The City of Amersfoort
Amersfoort is a mid-sized city where people live well and have a decent income and good education. It’s nice. But too much municipal bureaucracy meant things were nice…and slow.
So in 2014, the city launched the Year of Change, a complete overhaul of all administrative processes and activities. It was a shift away from the “command-and-control” role of city hall to facilitating a process of shared responsibility and collective leadership — a collaborative city.
The experiment worked. Green space from an old hospital was turned into a new park by a group of citizens who worked 1,400 hours to bring the project to life. This project and others like it led to the full launch of the Year of Change as the city leadership began to realize that what was once inconceivable was a sustainable new way of city building.
Amersfoort also held a conference on this new collaboration approach and eventually created 10 city projects out of more than 100 ideas.
A decade later, the city is still making waves, having been named the 2023 European City of the Year award by the Academy of Urbanism in London.
According to the jury, Amersfoort won because the city focuses on the well-being of residents by, among other things, limiting car use and offering a diverse range of affordable and good-quality housing. There’s also no shortage of citizen-focused sports, education, and culture.
“Amersfoort benefits from a shared a long-term vision for the city which prioritises improving citizens’ quality of life. Well-resourced forward planning, development control, and regeneration teams enable this vision through detailed policies and impressive new infrastructure, while maintaining its unique heritage and character. ”
Sounds like a winning formula to us!