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Use Case
Good Health And Well-Being
Sustainable Cities And Communities
Life On Land
Partnerships For The Goals
The last few years in Berlin were particularly hot and dry. As a result the trees which populate the city have been left damaged and under threat. The authorities responsible for the care and watering of the trees in the city have not been able to cope with the change in climate and have been low on resources. Without dealing with the issue the trees would likely die. There are many problems which would come with this loss, nominally an increase in CO2 and pollutants, aesthetic loss and less street protection from heat.
The solution to the above mentioned problem was the creation of the Gieß Den Kiez (Water the Neighbourhood) App. This a digital solution to a sustainability issue. Through the app citizens and community groups can see which trees need watering, can report the condition of the trees, and with regular watering, ‘adopt’ trees for better coordination with fellow app users.
The app utilises open data, including the Deutschland Wetter Dienst (German weather service), Open street map and also data from Berlin City Council; in particular the Administration for Environment, Traffic and Climate Protection. Using these open sources helps ensure transparency of the process and knowledge sharing.
Additionally, development and continued improvement of the app is carried out using Github open source coding. In this way anyone with a GitHub account can take part.
There is also a community Slack channel which is used by the app users for learning and sharing of ideas for better and more efficient watering. The Gieß Den Kiez team also receive feedback through this channel.
Citizen participation has taken place throughout the process. This participation includes various co-development processes, feedback via the Slack community, usage by citizens to water the trees and constant providing of updates via twitter and blog posts through the planning stages.
Want to learn more about the lessons learned, financial details and results?
Log inPlanning time: 1 to 2 years
Implementation time: 6 months to 1 year
The CityLAB Berlin (operated by the Technologieinstitut Berlin)
Technologieinstitut Berlin
All Citizens
Biodiversity Protection