Leiden environmental vision 2040: space for high-rise buildings and greenery

The Leiden City Council produced a second version of the Leiden 2040 environmental vision. The original from 2019 was supplemented with previously missing topics and provided with maps showing where the municipality has planned green spaces, work and land. life.

“We have started discussions with the people of Leiden. It showed that our ideas weren’t always concrete enough. People see a lot of things being built and wonder if there will still be room for greenery in the city, ”says Alderman Fleur Spijker (Sustainable Urbanization). With the maps, the municipality wants to clarify its plans for the city.

The renewed vision is divided into four themes: green-blue framework, attractive business climate, sustainable mobility and soil as a foundation. Within these themes, the city council always indicates the options and conditions graphically and in text form.

Second ring
The vision of a “green-blue framework” describes that the municipal executive wishes to realize a second green ring outside the center. “We want to create a green border along the outlines of the city, which is connected to the city center by ‘rays’,” explains Spijker. With the second ring road and with more greenery in the city, the city council wants to fight climate change, boost biodiversity and encourage the people of Leiden to get enough exercise.

The text continues after the image.

Great height
The document includes a separate high-rise section. “We are talking about buildings over seventy meters. This is possible at four locations: LEAD, two lots in the station area, and the “west entrance” of the Holiday Inn. We can go a little higher up there, ”says Spijker. In the rest of the city, new construction is divided into two variants: up to fifty meters and between fifty and seventy meters.

The theme “sustainable mobility” describes the shift from car transport to public transport and cycling. The basement is at the heart of the “soil as a foundation” theme. Spijker: “Here, for example, we describe where the heating networks will be installed. And how we take into account plants and animals. “

Leiden Society