From your screen.. to peaceful green
The design of the Wageningen Campus is based on the linear structures of the surrounding cultural-historic landscapes such as lanes, wooden walls, hedgerows and ditches. In 2016 a plan was made to enhance biodiversity on Wageningen Campus within this basic design.
The plan takes into account which type of planting in which place is most suitable looking at the physical conditions and desired use of a location and the human perception of ‘nature’. With the help of WUR experts, ‘green’ advisors and students, 300 trees have been planted, an experimental garden called ‘The Field’ has been set up behind Vitae, a wetland variant of the natural gardens at Lumen has been laid at Atlas, and 10.000 m2 of meadow flowers have been sown. Experiments with semi-natural vegetations of flowering shrubs and mixes of ornamental and endemic plants have been set up trying to enhance flowering time and providing berries and nuts.
WUR aims to turn Wageningen Campus into a showcase and living lab for a resilient, climate-resistant, liveable, and healthy public space. Biodiversity, ecosystem services and stakeholder interactions are important elements in this ambition. This way, green design on campus differentiates between the tidy, intensely used parts for meeting and relaxation and more ‘rugged’ areas for biodiversity. Public spaces are designed to be nature-inclusive like green roofs (e.g. Lumen) and nestle opportunities in buildings (e.g. bat and sparrow). And has anyone ever told you that we have the world's first bio-asphalt cycle path and a green parking deck on our campus?
Want to know more about WUR’s green vision around the campus? Download the green vision paper in which we explain how WUR develops the campus into a public space with a healthy balance between intensively used places and room for nature.
Ways to explore our green areas:
- Go for a walk around campus and try to identify all the different plants
- Organise lunchwalks or walkmeetings with your team (perfect for social distancing!)
- Get involved in several student initiatives such as the Wageningen Student Farm
- Use the amphitheatre for your working groups, or ask your lecturer to get together outside
- We also offer guided walks around campus