The remarkable feat was achieved as part of the NK Tegelwippen, or the Dutch National Tile Removal Championship, an imaginative and highly competitive nationwide event that pits local councils against one another to see which municipality can successfully free up the most green space from under concrete and stone. The championship has grown in popularity year after year, transforming civic pride into a powerful engine for environmental improvement across the Netherlands.
According to the organization behind the championship, these large-scale greening efforts serve a vital purpose for modern urban environments. Replacing sterile paving stones with living plants, grass, and trees makes residential neighborhoods significantly more attractive and visually appealing. More importantly, however, this deliberate de-paving acts as a crucial defense mechanism against the escalating threats of climate change, specifically helping to combat urban flooding during heavy downpours and mitigating rising temperatures during increasingly common summer heatwaves. Additionally, replacing hard grey surfaces with natural earth provides children with safer, healthier, and more natural areas for play and recreation.
The announcement of The Hague’s victory was met with immense enthusiasm from local environmental advocates and municipal leaders who have championed the grassroots movement. Joris Wijsmuller, the director of Duurzaam Den Haag, expressed profound pride in the city’s collective achievement in a statement released following the competition results. He noted that it is fantastic the city is continuing to break records year after year, emphasizing that this milestone proves perseverance truly pays off and that local residents consider greenery in the urban landscape to be increasingly important for their quality of life.
The record-breaking total of over half a million removed tiles was not merely the result of municipal labor, but rather a massive collaborative effort involving the entire community. According to official figures from the city council, approximately 150,000 of those tiles were dug up directly by ordinary residents, local schools, active sports clubs, and various corporate companies that participated enthusiastically in the event. The remainder of the staggering total was carefully removed by the city administration itself, which targeted public spaces, squares, and neglected corners to maximize the overall green footprint.
This latest triumph marks a triumphant return to the top podium for The Hague, which previously clinched the championship title in both 2021 and 2022. By reclaiming its crown in 2026 with an unprecedented number of removed stones, the city has once again demonstrated that citizen engagement combined with municipal support can yield monumental results for the local ecosystem, setting a high benchmark for other towns and cities participating in the nationwide battle for the Golden Tile.
