Water your neighbourhood

1. General information

Location and description of the intervention

City or FUA

Berlin (FUA)

Region

Europe

Native title of the NBS intervention

Gieß den Kiez

Short description of the intervention

In May 2020, CityLAB Berlin launched "Gieß den Kiez", an interactive platform designed to support Berlin's urban trees by fostering collaboration between citizens and the city. The platform enables voluntary civil society efforts to help water the city's endangered tree population. It features a map that visualizes nearly all of Berlin's street and park trees, complete with data such as water requirements, age, and species. Citizens can create profiles, adopt trees, and mark them as ‘watered’ within the app, making it easy to track contributions to the health of Berlin’s trees. (Ref. 2)
Berlin's trees face growing challenges due to increasing temperatures, reduced rainfall, and exposure to road salt in winter. The hot summers of 2018 and 2019 highlighted the urgency of supporting the city’s trees, which provide cooling shade, clean air, and habitats for numerous animal and plant species. To address this, "Gieß den Kiez" was developed as a platform where authorities, volunteers, and civic society could collaborate to prevent tree dehydration.
The platform maps over 625,000 trees across Berlin and offers additional tools, such as rainfall data from the last 30 days and the locations of public water fountains, which can be used for watering trees. By connecting data from city authorities, the German Weather Service, and OpenStreetMap, the fully open-source platform allows for transparency and accessibility in its operation. (Ref. 6)
The project has proven highly successful in Berlin, with over 10,000 participants actively watering trees, and its model has been adopted in other German cities like Leipzig. "Gieß den Kiez" not only exemplifies a practical response to urban climate challenges but also fosters a sense of shared responsibility and community engagement in caring for urban green spaces. (Ref. 6)

Website of the intervention

https://www.giessdenkiez.de/

Principal problems

Climate-Related Hazards

Drought

Heat stress & Extreme temperatures

Other

Please specify other principal problem

Degradation of urban trees

Implementation area characterization

Climate

Continental (Cold-summer humid continental, Cold-winter dry continental, Cold-summer dry continental)

Ecosystem

Urban or built environment

Address

Germany

Location

The NBS is a city-wide initiative, the GIS point marks the centre of the city

Area boundary (map-based)

Area description

Urban (main city)

Type of area before implementation of the NBS

Roads / Roadsides

Public Greenspace Area

Timeline of intervention

Start date of the intervention (planning process)

unknown

Start date of intervention (implementation process)

2020

End date of the intervention

ongoing

Present stage of the intervention

Ongoing

2. Objectives of the intervention

Objectives of the intervention

Goals of the intervention

To support tree health in the context of climate change, addressing increased temperatures and drought. (Ref. 2)
To create a publicly available coordination tool for tree watering to prevent tree degradation. (Ref. 3; Ref. 5)
To utilize existing information and data to enhance current tree maintenance practices. (Ref. 3)
To empower citizens to participate in the city’s development by integrating them into green space management. (Ref. 3)
To increase citizens' environmental knowledge about local nature.
To enhance storing of carbon (Ref. 3)

Key Priorities

Climate action (adaptation and/or mitigation)

Social Justice and community

Sustainability challenge(s) addressed

Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)

Climate change adaptation

Climate change mitigation

Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)

Green space creation and/or management

Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)

Inclusive governance

Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)

Environmental education

Climate change adaptation: What activities are implemented to realize the conservation goals and targets?

Increase urban vegetation cover to reduce urban heat island effect

Other

Climate change mitigation: What activities are implemented to realize the conservation goals and targets?

Increase the availability of green urban space for carbon storage (street tree cover)

Implementation activities and NBS focus

Implementation activities

The "Gieß den Kiez" initiative is a citizen-driven project in Berlin that encourages residents to participate in the care and maintenance of urban trees through a digital platform. Launched by CityLAB Berlin in May 2020, the platform provides an interactive map featuring approximately 885,825 street and park trees managed by the Roads and Parks Department. Each tree is represented as a green dot, offering users detailed information such as species, age, and specific water requirements. This information empowers citizens to adopt trees, monitor their watering needs, and actively contribute to their upkeep. The initiative has successfully mobilized over 1,000 citizen caretakers, leading to the watering and monitoring of more than 7,000 trees. (Ref. 1-5)

Type of NBS project

Maintenance and management of urban nature

Maintenance or upgrade of exisiting green spaces (e.g. parks)

Updated management structure of existing green spaces (e.g. parks)

Knowledge creation and awareness raising

Educational and awareness raising programs

Improved governance of green or blue areas

Creation of new, innovative governance and management approaches

Monitoring and maintenance of habitats and/or biodiversity

Habitat mapping, restoration and monitoring-focused management

3. NBS domains, ES and scale

NBS domain and interventions

Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented

Grey infrastructure featuring greens

Alley or street trees and other street vegetation

Parks and urban forests

Large urban parks or forests

Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces

Please specify "other Climate change adaptation activity"

Increase urban vegetation cover to reduce drought (Ref. 1)

Amenities offered by the NBS

Unknown

Design elements for well-being

None of the above

Services

Expected ecosystem services delivered

Regulating services

Local climate regulation (temperature reduction)

Carbon storage/sequestration

Habitat and supporting services

Habitats for species

Cultural services

Intellectual interactions (scientific and / or educational)

Scale

Spatial scale

Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level

Beneficiaries

Demographics in implementation area

Unknown

Socio-economic profile of the area

Unknown

Communities vulnerable to environmental hazards or climate change impacts

Unknown

Non-government actors

Other

Primary Beneficiaries

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Specify primary beneficiaries

The roads and green spaces department of Berlin benefits from the project, as the volunteering citizens support their work responsibilities. Furthermore, the website provides additional information to the department about the state of trees (e.g. recent watering through precipitation). (Ref. 4)

Marginalized groups

Unknown

Other beneficiaries

Native plant vegetation

Ecosystem services (e.g. improved air quality, water purification)

City infrastructure (e.g., reduced flooding, improved water quality)

4. Governance and financing

Governance

Governance arrangements

Led by non-government actors

Please specify other non-government actors involved

Innovation lab/ Public foundation

Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative

The "Gieß den Kiez" project, initiated by CityLAB Berlin and funded by the Berlin Senate Chancellery, enhances Berlin’s existing public tree register by integrating water pump locations into a website. This register, maintained by the Senate Department for the Environment, Transport, and Climate Protection, already tracks public trees and their conditions. The project adds data about trees' water needs, species, and age, while promoting citizen involvement in watering trees. The BUND provided ecological expertise, and the Plant Protection Office advised on watering methods. CityLAB manages the website, allowing users to water trees and track their efforts. The Roads and Green Spaces Department updates the tree register annually. Through this collaboration, citizens actively contribute to tree care, fostering urban greenery and sustainability. (Ref. 1-5)

Key actors - initiating organization

Other

Please specify other key actors – Initiating organization

Innovation lab/ Public foundation (Ref. 1)

Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)

Regional government

Public sector institution

Non-government organisation/civil society

Citizens or community group

Stages of citizen and community engagement

On-the-ground implementation

Feedback during project implementation (e.g. review sessions)

Monitoring and evaluation of project outcomes

Level of citizen and community engagement

High

Community empowerment or capacity-building initiatives

Implementation of educational programs, workshops or trainings

Formation of community-led groups responsible for the the implementation, maintenace or monitoring of the project

Creation of collaborative decision-making processes that actively involve community members

Participatory methods/forms of stakeholder involvement (all stakeholders)

Dissemination of information and education

Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)

Citizen monitoring and review

Uncommon actors ("Missing actors")

Unknown

Land owners

Public space owned by the city

Policy drivers

NBS intervention implemented in response to a Regional Directive/Strategy

Unknown

NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan

Unknown

NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan

Unknown

Mandatory or voluntary intervention

Voluntary (spontaneous)

Please specify other type of voluntary intervention

Aim to use digitalisation for sustainability purposes; mission of the innovation lab

Enablers & Barriers

Type of enablers

Technological innovations

NBS research project (e.g., H2020, Urban Living Labs, national research projects)

Please provide details (e.g, name of the plan or strategy) for the selected policies or initiatives.

Technological innovations: The use of open data and open source systems such as OSM (Open Street Maps) was essential for the optimisation of the project. This enabled a new kind of collaboration with the public, where users can contribute newly updated information to the dataset themselves and confirm or reject the input of other users. (Ref. 5)

Research project: ‘Gieß den Kiez’ is a project of CityLAB Berlin. CityLAB is a public innovation laboratory for the city of the future in the former Berlin-Tempelhof airport. Together with a large network from administration, civil society, science and start-ups, they are working on ideas for a Berlin worth living in. The CityLAB is a project of the Technology Foundation Berlin and is funded by the Berlin Senate Chancellery. (Ref. 1)

Governace and decison-making instruments

Public - community agreement (e.g. citizen science programs; citizen assemblies)

Arrangements for governance cooperation

Information-sharing platforms or networks (e.g. websites for sharing best practices, data or resources pertinent to the project)

Barriers

Unknown

Financing

Total cost

Unknown

Please specify total cost (EUR)

Unknown

What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?

n/a

Source(s) of funding

Public regional budget

Type of fund(s) used

Earmarked public budget

Non-financial contribution

Yes

Who provided the non-financial contribution?

Citizens (e.g. volunteering)

Type of non-financial contribution

Provision of labour

Provision of expertise

Co-finance for NBS

Entrepreneurship opportunities

Business models

Local stewardship model

Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?

Private non-for-profit actor (e.g. NGO, foundation)

5. Evaluation and learning

Impacts, benefits

Environmental impacts

Climate change

Lowered local temperature

Expected lowered local temperature

Enhanced carbon sequestration

Expected enhanced carbon sequestration

Green space and habitat

Increased green space area

Achieved increased green space area

Other

Please specify other environmental impact

Increased conservation, maintenance, protection on several tree species : "The total street tree population has decreased from 439,971 to 431,101 trees between the years 2012 to 2019. That is a net loss of 8,870 trees. Every new tree planted in Berlin has to replace 2.4 felled trees. " (Ref. 3)

Description of environmental benefits

--Expected lowered local temperature--Expected enhanced carbon sequestration: "The consequences of climate change, especially the dry and hot summers, are putting a strain on Berlin's ecosystem. Our city trees are drying out and suffering long-term damage: in recent years, more and more trees have had to be felled and their lifespan is decreasing."; "Mature trees efficiently store carbon and produce a cooling effect which helps to reduce urban heat islands and hot spots in cities. " (Ref. 2, 3)
-Achieved increased green space area: "The initiative has successfully mobilized over 1,000 citizen caretakers, leading to the watering and monitoring of more than 7,000 trees." (Ref. 5)

Economic impacts

Unknown

Description of economic benefits

Unknown

Social and cultural impact indicators

Number of participants in outdoor activities or exercise programs in green spaces

10.639 active people watering trees (Ref. 6)

Evidence for use of assessment

Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process

Yes

Actors involved in the assessment, monitoring or evaluation of NBS impacts

Other

Please specify which actors were involved specifically in the project assessment, monitoring or evaluation activities.

Innovation lab/ Public foundation

Presence of indicators used in reporting

Yes

Type of indicators

Input indicators

Process indicators

Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

Yes

Link to a web-based monitoring tool

https://www.giessdenkiez.de/map

Name of any specific impact assessment tools

Unknown

Use of GIS in mapping impacts

Yes

Link to GIS monitoring data

https://www.giessdenkiez.de/map

Cost-benefit analysis

Unknown

Transparency

Meetings with stakeholders’ representatives

Clear communication channels for stakeholders to provide feedback, raise concerns, and ask questions about the project

Other

Please specify other means of ensuring transparency

Open data; The website's code is publicly available and can be adapted by other cities for their data sets. (Ref. 1)

Justice

Community satisfaction

Unknown

Trade-offs & Negative impacts

Unknown

Measures to prevent gentrification or displacement

No initiatives or policies were implemented

High-quality & Transformative NBS

Multiple impacts delivery (climate, biodiversity, just community)

Yes

Goal setting and impacts delivery

No, although benefits were delivered in all the 3 key areas, but in the planning phase, the project did not aim to address issues in all the 3 key priority areas.

Reaching original project goals

Most of the project goals were achieved

Please specify the achievements of the project goals

Climate action:
--Expected lowered local temperature--Expected enhanced carbon sequestration: "The consequences of climate change, especially the dry and hot summers, are putting a strain on Berlin's ecosystem. Our city trees are drying out and suffering long-term damage: in recent years, more and more trees have had to be felled and their lifespan is decreasing."; "Mature trees efficiently store carbon and produce a cooling effect which helps to reduce urban heat islands and hot spots in cities. " (Ref. 2, 3)
Increased conservation, maintenance, protection on several tree species : "The total street tree population has decreased from 439,971 to 431,101 trees between the years 2012 to 2019. That is a net loss of 8,870 trees. Every new tree planted in Berlin has to replace 2.4 felled trees. " (Ref. 3)
Social justice and community:
Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces: "The project enables citizens to play an active role in shaping their city. At the same time, they are expanding their knowledge of tree irrigation" (Ref. 3)

Increased knowledge of locals about local nature: "The project enables citizens to play an active role in shaping their city. At the same time, they are expanding their knowledge of tree irrigation." (Ref. 3)

Long-term perspective

Yes

Cost-effective solutions

Yes

Equitable impacts

A. All stakeholders benefit fairly from the project

Transformative capacity

Social change (e.g. social relationships, networks and dynamics within them)

Ecological change (e.g. ecosystem functions and their distribution)

Magnitude of change

Reformist: by focusing on addressing underlying drivers of change but failing to address the problem structurally or systemically

Application of lessons learned

The NBS has been shared or used as a good practice to trigger transformative change

Perception of Environmental Change

Unknown

6. Sources

References

Gieß den Kiez (n.d.). Info. Accessed on September 30, 2024, [Source link] [Archive];

The Urban Activist (n.d.). ‘gieß Den Kiez’: Giving Trees in Berlin a Chance to Outlive Their Planters. Accessed on September 30, 2024, [Source link] [Archive];

Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (n.d.). Gieß den Kiez. Accessed on September 30, 2024, [Source link] [Archive];

Technologie Stiftung Berlin (n.d.). Gieß den Kiez. Accessed on September 30, 2024, [Source link] [Archive];

de Castro, J. & Sobral, L. (2021). Wie Berlin seine Bürger*innen dazu anregt, Bäume zu giessen. Accessed on September 30, 2024, [Source link] [Archive];

Gieß den Kiez (n.d.). Statistiken Berlin. Accessed on September 30, 2024, [Source link] [Archive];

Comments and notes

Additional insights

Finances: No information was found about the costs of the project. It is highlighted that the costs were small as the data for the website (e.g. tree register) was already available.

Public Images

Watering trees in Belin's neighbourhoods

Florian Reimann

Screenshot of the "Gieß den Kiez" website

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