https://reasonstobecheerful.world/berlin-urban-tree-care-system/
"A mix of alder, maple and Japanese cherry trees line Berlin’s Horseshoe
Estate, a large-scale 1920s housing complex and UNESCO World Heritage site in
the south of the German capital.
But according to Sebastian Herges, a 42-year-old resident of the estate, over
the past few years those valuable species have begun to suffer due to Berlin’s
increasingly extreme weather, which has seen summers become longer and drier
and winters become wetter and stormier. “We noticed the change in weather and
have not been able to sleep since then [out of concern for the trees],” he
says.
City trees like those by Herges’ home are drying up due to climate change,
putting a strain on Berlin’s ecosystem. In 2018, Berlin was the sunniest city
in Germany with 2,308 hours of sun, and since then there have been persistent
droughts. According to Berlin city hall, there were 7,000 fewer trees at the
end of 2019 than in 2016, as the heat took its toll.
To get to the root of the problem, CityLAB, a municipal body that develops
cutting-edge projects for Berlin’s metropolitan area, launched a project known
as Gieß den Kiez, or “pour the neighborhood,” in May 2020.
The online platform allows citizens to coordinate the watering of Berlin’s
trees using an interactive map containing information on 760,000 of the city’s
one million trees, including species, age and water needs (often as much as 50
liters per day), as well as how often they have been watered. The platform also
instructs users on correct irrigation and the location of Berlin’s water pumps,
minimizing transport and supporting the use of graywater — wastewater without
fecal contamination.
The project is underpinned by an “open source” ethos, with its code published
online — meaning the platform can be easily reproduced by other cities — and
tools that are freely available such as OpenStreetMap, an alternative to Google
Maps, and public German Weather Service data."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
