parties signed the “Green Deal”, launching the community of like minds who will work together on the project.

The Most Sustainable Kilometre will link Stationsplein via the railway station and Schipholweg to the beginning of Willem de Zwijgerlaan. Over the coming years, this complex, dynamic environment will metamorphose into an attractive place to live, work and play, centred on a key transport hub. This will be accomplished partly through demolition and new construction and partly through transformation. The project presents an opportunity to make the area around the station a healthy, livable part of town. To help direct the parties’ efforts, six promising sustainability business cases are being developed:


–        Solar energy for all
–        Keeping the land dry
–        Smart heating and cooling
–        Clean transport sharing
–        Zero waste
–        Varied green spaces

 

More information on the business cases is available in Dutch at duurzaamstekilometer.nl, a digital platform for the growing Most Sustainable Kilometre community.

 

PosadMaxwan has identified opportunities for improving sustainability through workshops in which we discussed needs with the parties and other stakeholders. We are sketching a preview of how the next stage of the project might look, with research and additional conversations with local stakeholders giving rise to concrete, fundable projects. These will serve as a basis for realising the Most Sustainable Kilometre and provide building blocks for sustainable development.