Event details
Paragraphs
Key take-aways
- Citizen science projects use digital innovation and human capital to make measurements that make cities smarter, safer, and more sustainable.
- Citizen science is on the rise: (international) platforms, associations and journals are established, and funding opportunities increase.
- There are evident synergies between citizen science and smart cities, but the intersections have to be strengthened to realize the full potential. More stakeholders, including public authorities, must be included in citizen science projects.
Citizen Science
Moritz Müller introduced the German citizen science platform “Bürger schaffen Wissen” (“citizens create knowledge”). The platform is the hub for citizen science in Germany and is currently listing 250 citizen science projects. “Bürger schaffen Wissen” serves as the central network for citizen science in Germany, and organized trainings and events on the topic of citizen science. Moreover, the platform offers consultant services for citizen science projects.
Citizen Science describes the process of generating knowledge through various participatory formats, which reaches from short-term collection of data to collaborative research. The projects are implemented via tools like apps, web-apps and sensors. Data collected in citizen science projects include light pollution data, building data, air pollution data, traffic data.
In his talk, Mr Müller addressed the synergies between the concepts of Smart City und Citizen Science. He concluded that there are many similarities, such as the goal of learning and innovation by linking the creativity of the population and institutions of knowledge creation. However, citizen science projects are mainly carried out by academic institutions, communities and local authorities being rarely involved. Therefore, the practical link between the concepts of citizen science and smart cities and their practitioners needs to be strengthened in order to realize the full potential of this synergy.
