The Dutch ‘tile whipping’ competition to green gardens and streets

Move over, football. The Netherlands has a new national sport, one helping to greenify gardens and rewild urban spaces. This year marks the fourth annual Tegelwippen – which translates literally as ‘tile whipping’ – where Dutch municipalities compete in a lighthearted contest to remove the most paving slabs.

This year’s winner will be decided at the end of October. More than 11m tiles have been removed since creative agency Frank Lee fired the starting pistol on the first competition in 2021, replacing hundreds of acres of grey concrete with trees, grass, vegetable gardens and vibrant flower beds. The space is equivalent to around that of 200 football pitches.

“The competition is a gimmick of course,” says Frank Lee creative director Eva Braaksma. “People really like to compete! But the power of the thing is its simplicity. You just pick up your shovel and get started.”

The golden tile

Around 30cm of sand and earth that lies below slabs is dug out and replaced with healthy, fertile soil before discarded slabs are whisked away – for free – by ‘tile taxis’ laid on by local authorities. The removal of other hard surfaces like concrete, tarmac and gravel also counts towards the final tile whipping tally, with the winning municipality bagging the coveted ‘golden tile’.

All mucking in

As not everyone has the brawn to muscle chunks of concrete from their back garden to the kerbside collection points, locals muck in to assist the less able-bodied. Here, volunteers are busy greening a slabbed garden in Amsterdam.

The competition is a gimmick of course. But the power of the thing is its simplicity. You just pick up your shovel and get started

Whipper of the month

Tile whippers are encouraged to submit photos of their transformed spaces. Each month a panel of judges selects the best, awarding the title of Whipper of the Month. Jelmer – pictured above with his son, Abel – was one worthy winner. He smashed up slabs and wheelbarrowed them through his home in Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands, to create his edible garden of herbs, squashes, salad crops and fruit.

Tile whipping to create facade gardens

Neighbours join forces to create a ‘facade garden’ – a buffer zone of greenery between the street and their homes – by removing sections of pavement. In many Dutch municipalities it’s simply a matter of informing the local authority, and in some cases they’ll even do the job for you. Facade gardens help keep homes and urban spaces cool in the summer heat, and absorb runoff in increasingly heavy spells of rain. Rotterdam holds the record for the longest such space in the Netherlands: it stretches over 140 metres.

Green borders and puddle joy

Another Whipper of the Month winner. Some 200 tiles were removed in a day to create the green borders in this garden in Meppel, north-east Netherlands. Although the youngsters enjoy playing in the puddle, ironically the picture also illustrates a pressing issue that’s being exacerbated by the climate crisis: the country’s overloaded sewers. Less paving means better drainage, means dry feet for the Netherlands’ millions of avid cyclists.

Photography: NK Tegelwippen