Greening the grey: The greenest cities

What does it mean to be green?

By being green we are choosing to create more sustainable habits for ourselves and our future generations. A green city actively encourages and provides sustainable lifestyles for communities and rapidly responds to climate change. These cities might implement things such as recycling programs, increased bike lanes and cycle schemes, community and pocket parks, and water quality standards.

Take a look below at some of the greenest cities from around the globe.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is well known for its commitment to cycling with it being the main mode of transport in the city, but did you know it also has an abundance of parks and green spaces making it one of the greenest cities in Europe? Vonderpark and Oosterpark are well known public urban parks in Amsterdam set over 47 hectares they are definitely worth a visit! The Netherlands has also committed to providing 50% of the country’s electricity through sources such as wind and solar by 2025.

Berlin

Like Amsterdam, residents in Berlin choose cycling as their preferred transport. The city embraces urban and sky gardening to produce local produce. Berlin also has an abundance of green spaces, parks and woodland, in fact it has in excess of 2,500 parks and gardens and 440,000 trees! In 2019 the city launched ‘Sustainable Meetings Berlin’ this was implemented to give event planners a dedicated platform for organising green and sustainable conventions in the city.

Stockholm

In 2010 Stockholm was the first city to receive the European Green Capital award; it became an international role model thanks to its many dedicated years of environmental and climate action programmes. To maintain green credentials the city set an ambitious goal that all public transport by land would be operated with 100% fossil free fuel in 2025, this goal was reached in 2018, mass generating fuel from sewage creating Biofuel, now widely available at petrol stations and used by many of the cities taxis, buses and cars.

Madrid

The authorities in Madrid have set out a strategic plan to use plant power to tackle climate change in the city; green roofs are being installed on buildings, larger buildings are also being fitted with solar panels and they have set a ban on all diesel vehicles. A popular tourist location, Madrid also has 78 electric-powered buses to transport around the city.

Vienna

Vienna is lucky enough to consist of green space in almost half of the city boasting acres of parks and gardens. It is also home to many urban garden initiatives and vineyards. The vast majority of the city’s population also travel mostly via the city’s super-efficient transport system.