Green facades - Saint-Niklaas

The city of Sint-Niklaas (Flanders, Belgium) launched a call “Treat yourself and your neighborhood to a free green facade” in 2021, within which residents can apply for financial and technical support in creating green facades on their property. The goal of this action is to create green, pleasant and climate-proof streets through green facades to reconnect the city and its residents with nature. The city collaborated with a non-profit organization “Groene gevels” to plan for, involve residents and implement sustainable green facades (e.g. through the use of sustainable materials to provide a frame for climbing plants to grow on). After a technical and safety check of the location by the NGO, a participatory approach is applied in which residents are involved with the design and management of the green facades. The construction of such a facade garden is completely funded by the city; however, the residents are expected to be responsible for its maintenance.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Economic and fiscal instruments›Payments as rewards/for ecosystem services, subsidies, incentives

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Water management (e.g. reuse)
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Heat stress and heat island effect
Air quality
Social cohesion
Nature appropriation / stewardship
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

By engaging in facade greenery in a city, citizens can be inspired by the beauty and tranquility and benefit from improved urban aesthetics, wellbeing and social cohesion. Residents are responsible for facade maintenance, which stimulates increased stewardship. The project also promotes climate and environmental benefits, like extra cooling on hot summer days, an increase in biodiversity (insects and birds), better water infiltration and cleaner air. Furthermore, some species used for creating green facades can produce fruits or absorb noise, protect walls against rain, hail, frost, UV, etc. and contribute to building insolation. Residents living on gray streets have priority in the selection of receiving a free green facade.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

External building greens

Urban green space connected to grey infrastructure

Good practice characteristics:

Effective

Sustainable in the long-term

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Inclusivity

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

City of Saint-Niklaas

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

In order to green streets and transform gray facades, the city of Sint-Niklaas searched for a partner that had the expertise and technical skill to support them. The city came in contact with the NGO “Groene gevels” and started a collaboration. Together, they developed a plan for the city for the green facades.

Involvement of non-governmental actors:

Citizens or community groups / NGOs

Type of actor involvement:

Co-planning or co-design of instrument (e.g. boards, advisory role)

Expert task force consultation

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

In order to be eligible for a green facade, residents have to give permission to the municipality and be willing to take over the facade maintenance. Once selected, the residents are involved and asked to provide their views and ideas on the design of the facade. After completion, the residents are expected to maintain the green facade.

Type of non-governmental actors involved:

Citizen councils or consultation for co-planning (e.g. workshops, surveys)

Implementation of NBS (e.g. with government funds)

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs

Financing

Budget:

Unknown

Details about instrument financing:

The city funds the realization of green facades for a select number of residents. The residents are responsible for the maintenance of the facade, including all associated costs.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

The ONG monitors the planted green spaces by means of photos. En caso de que las plantas no crezcan como se esperaba, la ONG se propone corregirlo.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

Over 200 facades have been realized in Sint-Niklaas and 100 more are in progress. More green facades will be realized in the coming years as the city and the NGO has a contract until at least 2026 to support the implementation processes. 7 other municipalities have also collaborated with the NGO to support the realization of green facades in their cities. Additionally, if there is funding from the city, the NGO can organize workshops where citizens can learn about the construction of green facades (this was not the case in Sint-Niklaas). These citizens can then share their knowledge and support the construction of new green facades elsewhere.

Success factors and lessons learned:

The NGO ‘Groene gevels’ actively works together with municipalities. The municipalities provides (partial) funding for citizens to apply for a green facade through a project call and the association shares its knowledge and experiences and involves citizens in designing the facades. Furthermore, green facades need little ground surface and therefore they can be planted on many locations and provide several benefits. The NGO developed their own low-cost and sustainable constructions on which the plants can climb on. The plants will not grow directly on the wall and thus prevents the wall from being damaged by it. The green facades also require little maintenance, contributing to its longevity and sustainability. A learned lesson is that cities need to have a clear plan ready before launching the call that details who is responsible for what (such as arranging permits), how to communicate with citizens and in what order are actions conducted. Furthermore, municipalities should collect advice on technical aspects of the green facades before taking actions themselves to ensure good quality of the facades.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Groene gevels (2022) Main website. Available at https://groenegevels.be/ (accessed on 28-09-2022)

Sint-Niklaas (2022) Verwen jezelf met een gratis geveltuin. Available at: https://www.sint-niklaas.be/gevelgroen (accessed on 06-10-2022)

Sint-Niklaas (2022) Zelf een geveltuin aanleggen. Available at: https://www.sint-niklaas.be/onze-dienstverlening/natuur-en-milieu/verwen-jezelf-met-een-gratis-geveltuin/zelf-een-geveltuin-aanleggen (accessed on 06-10-2022)

Gemeente voor de toekomst (2022) Meer gevelgroen in het straatbeeld van Sint-Niklaas. Available at: https://www.gemeentevoordetoekomst.be/artikel/meer-gevelgroen-het-straatbeeld-van-sint-niklaas (accessed on 28-09-2022)

Interview(s):

Groene Gevels

Further documents

Weblinks:

https://www.sint-niklaas.be/gevelgroen

https://groenegevels.be

Photos

@Groene Gevels