Prague residents want to rename streets after “Lord of the Rings” characters
The Czech capital already has an island that has the same name as a Middle Earth realm
Interview with the Mayor of Roeselare, Belgium
Kris Declercq (born 1972) has been the Mayor of Roeselare since 2016. His administration has focused on retail, city-planning, communication and safety.
He obtained a Master of Law at KU Leuven and specialized in commercial and constitutional law at the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa). He has been advisor to Prime Ministers Yves Leterme and Herman Van Rompuy in the fields of constitutional law and local government.
In 2006, Declercq became a deputy-mayor for urban planning and economic development in Roeselare.
Besides his work as a Mayor, Declercq presides over ‘West-Vlaamse Intercommunale’, which unites 54 cities in Western Flanders and is member of the “Eurometropole” general assembly, a cross-border metropolitan area of more than 2 000 000 people.
Roeselare (more than 63 000 inhabitants) is situated in the heart of West-Flanders (Flanders-Belgium), near to the North Sea and French border. It is also the largest city of the Midwest, a region of approximately 240 000 inhabitants, and is a city characterized by many businesses in agriculture and horticulture: we call ourselves 'The Food Valley' because almost a quarter of all Western European frozen food production comes from our region.
Roeselare is connected by train, highway and water to the rest of Belgium and Europe. Also, we make part of the Eurometropole, a cross-border metropolitan area of more than 2 000 000 people.
My policy has always been based on 'investing in people', meaning quality of life, solidarity and entrepreneurship are central, combined with a fair and efficient administration. By investing in smart people, the transition to a smart city, new technological developments in the field of digitalization, 'internet of things’ and new communication tools can also be realized.
Roeselare is known in Flanders as one of the shopping cities, entrepreneurship is part of our DNA. Here, too, we need to anticipate international trends that are bringing about change: a changing consumption landscape, internationalization, jobs that are independent of time and place, automation and a gap between supply and demand in the labour market.
We developed a comprehensive plan to turn the 'high street' back into a lively meeting place: our knowledge centre and library (ARhus), cultural centres and shopping malls, spaces for children, and the replacement of parking spaces by green squares are all now integrated in the city centre. This experience means that our traditional commercial environment has also received a new boost.
But in times of online shopping this is a permanent challenge. Our plan has also inspired a number of cities in the UK, so we learn from each other at times.
Although Roeselare is a small town we also look beyond national borders. We actively participate in the Eurometropole, we have been an active partner of Eurotowns since this year and are increasingly valued as a reliable and inspiring partner in European projects.
Many young and old people are coming to live in our town, which has changed enormously over the past 10 years. This raises additional questions, such as: how to deal with space and how to provide more green spaces in our urban environment.
As a guideline we follow the 17 UN sustainable development objectives. In this way, we have provided our town with own energy through an underground 'heating network'. We invest in forest planting, and we ensure that high-rise buildings remain compatible with a city tailored to the needs of the people. In our mobility policy, too, we are realising a 'climate switch' by giving green mobility more opportunities.
Because we are in the heart of a large horticulture and agriculture area, a good and smart water management is of fundamental importance. Our ambition is to develop in the upcoming years a system with buffer basins, both public and private, and a high-performance platform fed by an intricate network of sensors for water levels and rainfall. This should allow us to intervene appropriately in periods of both flooding and water shortages.
Roeselare Town Council put a lot of effort into offering a hygienic and corona-safe environment in the city centre streets. In this way an effort was made to keep the core shopping area as attractive as possible, even in COVID times. We call it SAFE shopping instead of FUN shopping, because we have transformed the public domain into a safe environment to walk and to shop with social distancing rules, alcohol gel dispensers, city guards, walking lines, etc.
Meanwhile, efforts were made to support the retailers. This involved offering advertisements free of charge, distributing voucher leaflets also free of charge, scratch card actions at horeca outlets, eliminating the terrace tax, Mother’s Day initiative, which turned into a ‘thank-you’ initiative to the care sector, offering gift voucher platforms, etc.
We also worked on setting up and promoting a 'Shop-local’ website, with a list of local merchants that offer take-aways or pickups or work with a web shop.
Efforts were also made to continue organising the weekly market safely.
The funding possibilities in the Shop#VANRSL programme and De Geziene Vitrine (‘The seen storefront’) were strongly promoted among the retail owners and interested start-ups.
The Care and Health Agency advises, in addition to basic hygiene precautionary principles, to also take measures for ventilation in classrooms. This could help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The CO2 concentration in the air is an indicator of the indoor air quality. Measuring CO2 concentration in classrooms can be an indicator to the need for ventilation in a classroom.
This possibility for support was examined.
A survey of the coordinating principals shows that all schools are prepared to raise awareness among schools and teachers but investing in CO2 meters for each school and classroom is not financially feasible. Some schools have already purchased a number of devices. And all the schools are asking for extra CO2 meters for use in school buildings.
In addition to making CO2 measuring devices available, a specific measurement plan will also be necessary to correctly analyse and interpret measurements in order to be able to take appropriate responses. This is the responsibility of each school and school board.
It is important for those measurements to take into account the environmental conditions (external temperature, wind, whether windows are open or not, etc.) in order to be able to make the correct analysis. Which actions are necessary to go below the CO2 threshold value? Are they organizational (e.g. opening windows more) or technical (e.g. infrastructural adjustments)?
In urban educational buildings, CO2 measurements were started. It was found that, on one hand, this contributes to awareness among teachers to ventilate the classrooms more. On the other hand, this creates expectations for the local government as an organizing body with regard to adjustments in the infrastructure of school buildings (classrooms that score poorly). The school boards must be aware of the effect that the measurements can have on the monitoring and action plan.
Every campus in Roeselare (primary education, secondary education and higher education) received a package with
I would like to mention two of these. First and foremost, I am extremely proud of the enormous progress that we as a town council have made in recent years in terms of public services, both externally and internally.
In addition, I am also pleased that we have made great strides with regards to the quality of life in the town, both in terms of infrastructure and its human dimension.
To be more precise, in terms of external services:
In terms of internal services:
When it comes to liveability, the advances in infrastructure include:
Finally, for the progress in human dimension there is:
Such administrative penalties are also applied in other regional legislatures plus the Bundestag
Allegations of his criminal misdeeds came to light after his burial, so the parish authorities had to find a way to redress the situation
Read on to find out what the average price per square metre was in February
Presenting the next chapter in the Dutch capital’s ‘Stay Away’ campaign aimed at rowdy tourists
The City says this has become a necessity due to the increasing number of incidents involving these vehicles
That way you can notify a canal lock keeper to open the gates so the animals can swim through
Forests in the EU can help green the European construction industry and bolster a continent-wide push for architectural improvements.
A recent study showed how these energy efficiency projects make the living habitat more…livable
Allegations of his criminal misdeeds came to light after his burial, so the parish authorities had to find a way to redress the situation
Read how Europe’s most grandiose springtime celebration has evolved throughout history
Presenting the next chapter in the Dutch capital’s ‘Stay Away’ campaign aimed at rowdy tourists
A recent study showed how these energy efficiency projects make the living habitat more…livable
Forests in the EU can help green the European construction industry and bolster a continent-wide push for architectural improvements.
Apply by 10 November and do your part for the transformation of European public spaces
This one could be a real game-changer for our built environments and the way they look
Catch up with some recommendations for the 2024 European Capital of Culture programme from the mayor of Tartu
An interview with the ICLEI regional director for Europe аfter the close of COP28
An interview with a member of the No Hate Speech Network team