“During our year as Capital of Culture of Europe in 2018 and during the preparation for that in the years before, our city became a laboratory for creativity on the challenges in our city and region. That ranged from two weeks of fossil-free driving (don’t talk about it, just do it and see what happens) to embodying circularity in all of our cultural actions and using festivals as breeding grounds for innovation. We did all that in the context of a huge cultural program with terrific events, that attracted millions of extra visitors to Leeuwarden.

The regular visits of the Eco-Acupuncture program, with professors Chris Ryan and Michael Trudgeon with their masters students, were a perfect fit in our mid-sized city-labaratory. We like to experiment in our city planning, using the principles of Eco-Acupuncture, with the many aspects of culture and the philosophy of “shared space”.

Eco-Acupuncture enhanced sustainability in city planning and delivered inspiration and ideas on crucial places in our city. Quite a lot of that inspiration has been embodied in plans we realised. As the mayor of Leeuwarden I am proud that our mid-sized city can be an example to all and I am very thankful for the work the Eco-Acupuncture program has brought to my city.

The Mayor of Leeuwarden,
Ferd Crone 2018.”