Projects were submitted to the Ministry of the Environment, offering proposals to make municipal areas greener and to promote biodiversity in urban spaces. Seventeen municipalities participated in this year’s competition, with the 12 best projects awarded a prize. For the third edition of the competition, the prizes were distributed across four different categories. The municipality of Mertzig was successful in the “school playground” category.
In this third edition of the competition, some municipalities submitted multiple entries, bringing the total number of projects to 20. The four categories included school grounds, playgrounds, open spaces, and public car parks.
Minister Serge Wilmes said more greenery was needed to improve quality of life in public spaces and to adapt to the consequences of climate change.
Wilmes said it was disappointing that no council had submitted entries for the playground category, but that this could perhaps be explained by the need to improve other less green areas. An independent jury, comprised of representatives from the Syvicol municipal uinions, the Ecological Movement, and the Ministry of the Environment, evaluated the projects in terms of quality and innovation.
Wilmes said: “We must adapt to the current consequences of climate change. Our summers are warmer, we have periods where there is lots of rain, so we have to adapt our public spaces accordingly. Whether that’s more trees for shade, to cool the air, with ground types that absorb the water, these are all key to current projects.”
The prize-winning municipalities received a tree and a grant worth €500,000 to support their project. The municipality of Strassen won first place in the “public spaces” category, while Esch-sur-Alzette was awarded first place for “public car parks”.
The municipality of Mertzig is part of the climate pact and has previously won European awards for its work in climate protection and energy efficiency. This year, it won first place in the “school grounds” category. The project is designed to flow alongside the newly-built primary school in the town, and is more of a park than a classic school playground, says mayor Mike Poiré: “We created the project with people from the school. You can’t have a school without a playground. It was clear from the start that we wanted a playground that felt close to nature, running alongside the Turelbaach stream. It was a process that involved everybody, even the children.”
Having residents’ input into the project was important to the council, explained Mertzig school president Lis Backendorf. “From the start of the new school construction we were involved alongside the council, which made us very happy because it is not usual to have this much input and influence as a school. The same applied for the playground. We looked at the project with the children as part of school wraparound care, so they could share their ideas for their vision of an ideal playground. We also held a parent workshop so parents could give their opinions.”
The school construction project is almost complete and is likely to welcome pupils from September 2026. Currently the provisional classrooms in shipping containers are being dismantled. The new nature playground will commence construction in January 2027.
The Ministry’s budget to support the winning councils reached €6 million, financed via the climate fund and divided equally between the municipalities.
