In the context of climate change, urban trees are of growing importance for the adaptation of urban habitats, while at the same time they are increasingly affected by stress factors such as heat and drought. The ZUKAMAS project (“Future-Oriented Climate Change Management for Urban Green Spaces”) aims to find out how urban trees and green spaces along the Upper Rhine Graben can contribute to climate change adaptation.

The aim of the project is to use state-of-the-art distributed sensor technology, molecular analysis, dendroecological analyses, and single-tree modeling to develop simple indicators that enable targeted and resource-saving measures to ensure the long-term health and functionality of urban trees. Both the urban ecosystem and the urban population should benefit from this. A further aim of the project is to identify climate-adapted, biodiversity-friendly, and socio-culturally accepted tree species for urban areas in order to develop recommendations for urban planning based on this. The project pursues a transdisciplinary approach that includes the active participation of citizens and the city administration. This is intended to increase awareness of the importance of urban trees and at the same time develop and implement sustainable measures to protect and improve urban greenery.

The interdisciplinary collaboration between six institutes of the University of Freiburg and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology from various fields aims to create a sound scientific basis for the improvement of urban living spaces. The research work is divided into four work packages (WPs), some of which are carried out in close cooperation between the participating institutes.

ITAS is responsible for two work packages in this project:

• WP 3: “Analysis of stress influences on the functions of urban trees”
• WP 4: “Cultural ecosystem services and public relations”

WP 3 is based at KIT and is a cooperation between the Sylvanus research group at ITAS and the Plant Ecophysiology working group at the KIT Alpine Campus. Using a physiologically oriented single-tree model, the ecosystem services of selected urban trees – such as cooling and carbon sequestration – will be estimated based on species characteristics and environmental conditions.

The focus of WP 4 is on transdisciplinary cooperation. The work package is led by the Sylvanus research group at ITAS and implemented in cooperation with the Research Area of General Psychology at the Department of Psychology of the University of Freiburg. A central goal is to highlight the importance of urban trees at various levels – both through knowledge transfer and through the active involvement of citizens. To this end, two MobiLab campaigns will be organized, one in Freiburg and one in Karlsruhe, to provide information about the project and promote exchange with the population. In addition, the cultural ecosystem services and benefits of urban trees will be explored using Cognitive Affective Mapping (CAM) and surveys.

At the end of the project, a workshop will be held with representatives of the Karlsruhe city administration. In this context, the project results will be presented and discussed in order to facilitate their integration into future urban planning.

The initiation project is funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK) and is part of the Sustainability Innovation Campus (ICN) initiative. Under the motto “Transformations for City Regions of the Future – Climate Protection, Resource Conservation & Well-being”, the ICN aims at comprehensive social, technical, and economic innovations in order to jointly contribute to a sustainable society.

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