Municipality of Middelburg
Coordinating the Vision
As the lead partner of the Cool Neighbourhoods project, the Municipality of Middelburg oversees the project’s overall direction and financial management. Middelburg plays a vital role in ensuring the effective coordination of activities, fostering collaboration among North West Europe partners, and driving the project’s shared vision of creating more liveable, resilient urban environments.
A key responsibility is managing communication and dissemination efforts, ensuring that the knowledge and results generated by the project are shared widely across participating regions and beyond. This helps maximise the impact of the project and promotes the replication of successful strategies.
Tiny Maenhout, the primary contact for Middelburg, ensures seamless collaboration among partners, aligning local activities with the broader project goals. In addition to its leadership role, Middelburg contributes to local pilot activities, providing valuable insights into sustainable urban planning and community engagement.
By combining strategic oversight with practical implementation, Middelburg exemplifies leadership in creating greener, cooler, and more sustainable neighbourhoods.
SIOEN
Innovating with Smart Textile Solutions
SIOEN brings its cutting-edge expertise in technical textile solutions to the Cool Neighbourhoods project, contributing innovative materials like shade sails, façade membranes, and its vertical garden system, Greentexx®. These solutions are specifically designed to meet the unique cooling needs of urban neighbourhoods.
Led by Dr. Benny Pycke, SIOEN’s team of experts will provide technical support and guidance to pilot partners, helping them develop and implement sustainable cooling interventions. These include air purification, wind reduction, rainwater buffering, adiabatic cooling, mental health improvement, thermal insulation, and even extending the lifespan of buildings.
SIOEN’s involvement does not stop at providing materials. The company will work closely with the pilot partners to ensure that each project’s transformation is long-lasting, cost-effective, and provides maximum benefits for local residents. By collaborating with partners from cities like Antwerp (BE), Goes (NL), Wimereux (FR), Differdange (LU) and more, SIOEN ensures that the pilots are both affordable and technically sound, delivering a strong return on investment (ROI) for the communities involved.
City of Ettelbruck
Greening Public Spaces for Heat Resilience and Community Wellbeing
The City of Ettelbruck, led by Dr. Sacha Oberweis, is committed to enhancing urban resilience by integrating green zones into public space design. As part of the Cool Neighbourhoods project, Ettelbruck is undertaking a pilot project to transform a 12,000 m² car park into a green area.
This pilot, located in a floodable zone, follows the City’s circular economy principles, with existing materials reused onsite or at other locations. The project aims to reduce urban heat by increasing green surfaces and de-hardening public spaces.
The impact on air quality and urban cooling will be monitored through data collection and surveys, extending beyond the project’s lifetime to ensure long-term insights. The pilot will also contribute to the Cool Neighbourhoods business model and liveability index, with citizens engaged through surveys and workshops to gather valuable feedback on the improved public spaces.
City of Differdange
Promoting Urban Greening through Vertical Gardens
The City of Differdange, Luxembourg’s third-largest city and a member of the PRO-SUD association, is committed to enhancing urban resilience through its Cool Neighbourhoods pilot project. Led by Luc Arend, the city will install a vertical garden on the wall of a primary school in the city centre. This initiative aims to mitigate heat stress and promote sustainable urban greening.
The pilot project will be coordinated by a member of the city's ecological service, who also oversees the "Mission Net Zero" initiative in Differdange. The city will work closely with PRO-SUD to ensure the project's success, contributing to Differdange’s broader efforts towards sustainability and ecological innovation.
Province of Antwerp
Leading Training and Empowerment
The Province of Antwerp (PoA) plays a crucial role in the Cool Neighbourhoods project by taking the lead on training and empowerment efforts. As a key player, PoA will coordinate with various partners to ensure the delivery of high-quality outputs. Drawing on its strong network of local governments and stakeholders, PoA will guide the needs analysis to ensure the training modules are effective and well-targeted.
Led by Magali De Wachter, PoA will design climate adaptation training programmes, using its extensive experience in delivering similar trainings to local governments. These modules will be tailored to address real-world challenges and translated into practical solutions that can be applied in local communities.
PoA will also prepare a pilot implementation plan for the PoA pilot, conducting measurements to assess the impact of the interventions on heat stress and building performance. With its expansive network of local authorities, PoA will ensure that the project’s communication, dissemination, and replication efforts are maximised, helping to spread the project’s results across other regions.
University of Antwerp
(Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development)
Pioneering Liveability Strategies
The University of Antwerp, specifically its Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, plays a vital role in the Cool Neighbourhoods project by leading efforts to make liveability a cornerstone of urban heat stress mitigation. Dr. Wito Van Oijstaeijen will spearhead the development of strategies and tools aimed at implementing effective mitigation measures tailored to urban environments.
As the leader of this initiative, the University will focus on creating a neighbourhood-specific Intervention Catalogue and a Cost-Benefit Model (CBM) tool. Collaborating closely with partners such as HZ, Except, and Middelburg, the University will ensure that these resources are grounded in practical applications and aligned with the project’s objectives.
In addition to its leadership role, the University will contribute to inventorying liveability indicators and establishing baseline metrics for monitoring these indicators. This information will be essential for feeding into both the Intervention Catalogue and the liveability index, which form part of the broader liveability strategy for municipalities.