From a single shaped green to an insect friendly park – Badhoevedorp (The Netherlands)

Introduction

The rerouting of motorway A9 meant that the village of Badhoevedorp was no longer cut in half. However, the space left behind is now the focus of a number of activities mostly resulting in a loss of green infrastructure. Together with a group of local residents and Vereniging Dorpsraad Badhoevedorp (the official interest group of the village), I have explored into the possibilities to enhance existing green. One of the projects resulting from this is the redecoration of the green along Papegaaienstraat.

Concept

To involve the local residents, the method of Placemaking has been used. Together with the municipality, a series of meetings with local residents were organized. During these meetings the local residents could indicate which aspects of the existing green they valued and which ones they didn’t like. Aspects taken into consideration were among other things attractiveness of the green, sense of security, accessibility and the offering of activities. During each meeting local residents were broken up into small groups to discuss and plot the results of the discussion on a map of the green. Based on these meetings, three concepts were drafted which were subsequently discussed with the local residents. During the presentation of the concepts, I gave a presentation about the various possibilities of planting.
After three meetings of discussing the available options, the local residents and the municipality came to a conclusion on the design. I took the final design and drafted a planting scheme.

Implementation

The green has an elongated shape that on one side borders a busy through road. The local residents opted for a physical shielding of the road with the aim of creating a park like atmosphere. We provided a number of options to shield the road. In the final design small hills were created on which shrubs are strategically planted. The hills sway round the existing trees and coming spring a wildflower meadow will be sown.
To make the green more attractive to both men and animals, along the length of the green various islands of greens have been created. These islands will be planted with perennials. The scheme consists of plants that are flowering all year round as well as using species that are insect friendly. To obstruct the view of the cars on the adjacent parking lot, a number of flower islands will be fitted with a privet hedge.
To easily walk from one side of the green to the other side, a number of shell paths has been constructed.

Client: Association Village council Badhoevedorp
Project type:  Redesign Park