The Mayor of Almere in The Netherlands, will open the AIPH International Green City Conference to be held at One Great George Street in London, UK on 01 April 2014.
The conference, with the theme ‘Growing green and healthy places’ is aimed at planners, local authorities, health authorities, the construction industry, landscape architects, green space experts, landscapers and the horticultural industry. It is followed by a dinner on board HMS Belfast and delegates have the option of a pre-conference Green City tour on 31 March.
Further international case studies include:
Chinese Taipei – Monica Kuo from the Chinese Culture University in Taipei will show how theory has been put into practice to bring about real greening change in Asia. Monica has a deep grasp of the thinking behind the Green City concept and has monitored its results.
Australia – Dr Anthony Kachenko from Nursery Garden Industry Australia is one of the key players in the establishment of the impressive ‘202020 Vision’ campaign which is driving the nation towards having 20% more green space by 2020. Anthony has collated numerous case studies of how Green City concepts have been applied in Australia and the benefits that can be gained.
China – Hongming Peng, Deputy General Secretary of the China Flower Association and the Eco-culture Association, will provide an overview of China’s approach to greening cities. In a country seeing significant urbanisation and industrialisation the talk will show how Green City concepts are being applied on a huge scale across the country.
United Kingdom – Mark Camley from the London Legacy Development Corporation will illustrate how the development and legacy of the Olympic Park can be used as an international example of city greening for the long term.
The NFU is supporting the conference because it is the UK member of the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH). AIPH is a co-ordinating body representing horticultural producers' organizations all over the world. It was set up in Switzerland in 1948 to stimulate the international marketing of flowers, plants and landscaping services. Currently membership consists of 26 organisations from 19 countries.
The conference is also set to cover: the importance of the domestic garden, the role of green planting in improving public health, calculating the financial benefit of green planting and the future for the UK’s Green Infrastructure Partnership.
Commenting on the programme Mike Kiely, President of the Planning Officers Society, said “Within the UK Government’s National Planning Policy Framework there is scope to stimulate more green planting within urban areas. I am looking forward to hearing how other countries have made this work and how we can make this happen during these challenging times.”