Publications

To encourage the people of Ghent to remove paving from their own private land, a desealing and rewilding brigade has been set up. The Courtyard Crushers are fully committed to making the process as hassle-free as possible and support residents with advice and assistance.

As much as 75% of the paved surface area in Ghent is privately owned. This means there is considerable potential for further desealing of the city. To help residents with this task, a desealing and rewilding brigade has been set up. It has been named Courtyard Crushers.The Courtyard Crushers are a values-driven organization with one clear goal: to remove as much paving as possible from small urban gardens and courtyards on private land. And yet they are more than that. Through desealing, they aim to foster connections and create a community - a network of people and organizations united behind a common goal: making the city more liveable by removing hard surfaces, increasing biodiversity and combating the heat island effect.This report consists of three parts:- The building blocks of the Courtyard Crushers: on the basis of which insights from research and experimentation has the Courtyard Crushers’ operation been structured? Who are the main target groups and how do they reach them? What are the core tasks and who are the main partners?- The practical and financial organization of the Courtyard Crushers and a description of a number of experiments designed to further refine these aspects. Themes explored in the experiments: cost, referral, types of projects and approach.- How is the Rewild the City budget being used for all of this?Important: this report is the result of the initial experiences within Rewild the City. It is a snapshot. Insights gained as the project progresses will certainly continue to influence the structure of the Courtyard Crushers.

How does Ghent inspire other cities across Europe? In the January edition of Ghent City Magazine, the city's more than 270,000 residents read about how this is happening through Rewild the City, as well as through numerous other European projects and exchanges.

Discover why Gothenburg wants to ‘do a Ghent’, how Zagreb is designing its biggest cultural hub inspired by Library De Krook and how Eurocities gives Ghent a strong voice at Europe’s decision-making table.

This quantitative study by Ghent University investigates barriers and drivers for desealing and regreening among citizens, with a specific focus on private outdoor spaces and public space desealing acceptance in Flemish urban contexts.

Flanders is one of the most sealed regions in Europe, with 15.3% of its territory paved. One-third of this sealed surface is privately owned, making homeowners a key target group for desealing actions. Although awareness of climate impacts is relatively high, the target of 1 m² desealing per person per year is not being met. Existing research on desealing is scarce. This study addresses this gap using three theoretical frameworks: Theory of planned behaviour (TPB), Protection motivation theory (PMT) and Value belief norm theory (VBN), focusing on 3 research questions: - How do citizens differ in their acceptance of public space desealing, depending on the type of space (parking lane, traffic lane, footpath)? - Which factors influence the intention to deseal private outdoor spaces? - Which factors influence citizens’ acceptance of civic responsibility for desealing? What motivates or discourages people from taking action? The study demonstrates that psychological and moral factors are more influential than demographic or risk-based factors in shaping both acceptance and behavioural intentions around desealing. Citizens show substantial openness to public desealing and moderate support for civic responsibility, but private desealing intention remains low. Tailored communication, barrier-reducing measures, and positive storytelling are key to encouraging private action. Full report in Dutch, with executive summary in English.

Rewild the City has a specific visual identity. That should be used for all communication products aiming at professional and international stakeholders.

This document contains the design guidelines that define the brand identity of the Rewild the City project. To inspire users, it also shows a possible design for various applications created in accordance with these guidelines. This visual identity is designed for communication products aimed at professional stakeholders (such as other cities, policymakers or experts). Communication to local target groups, such as residents or businesses, is designed in a style that matches the municipality's corporate identity.