Arnhem Nijmegen

The Arnhem-Nijmegen Green Metropolitan Region - virtual host of the 2020 Annual POLIS Conference - is a large metropolitan area in the east of the Netherlands consisting of 18 municipalities with more than 800.000 inhabitants. The region is strategically located on the Rhine-Alpine corridor between the Dutch Randstad and German Rhein-Ruhr metropolitan areas.

Tens of thousands of homes will be added to the Arnhem-Nijmegen Green Metropolitan Region in the coming years. As a result, mobility will also grow in terms of both persons and goods. This will put increasing pressure on the available mobility network, including roads and railways. Sustainable mobility is therefore becoming more and more indispensable. The Arnhem-Nijmegen Green Metropolitan Region is therefore committed to fast, comfortable, safe and clean travel.

Emphasis on cycling remains one of the region's policy priorities. That's why the region has been selected to host the 2017 Velo-city Conference. Moreover, the city of Nijmegen is National Cycle City 2016 and has won the European Green Capital Award 2018.

In recent years the region has built several fast cycle routes, such as those between the cities of Arnhem and Nijmegen (Rijn-Waalpad). On this route the number of cyclists has grown by 43% in recent years to 2,150 cyclists per working day. All rapid cycle routes in the region show an average 29% growth.

Fast cycle route RijnWaalpad between Arnhem and Nijmegen

In addition, the region is increasingly developing activities and innovations in the field of e-mobility. The eHUBs project for example has proved an effective way of encouraging active travel in the region- supporting shared and electric mobility to foster cleaner, shared and more sustainable transport. The region has furthermore focused intently on sustainable commuter travel over the last several years, with campaigns such as 'SLIMspitsen' which was started to encourage people to travel outside of rush hour or opt for bicycle, ebike or public transport- instead of the car.

Sustainable freight is also high on the agenda. The region is a hotspot for (international) logistics and sustainable mobility solutions, situated between the European hinterland and Netherlands’ two most important mobility and shipping hotspots: Schiphol and Rotterdam.

Clean city distribution with e-cargobike in Arnhem

The region is active in EU funded projects, and has been involved in E-BUS 2020, LNG pilots on the Rhine and Waal rivers, CLINSH, H2 Nodes (Arnhem hydrogen tanking facilities), E-FACTS (Electric Vehicles For Alternative Transport Systems), CHIPS, Climate Active Neighbourhoods and Velo-city 2017 Conference.

You can find out more on their website or follow them on Twitter and LinkedIn.