, Berlin (FUA), Germany
City population: 4186143
Duration: 2020 – ongoing
Implementation status: Ongoing
Scale: Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level
Project area: unknown
Type of area: Roads / Roadsides, Public Greenspace Area
Last updated: March 2025

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)

A person watering a tree in summer
Watering trees in Belin's neighbourhoods
Florian Reimann

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • 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

Key challenges

  • 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

Principal problems in Functional Urban Area (FUA)

  • Climate-Related Hazards
  • Drought
  • Heat stress & Extreme temperatures
  • Other

Key priorities

Climate action (adaptation and/or mitigation), Social Justice and community

Focus

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

Project objectives

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)

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)

Climate-focused activities

Climate change adaptation:

  • Increase urban vegetation cover to reduce urban heat island effect
  • Other

Climate change mitigation:

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

Main beneficiaries

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

Governance

Management set-up

  • Led by non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Other

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Dissemination of information and education
  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
  • Citizen monitoring and review

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

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)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Unknown
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Unknown

Type of enablers

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

Financing

Total cost

Unknown

Source(s) of funding

  • Public regional budget

Type of funding

  • Earmarked public budget

Non-financial contribution

Type of non-financial contribution
  • Provision of labour
  • Provision of expertise
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
  • Citizens (e.g. volunteering)

Impacts and Monitoring

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

Economic impacts

  • Unknown

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
  • Expected increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
  • Education
  • Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
  • Expected increased knowledge of locals about local nature

Type of reported impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Yes

Presence of indicators used in reporting

Yes

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

Yes

Potential risks of implementation and trade-offs

Unknown

References

1.
Gieß den Kiez (n.d.). Info. Accessed on September 30, 2024, [Source link];
2.
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];
3.
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (n.d.). Gieß den Kiez. Accessed on September 30, 2024, [Source link];
4.
Technologie Stiftung Berlin (n.d.). Gieß den Kiez. Accessed on September 30, 2024, [Source link];
5.
de Castro, J. & Sobral, L. (2021). Wie Berlin seine Bürger*innen dazu anregt, Bäume zu giessen. Accessed on September 30, 2024, [Source link];
6.
Gieß den Kiez (n.d.). Statistiken Berlin. Accessed on September 30, 2024, [Source link];
Screenshot of the "Gieß den Kiez" website
Screenshot of the "Gieß den Kiez" website
City Tool Box
‘gieß Den Kiez’
‘gieß Den Kiez’
https://theurbanactivist.com/idea/gies-den-kiez-giving-trees-in-berlin-a-chance-to-outlive-their-planters/
‘gieß Den Kiez’
‘gieß Den Kiez’
https://theurbanactivist.com/idea/gies-den-kiez-giving-trees-in-berlin-a-chance-to-outlive-their-planters/
‘gieß Den Kiez’
‘gieß Den Kiez’
https://theurbanactivist.com/idea/gies-den-kiez-giving-trees-in-berlin-a-chance-to-outlive-their-planters/
‘gieß Den Kiez’
‘gieß Den Kiez’
https://theurbanactivist.com/idea/gies-den-kiez-giving-trees-in-berlin-a-chance-to-outlive-their-planters/
‘gieß Den Kiez’
‘gieß Den Kiez’
https://theurbanactivist.com/idea/gies-den-kiez-giving-trees-in-berlin-a-chance-to-outlive-their-planters/
naturescapes bannerInformation about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the Naturescapes project funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No 101084341.