Smarter Greener Cities

It is necessary to collect various data to better understand the conditions for urban greenery so that it can contribute to biodiversity and people's well-being. Well-managed and functional green-blue infrastructure helps ecosystems become more resilient to disturbances, such as climate change.

The three-year Smarter Greener Cities project is particularly suitable for implementation in Stockholm Royal Seaport due to its strategic work with water and green spaces in urban planning and the opportunity to compare different environments and conditions. The fact that the project runs over a longer period of time makes it possible for researchers to track green structures over seasonal variations and monitor how different weather conditions affect them. The project is part of a Nordic research initiative, “SMARTer Greener Cities”, which includes Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen.

Purpose and goal

The purpose of collecting this data in Stockholm Royal Seaport is to better understand how urban vegetation and new technology can improve human wellbeing and biodiversity. Well-managed and functioning green and blue structures contributes to ecosystems becoming more resistant/resilient to disturbances, such as climate change.

The overall purpose of Smarter Greener Cities is to develop and test new tools and processes that combine social, ecological, and technological systems (SETS) to improve city life. In Stockholm Royal Seaport, the focus is on ecological-technological connections and interactions. The other two pilot projects in Helsinki and Copenhagen focus on socio-ecological (S-E) and socio-technical (S-T) interaction, respectively.

Results

Data has been collected with the help of 18 wireless weather stations located in various green spaces throughout the area, such as courtyards, squares, playgrounds, parks, and green roofs. The weather stations measure atmospheric conditions such as humidity, precipitation, temperature, wind speed and soil moisture. This makes it possible to track ecosystems’ ability to function as nature-based solutions for resilience and adaptation to climate change – data has been made available to residents and other stakeholders.

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