The China Mail - 'Green cities' focus of largest Dutch garden expo

USD -
AED 3.673035
AFN 71.323752
ALL 89.53094
AMD 391.220403
ANG 1.790208
AOA 916.000367
ARS 1072.780296
AUD 1.655081
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.766685
BBD 2.011533
BDT 121.061023
BGN 1.786617
BHD 0.376648
BIF 2961.474188
BMD 1
BND 1.332099
BOB 6.885493
BRL 5.844604
BSD 0.996193
BTN 84.992526
BWP 13.874477
BYN 3.260694
BYR 19600
BZD 2.001147
CAD 1.42285
CDF 2873.000362
CHF 0.861312
CLF 0.025108
CLP 963.503912
CNY 7.28155
CNH 7.295041
COP 4213.53
CRC 503.907996
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 99.605696
CZK 23.045604
DJF 177.720393
DKK 6.808204
DOP 62.907224
DZD 133.33904
EGP 50.555986
ERN 15
ETB 131.300523
EUR 0.91245
FJD 2.314904
FKP 0.762682
GBP 0.776096
GEL 2.750391
GGP 0.762682
GHS 15.48644
GIP 0.762682
GMD 72.139607
GNF 8645.949925
GTQ 7.693185
GYD 209.183137
HKD 7.774655
HNL 25.577483
HRK 6.871704
HTG 130.793752
HUF 364.387873
IDR 16744.473258
ILS 3.741565
IMP 0.762682
INR 85.338154
IQD 1306.506853
IRR 42336.988543
ISK 130.567142
JEP 0.762682
JMD 157.094395
JOD 0.70904
JPY 146.96104
KES 129.238254
KGS 86.692362
KHR 3971.595158
KMF 445.147581
KPW 899.928114
KRW 1451.374019
KWD 0.307615
KYD 0.83156
KZT 501.917416
LAK 21606.921497
LBP 89544.522786
LKR 295.184792
LRD 199.781411
LSL 18.739948
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.82245
MAD 9.516652
MDL 17.902827
MGA 4631.875059
MKD 56.260592
MMK 2099.545327
MNT 3504.730669
MOP 8.010542
MRU 39.660628
MUR 45.370989
MVR 15.441096
MWK 1732.00408
MXN 20.42675
MYR 4.442621
MZN 63.8826
NAD 18.739948
NGN 1536.123004
NIO 36.754903
NOK 10.75864
NPR 136.60505
NZD 1.786368
OMR 0.384952
PAB 1
PEN 3.666345
PGK 4.106218
PHP 57.053122
PKR 279.986588
PLN 3.82525
PYG 7937.001208
QAR 3.640374
RON 4.504564
RSD 106.000243
RUB 84.082892
RWF 1417.183198
SAR 3.750373
SBD 8.499278
SCR 14.328056
SDG 600.377285
SEK 9.989435
SGD 1.334705
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.750371
SLL 20969.501083
SOS 569.677964
SRD 36.564761
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.75037
SYP 13001.416834
SZL 18.739948
THB 34.107305
TJS 10.883523
TMT 3.497769
TND 3.055277
TOP 2.408314
TRY 37.99602
TTD 6.752072
TWD 33.07735
TZS 2654.318194
UAH 41.285264
UGX 3652.036928
UYU 42.304314
UZS 12908.018961
VES 70.043118
VND 25805.374257
VUV 123.606268
WST 2.823884
XAF 593.530108
XAG 0.033794
XAU 0.000329
XCD 2.707263
XDR 0.753961
XOF 593.530108
XPF 107.975038
YER 245.884458
ZAR 19.097504
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 27.959236
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    69.0200

    69.02

    +100%

  • SCS

    -0.0600

    10.68

    -0.56%

  • NGG

    -3.4600

    65.93

    -5.25%

  • GSK

    -2.4800

    36.53

    -6.79%

  • BCC

    0.8100

    95.44

    +0.85%

  • RELX

    -3.2800

    48.16

    -6.81%

  • RYCEF

    -1.5500

    8.25

    -18.79%

  • CMSC

    0.0300

    22.29

    +0.13%

  • VOD

    -0.8700

    8.5

    -10.24%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    22.83

    +0.7%

  • RIO

    -3.7600

    54.67

    -6.88%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    22.71

    +0.22%

  • JRI

    -0.8600

    11.96

    -7.19%

  • AZN

    -5.4600

    68.46

    -7.98%

  • BTI

    -2.0600

    39.86

    -5.17%

  • BP

    -2.9600

    28.38

    -10.43%

'Green cities' focus of largest Dutch garden expo
'Green cities' focus of largest Dutch garden expo / Photo: © ANP/AFP

'Green cities' focus of largest Dutch garden expo

Dutch King Willem-Alexander on Wednesday opened the gates to one of Europe's largest gardening fairs, a once-in-a-decade show focusing this year on how to make cities greener.

Text size:

But critics have denounced the show, which features displays by 200 participants from 25 countries, as a "money pit" that has massively over-run its budget.

The Floriade 2022 exposition, which runs until early October, is expected to draw more than two million enthusiasts to the central city of Almere.

The Floriade 2022 shows "what a green city could be like in the future... what kind of materials could be used for this and what role the horticultural sector could play in it", said its curator, Annemarie Jorritsma, a former mayor of the city.

"On top of that, when the show is finished it will be a fantastic residential area," she told AFP.

Each decade, a different Dutch city gets to host the gardening extravaganza. Almere, the latest, is a city that was itself created by the Dutch by draining part of the former Zuiderzee bay to reclaim land.

As well as being a showcase for Dutch horticulture, each participating country has its own pavilion.

China's is showing "new ways of using bamboo", said Jorritsma. Italy is focusing on permaculture, while France shows how metallic imitations of trees can be used to cool cities.

The German pavilion is decorated with plants including garden plants, trees, food crops and wildflowers to form a "living ecosystem whose appearance would change throughout the exhibition", organisers said.

"The Floriade is the best place to show what countries have to change their cities," Detlef Wintzen, one of the exhibitors at the German pavilion, told AFP.

- Cost controversy -

The event has however been criticised for budget overruns that threatened its very existence.

Dutch media have reported that Almere has significantly over-run its 10-million-euro budget ($10.8 million) for the project.

Financial daily Financieele Dagblad estimated that costs could be as high as 200 million euros -- with losses of up to 100 million -- but said there was a "thick fog" hanging over the official costs.

First held in Rotterdam in 1960, the organisers of the last three Floriades -- 1992, 2002 and 2012 -- have all been criticised for losses totalling millions of euros.

And some media reports have even suggested that this could be the last-ever edition of the show.

Almere -- the country's youngest city -- plans to have a "green residential area by the water" after the end of the Floriade designed by Dutch architect Winy Maas.

Some 660 homes will be built in the "Hortus" district, many of them made from durable materials such as moss and mushrooms.

An imposing colourful building in the middle of the exhibition will eventually serve as social housing, and "floating homes" are also planned.

Members of the public can visit the Floriade from Thursday onwards.

H.Au--ThChM