Gas-Free district and Sustainable Communities

On October 12th, an event organized by WDW and Van Wijnen took place at the Nieuwe Buitensociëteit in Zwolle: Gas-Free district and Sustainable Communities. In the morning, the hall filled with municipal officials and housing associations, who were uniquely and musically welcomed by the day’s moderator, Femke Wolthuis. Together with colleagues Esther de Jager and Christiaan Logtenberg, a retrospective was given on the various results that WDW’s business development has achieved in recent years through different subsidy streams, such as the district Viewer (also known as ‘Simcity 2.0’).

Afterward, visitors followed their routes to various workshops. At the Circular Friesland Association, the focus was on collaboration. A panel discussion took place with representatives from the municipality, a housing association, and a resident, covering district approaches and related aspects. The Imagineers took a different approach and presented one of the new developments: the online visitor centre. This accessible and attractive tool is designed to guide and involve residents in the process of change.

“Believe in the power of self-organizing communities” was the key message of the workshop by Go with the Flows. Attendees were put to work on making the model district, the Eiland in Sneek, more sustainable in various areas. In Van Wijnen’s workshop, colleague Alco Liest presented another development: the Sustainability Compass. This sparked a meaningful conversation between housing associations and companies.

In addition to the workshops, attendees enjoyed inspiring stories from our guest speakers. Yora Rienstra spoke about staying calm in times of crisis, and Gerrit Hiemstra discussed how we should deal with climate change. The conclusion? View climate change as an opportunity and take action!

All in all, it was a fantastic day to celebrate where we currently stand with WDW. The new collaborations and lessons learned over the past years will be carried forward into future projects. Here’s to more gas-free districts and sustainable communities!