KIWI Climate Excursion to Tilburg
- mwierda6
- Mar 28, 2023
- 2 min read

KIWIs are water management professionals who contribute to climate adaptation in international projects: they are trained for this in the KIWI Climate Game Changers program of the NWB Fonds. On March 16, 2023, a climate excursion was organized for the KIWIs in Tilburg, which was the hottest city in Europe in 2018. Since then, several projects have been implemented in Tilburg to green and cool the city. During the excursion, participants engaged in discussions about how projects come to fruition and what can be learned from these experiences for international contexts.

In the morning, the municipality of Tilburg guided the group of KIWIs through the city. Led by Mariëlle van Dalen, the group walked from the station to the Christoffel school, where the entire site is designed to be water-resistant. Here, the focus is on linking water education for children with community involvement as much as possible. During the group discussion, the collaboration between citizens and the government was explored, highlighting how they strengthened each other in this project.

Next, the walk continued towards Bernardusplein, a former paved parking lot, which has now been transformed into green spaces and retention basins (wadi's) in collaboration with the local community. Sander Kossen from the municipality of Tilburg explained that the initiative for this transformation came from the government, driven by a management question for the area. However, the housing corporation and local residents were actively involved. Together, they explored solutions for better rainwater management and making the living environment more sustainable, resulting in a new design for the area.

In the afternoon, Lucy Bathgate gave an inspiring tour of the Spoorpark. The participants were impressed by how one person with a vision made this transformation happen. The Spoorpark was converted from an old railway yard into a vibrant and climate-adaptive park through a cooperation of citizens and businesses. It serves as a textbook example of how bottom-up movements can create real change. The day was concluded with a group discussion on how to apply these examples in international projects, under the warm sun.
Good to know: KIWI stands for Climate and Innovation Program for Water Boards International. It is a two-year training program for water boards. The first group of participants completed the training at the end of 2022, with some delays due to COVID-19. The second group started in the fall of last year. Want to know more? Contact the program manager at NWB Fonds (Marion Wierda, email: mwierda@uvw.nl).