This Interreg North-West Europe project brought together members of the METREX network, including METREX itself, along academic institutions, business associations, and civil society partners. Together, the project partners combined their expertise in spatial planning, sustainability, the circular economy, and business development to develop a pathway to a circular built EuroDelta.
After nearly two years of dedication, effort and collaboration between partners across 3 neighbouring countries (The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany), the Interreg NWE project, ASSET (A Spatial Strategy for the EuroDelta: boosting the circular builT environment), has officially reached its conclusion.
Led by the City of Amsterdam, ASSET aims to assess the feasibility of developing a spatial strategy for a circular built environment at the EuroDelta scale (megaregion spanning across the Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt river basins) while exploring the added value of collaboration between participating partners.
The main result of ASSET is a roadmap towards a spatial strategy for a circular built EuroDelta, along with inspiration visions on the following themes: biobased materials, secondary materials, and identifying synergistic potentials across the EuroDelta for the circular transition. Another significant milestone of the project was the formation of the EuroDelta Alliance, marked by the signing of a Letter of Intent by the founding partners – including Metrex – to continue advancing efforts at the EuroDelta scale.
The development of inspirational visions was based on a variety of activities, including the following: a policy analysis of stakeholders, a one-week excursion, webinars, a Metrex mini symposium on EU rules, local urban design workshops, analysis of circular best practices, a Circular Design Atlas, and contributions from hundreds of students. Notably, one of the students was honored with the World Student Architecture Award.
The methodology guiding the process was provided by the Province of South Holland, which had originally developed it to create the first spatial strategy for a circular built region. Building on this methodology, the roadmap was developed to support local workshops focused on testing urban development planning. This roadmap can also be applied in other regions and cities worldwide. See Local & Regional Workshops | ASSET
This project, which officially concluded in June 2025, was directly initiated by the METREX SURE Network Group, now renamed the EuroDelta Alliance network group.
More information on the project outcomes – including all sub-documents – of ASSET can be found here.
Final Report Booklets (Part 1 & Part 2)
Download the Final Report Booklets (Part 1 & Part 2) at the following page: https://asset.nweurope.eu/final-report
Part I highlights the project’s overarching outcomes, including design principles, the roadmap, inspirational visions, main insights, and policy recommendations per relevant stakeholder, the EuroDelta Alliance and final remarks.
Part II provides detailed insights into the ASSET activities including Meet & Learns webinars.
About the EuroDelta Alliance
The secretariat of the EuroDelta Alliance is hosted by the City of Amsterdam, Province of South Holland, Brussels.perspectives and the City of The Hague.
More information on the EuroDelta Alliance can be found at https://eurodelta.eurometrex.org/
If you are interested in joining the new working group, please contact Dagmar Keim, City of Amsterdam (d.keim@amsterdam.nl).
