ASSEN

Let us introduce Assen

Assen, the capital of Drenthe in the northern Netherlands, is a city where nature, innovation, and strong community ties come together to shape a sustainable future. With 60% of its territory being ‘green’, Assen is well positioned to offer a healthy, sustainable and climate resilient living environment for its inhabitants and visitors alike.

With more than 70,000 inhabitants, Assen is a compact city with many amenities, a diverse housing supply, a healthy economy, and plenty of green spaces and open areas. A sustainable and healthy living environment is Assen’s core value and has traditionally defined its identity. Assen is located directly next to two Natura 2000 areas. We are unique in the way we protect our green structures. For example, the Asserbos is one of the largest and oldest urban forests in the Netherlands.

Assen is an ambitious city with an innovative and sustainable policy.

Assen’s economy is rooted in a combination of traditional industries and emerging technologies. Take for example, Resato Hydrogen Technology, which recently secured a €25 million investment from the European Investment Bank to develop hydrogen fuel stations. Meanwhile, the ‘Energy Garden Southern Assen’ demonstrates how community and climate action go hand-in-hand, with 50% of the solar energy generated owned locally. The Johan Willem Frisokazerne, a key military base, is currently undergoing a €75 million sustainable renovation. TechHub Assen, the region’s innovation centre, brings together entrepreneurs, students, and government to co-develop smart solutions. Making Assen a hub for green and digital innovation.

Assen Drents Archief

Assen in Europe

We believe that European cooperation helps us achieve our own ambitions faster, better, or more efficiently. That we inspire and need each other, and that as local governments, we can learn from one another.

Currently we are focusing on and seeking European collaboration on the following themes:

  • Security and Safety Campus Assen: societal awareness, preparedness, resilience, and readiness through education, training, research, and innovation
  • Sustainable Urban Development: greening, climate adaptation and mitigation, housing, New European Bauhaus
  • Energy Transition: district heating, local energy systems and energy communities
  • Social and Inclusive society: community-based approach, BOSS: meet, play and exercise in a green environment

Assen’s ambitions

We have several ambitions for Assen. We want to make Assen more beautiful, stronger, healthier and future-proof. We don’t do this alone, but together with residents, entrepreneurs and (regional) partners.

In 2022, Assen was awarded the Greenest City in the Netherlands and in 2023 adopted its Green Vision for 2040, setting the course to become well known as ‘the green city’. This milestone marks the city’s commitment to embedding sustainability across all aspects of urban development. Building on this momentum, the municipality launched the “Innovate to Elevate” agenda in 2024, a joint declaration with inhabitants, businesses and institutions to accelerate climate action. In doing so, Assen is steadily evolving into a model of integrated green development—driven not just by policy, but by the people who call it home.

That is why we applied for the European Green Leaf Award 2027!

Two examples of how we work on our ambitions

Security and Safety Campus Assen

We strive for a dynamic exchange of knowledge and development of skills, where we not only contribute our expertise to the broader safety and security domain but also actively integrate best practices from society to develop the most potent insights for a prepared and resilient Europe.

It is built on strong collaboration between the municipality of Assen, the University of Groningen, the University of Applied Sciences NHL Stenden/Thorbecke Academy and the vocational education institute DCTerra.

The primary goal of the Campus is to contribute to national and international governmental and societal awareness, preparedness, resilience, and readiness through education, training, research, and innovation.

Energy Transition Interreg North West Europe Project: RODEO

In the Interreg North-West Europe project ‘RODEO’, we are working together with European partners to develop financial models to support the faster rollout of district heating networks. The goal is to make it feasible for all households to connect to a district heating network, while also creating an attractive business case for the network itself. The project also considers how services for residents are organized and how residents can be supported. Other participants are learning from our neighbourhood-oriented approach, which includes an energy helpdesk in every neighbourhood.