JUSTGREEN Local Stakeholder Meeting - City of Ghent
The City of Ghent is a partner in the INTERREG EUROPE project JUSTGREEN. JUSTGREEN’s mission is to weave social equity into urban greening and climate adaptation strategies, aiming for green spaces that are not only ecologically sound but also socially just and beneficial to all residents - especially the most vulnerable. The JUSTGREEN project started on April 1st 2024. And we had a great start in Ghent!
As part of the JUSTGREEN project, all 7 partners regularly engage with their local stakeholders to ensure that greening policies reflect the actual needs and perspectives of citizens. On September 12th, 2024, the JUSTGREEN Ghent team held its first local Stakeholder Meeting. The diverse mix of participants included parties involved in greening initiatives, as well as representatives from social and health sectors and social housing corporations.
The stakeholder group started off with getting to know each other, followed by an introduction to the JUSTGREEN project and the city’s current greening strategy, the Green Structure Plan. The stakeholder group reflected on this strategy and its experiences with the city’s greening initiatives, using the JUSTGREEN Scorecard as a guide. Throughout the meeting, both sectors, the social as well as the spatial/ecological sector, exchanged thoughts and perspectives on greening, talked about good and less satisfactory examples, and already started thinking about how they could improve certain aspects, such as participation strategies.
In preparation of this local Stakeholder Meeting, on September 4th, the Service for Greenery also invited other city services from social and spatial departments. The objective of this meeting was to bring together as much as possible existing knowledge within the city, and also think about the way city services can work together on this theme, improving overall interdisciplinary cooperation within the city. Also, some suggestions to involve new stakeholders were made. This was a productive step towards fostering interdisciplinary cooperation within the city’s services.
In both sessions, critical remarks were made, but there was also a lot of enthusiasm to continuing greening the city, and whilst doing that, looking for new partnerships to better involve stakeholders and their target groups, and sharing knowhow and expertise.
Several seeds for new cooperation were planted, and we are looking forward to see the trees that will grow out of it!