Zéger Nieuweboer

At the 22nd of September 2023 we celebrate the tenth YIMBY Harvest Festival at the Hoeve Klein Mariëndaal in Arnhem. What is YIMBY? YIMBY is the acronym for Yes-In-My-Back-Yard. YIMBY Arnhem! started in 2013 with the distribution of small scale food platforms, called YIMBY's, to the citizen of Arnhem. At the same time green education was offered to urban food growers to convert green enthusiasm into green harvest. During ten years hundreds of citizen in Arnhem joined the YIMBY social network of growing healthy, organic food in the city. The succes of YIMBY Arnhem! are the people supported by local government and local branches of green companies.

YIMBY is a culture of YES, positively stimulating social innovation for a healthier, greener and more social neighbourhood. The YIMBY experience demonstrates that changes do not start in The Hague, Brussels or Strasbourg. The change to a greener and more social Europe starts at home, in the backyard of people. We invited Frans Timmermans to the YIMBY Harvest Festival in Arnhem to share and to learn from ten years of YIMBY experience in the city of Arnhem. YIMBY Arnhem! shows that in due time small grassroots initiatives steadily grow and empower people to social inclusion and green cooperation.

The YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard) Festival is an event for people and groups involved – or looking to become involved – in grassroots, locally driven community development in a The Festival is an opportunity for people to gather, spread the word about their work, exchange ideas to effect change and strengthen their networks. It’s a chance to celebrate achievements and identify new challenges and opportunities, in an atmosphere focused on listening, learning and engaging. This one-day event invites community groups from across Arnhem to turn the tables on politicians and policy makers, educating them about the issues that face our city’s communities, as experienced by the community. YIMBY provides an opportunity for neighbours to meet neighbours, residents to meet politicians and politicians to meet community groups in the spirit of people coming together for positive change.

More than 50% of the European population currently lives in urban areas, a proportion that is projected to increase to almost 70% by 2050. Distributed small scale urban food growers can together make a difference in providing healthy food in cities, in a climate neutral and sustainable way. Zéger Nieuweboer, the founder of the urban food growers cooperation www.arnhemgroen.nl gave an interview about the YIMBY experience of small scale food growing.in the city.

YIMBY Arnhem! is a bottom-up movement aiming at small scale food growing in the city of Arnhem (NL). The 10 ten years of green YIMBY Arnhem! experience shows the fun and cooperation of growing food in the city. The YIMBY experience also shows that in time small initiatives grow to major results in empowering green people in the city. Contact zeger.nieuweboer@gmail.com for additional information.

In  the city of Arnhem a new green cooperative is founded by the students and teachers of the course "Organic Growing in the City". The new cooperative is two years old and has 54 organic urban growers as members. You will watch the green cooperative growing in the future years.

Green consumers engage green growers in the green food trail around the city of Arnhem, The Netherlands.