A conversation about the trees on the Eindhoven Market Square

Sometimes it seems as if the Market Square in Eindhoven is a kind of shared living room—except one where nobody quite agrees on where the sofa should go. One visitor wants to chat with friends while holding an ice cream, and another mainly wants the terrace to be allowed to move just one table further. And somewhere in between, there’s an event organizer thinking: “Could we still fit a stage here?” Can you imagine that in the 1950s and 1960s, the Market Square was actually a parking lot?

Climate Log. Read previous installments here.

We are now entering the final phase of the major inner-city redesign; everything paved with those recognizable red bricks is being reshaped. More greenery will appear everywhere. Fifty new trees, just on the Demer and in Rechtestraat alone. That sounds simple. But the Market Square… well, that’s not so simple.

Because who actually uses the Market Square? The entrepreneur who earns a living there? The visitor who just wants to sit down for a moment? The resident who wants to see greenery, preferably so much that you almost forget about the paving stones? The answer: everyone. And that’s what makes it complicated.

We listened to entrepreneurs, visitors, and people who shared their thoughts from behind their laptops about what they liked, what they didn’t, and what they dream of for this square that is, after all, the heart of the city.

What did we learn? People love the liveliness, the terraces, the sense of space and activity. But those same people also say: it’s too stony, too commercial, too little green, too little atmosphere. They want a Market Square where you actually want to stay. A place for meeting, for events, and yes, also for those lively terraces.

Sketches

So we started making sketches. The first outlines of a new Market Square. Not a final design yet, but a conceptual draft. Through conversations, meetings, and probably even more conversations, we will eventually arrive at a final design. That’s simply how it works when you’re dealing with a square that belongs to everyone.

I know one thing for sure: for me, the Market Square must become greener. Trees that bring shade on hot summer days. Plants that create an atmosphere instead of heat stress. That fits the direction of the inner city, where greening is not a luxury but a necessity. How many trees? Exactly where? That’s not a monologue—it’s a conversation.

And somewhere between all those interests, wishes, and concerns, I sometimes ask myself: when have you done it right? The honest answer: probably never for everyone. But perhaps that’s not the goal. Perhaps the goal is that we do it together. With clear frameworks, open ears, and respect for what the Market Square is, what it once was, and what it could become.

And who knows… maybe that shared living room will indeed emerge. With room for a terrace, a bench, a tree—and that ice cream.