Greening the City: How to Get Rid of Garden Pavement! The ‘Steenbreek’ Program as a Dutch Example

Abstract

The Steenbreek program is a private Dutch program which aims to involve citizens, municipalities and other stakeholders in replacing pavement with vegetation in private gardens. The Dutch approach is characterized by minimal governmental incentives or policy, which leaves a niche for private initiatives like Steenbreek, that mainly work on behavioural change. The aim of this paper is to build a model based on theory that can be used to improve and better evaluate depaving actions that are based on behavioural change. We tested this garden greening behaviour model in the Steenbreek program. The main result is that the model provides an understanding of the ‘how and why’ of the Steenbreek initiatives. Based on this we are able to provide recommendations for the improvement of future initiatives. Steenbreek covers a wide range of projects that together, in very different ways, take into account elements of the theoretical framework; either more on information factors, or on supporting factors, sometimes taking all elements together in a single action. This focus is sometimes understandable when just one element is needed (e.g., support), sometimes more elements could be taken into account to be more effective. If a certain element of the framework is lacking, the change of behaviour will not (or will only partly) take place. The model also gives insight into a more specific approach aimed at the people most susceptible to changing their behaviour, which would make actions more effective.

Transformation towards Green Cities: Key Conditions to Accelerate Change

“…On the macro level, policy on climate, ecology, housing, etc., is, alongside climate change, a driver for change on the longer term, and given the unexpected impacts on society, such as those brought about by the COVID pandemic [14]. On the micro level, changing behaviour of people [4] and their demands, alongside societal initiatives, such as self-management, puts pressure on the meso level, or, at least, demonstrates alternative options. The meso level is also changing, which can be understood as incremental change [13].…”

“…In the paper by Stobbelaar, Van der Knaap, and Spijker [4], a theoretical model of greening gardens is described. It shows that on a micro level a combination of subsystems (garden functions in this case) is needed to ensure a transition towards greening gardens.…”

“…Vegetation in cities disappears, for example, through new housing, including through the infill of 'empty' spaces; adjusting of infrastructure; paving of squares with stone or cement; and the construction of business parks. Moreover, many people are also tiling their gardens [4]. In recent years, many Dutch municipalities have cut back on municipal green space and its maintenance.…”

“…Based on the previous section, we believe that the social tipping elements in greening the city are: transport, climate (water), liveability, housing, and green structure (ecology). For instance, an extreme flooding event caused by extreme rainfall can act as a cue for action [4] to change routines in all mentioned subsystems. That means that cities should be prepared to act on these possible triggers.…”

Reading Urban Green Morphology to Enhance Urban Resilience: A Case Study of Six Southern European Cities

“…To overcome this issue, different top-down and bottom-up methods to incentivize householders into a "wildlife-friendly" management of gardens could be applied. For instance, in addition to regulation, municipalities may influence the behavior of inhabitants by showing a good example or by actively involving citizens and local associations, supporting private or community proposals on public green spaces, and helping them in defining local actions that householders can take to reduce negative impacts and implement the urban ecological framework [59,62,63].…”