Future Green City World Congress 2024 well attended and highly rated

From September 23 to 26, 2024, Utrecht was all about the future of green cities at the Future Green City World Congress. With more than 200 international experts and over 1,500 participants from more than 60 countries, the congress was a vibrant platform for innovation, collaboration and sustainable urban development. For four days, groundbreaking ideas and inspiring solutions for the city of tomorrow were shared.

The congress offered a wide range of activities, including keynote speeches, Workshops XL, Field trips XL and urban trails. Prominent speakers such as Kongjian Yu, known for his vision of sponge cities, Adriaan Geuze on iconic public spaces and Carine Saloff-Coste, who explained the transformation of Paris into a biodiversity hotspot, inspired participants. Besides listening, experiencing was central: during the Fieldtrips XL the participants visited inspiring locations such as the Spoorpark in Tilburg, the Amstel III office area in Amsterdam and the river park in Nijmegen.

Maarten Loeffen, director of the Koninklijke Vereniging Stadswerk Nederland, looks back with pride, "Our slogan 'We call it a congress, but it's an experience' has been fulfilled. We have created an experience that participants worldwide will take with them." Marc van Rosmalen, director of Koninklijke Vereniging van Hoveniers en Groenvoorzieners (VHG), also underlines the success: "The congress shows what that together with our partners we can get a movement going for a green healthy living environment. The enthusiasm of the visitors and the dialogue people entered into with each other is proof of that."

The conference emphasized the power of collaboration between green thinkers, civil engineers, policy makers and urban designers. Only through integral collaboration can urban challenges be effectively addressed. During the sessions and workshops, innovative solutions such as green spaces and technological advances in urban transformation were discussed at length.

Inspiring examples from around the world were featured in Siew Leng Fun's session. Tina Saaby gave insight into Copenhagen's green strategies, while Ben Wilson highlighted the important role of nature in urban areas. Marco te Brömmelstroet led a debate on reclaiming streets as meeting places and restoring the balance between cars and other users. Innovative projects, such as the vertical forest Wonderwoods in Utrecht, also provided an inspiring picture of the possibilities for urban greening.

The Future Green City World Congress 2024, organized by the Koninklijke Vereniging Stadswerk Nederland and Koninklijke Vereniging van Hoveniers en Groenvoorzieners (VHG), in cooperation with World Urban Parks (WUP), the International Federation of Municipal Engineering (IFME), AIPH and the Municipality of Utrecht, was a great success. The conference took important steps towards green and sustainable cities.

Visit the website www.fgc2024.com for a review of the conference and more information.