Amsterdam bans creation of new hotels
Another piece in the overall strategy to reduce tourist flows to the city
Exie, a company that does thermal insulation, announced it will plant 2.3 hectares with the crop
On 13 July, Exie, a company making thermal insulation announced it will plant 2.3 hectares of industrial hemp on Ghent’s Zwijnaarde island, to produce tons of carbon-negative building materials. Around 3.5 million energy-efficient and recyclable cannabis plants will dot the area around a couple of derelict construction sites and the E40 highway, providing the city with a circular product, capable of storing CO2.
Exie – a company specializing in hemp-based insulation is seeding a number of abandoned industrial estates along the E40 with lime hemp. This hemp variety is completely legal and is praised for its special quality as a sustainable building material. At the same time, the plant is non-mind-altering, which means there is no need to worry about poachers.
The area where the industrial hemp is sown, Source: City of Ghent
Furthermore, the plants grow to about three meters in 100 days, making them very effective at controlling the natural growth of weeds, severely reducing the need for chemical management of the plantation.
Lime hemp is energy-efficient, recyclable, free of toxins, CO2-negative and completely bio-degradable. It also serves as a perfect CO2 sink, since when the plant is harvested and re-purposed it is not burned.
Exie is now starting to sow the hemp plants so that they can be harvested in the fall, perhaps in October. After harvesting, they will make beer from the flowers and insulation from the hard parts of the stem. The process of creating the insulation is ludicrously simple - the fibres are separated then lime is added and the mixture is dried in just half an hour.
A total of 2.3 hectares of land will be planted, good for about 3.5 million plants. Depending on the future plans for the derelict plots, it will be later assessed whether the cycle will be repeated next year.
If you want to keep up with how European cities and regions are changing, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The building will then serve as the site for a new museum dedicated to Finnish-Russian relations
Another piece in the overall strategy to reduce tourist flows to the city
The previous mayor was forced out of office following a no-confidence vote in the city council
In addition, the federal government has launched the National Week of Action against Bicycle Theft to raise awareness of the issue and the new solution
The facility will replace the need to have water supplied by tankers from Valencia
Modern traffic lights do more than regulate the flow of vehicles at crossroads, they also collect enormous amounts of data
Italian cities and regions continue experimenting with creative proposals to curb overtourism effects
In addition, the federal government has launched the National Week of Action against Bicycle Theft to raise awareness of the issue and the new solution
The initial legislation didn’t include these public areas as restricted places for smoking pot
Italian cities and regions continue experimenting with creative proposals to curb overtourism effects
The building will then serve as the site for a new museum dedicated to Finnish-Russian relations
You can see it in a church in the city’s northern districts and it’s larger than a basketball court
Urban dwellers across the EU are having a say in making their surroundings friendlier to people and the environment.
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
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