The maintenance of urban tree canopies is one of utmost importance to planners in the fight against heat and subsequent efforts to make cities into effective carbon stores that are dually resilient against climate change while improving public health and well-being overall.

A new digital map developed by the technology incubator CityLAB Berlin now helps to improve the care of these vital green infrastructures using data and an inspired citizenry whom they also credit with helping to streamline its development since 2020. 

The data includes a register of over half a million trees with information on their water levels and age culled from previous government projects. The map it creates draws inspiration from the NYC Tree Map, and others developed in cities like Athens and Washington, D.C. 

Locals who use the app frequently have begun to adopt individual trees as their own, surpassing participation levels that "ignited a debate between different local district authorities as to what extent citizens should be involved in taking care of city trees and if that's a good use for water," according to CityLAB's Yannick Müller.

Berlin's tree coverage has declined in recent years as a product of heat and extreme weather, making the added public engagement all the more valuable to CityLAB's developers. Leipzig also started using the tool two years ago and has been joined by smaller cities and now 3,500 registered citizen-caretakers who are responsible for a total of 7,500 trees. CityLAB Berlin manager Julia Zimmerman said finally she hopes its implementation would foster a "better understanding" of conservation methods countrywide.

CityLAB says it will add to its impact with the implementation of the newly developed Quantified Trees (“QTrees”) project, which uses AI-generated predictions about drought risk. They emphasized both increased awareness about water levels under afflicted conditions. Access to their previous Gieß den Kiez (meaning Water the Neighborhood) platform can be found here.