Designing smart and sustainable irrigation : A case study

Title data

Gimpel, Henner ; Graf-Drasch, Valerie ; Hawlitschek, Florian ; Neumeier, Kathrin:
Designing smart and sustainable irrigation : A case study.
In: Journal of Cleaner Production. Vol. 315 (2021) . - 128048.
ISSN 0959-6526
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128048

Project information

Abstract in another language

Water scarcity is becoming an increasingly important issue – also for cities in the Western world. As keyregulators of cities’ micro-climate, urban trees suffer from this scarcity fueled by rising temperatures. With climate change on our doorsteps, cities turn to smart city concepts that harness advanced information technologies’ potential to conserve scarce resources. Regarding withering trees, we suggest that a smart city should consider putting smart irrigation systems in place. We use a design science research approach to establish, demonstrate, and evaluate how a smart irrigation system for urban trees can be designed. In doing so, we describe how IoT and data analytics can be leveraged as the backbone of sustainable and smart irrigation. Our design is informed by theory and experts, including city administration representatives, IoT specialists, and botanists. A prototypical instantiation including 18 sensors at eight trees evaluates the design knowledge’s viability in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). First insights into collected data in the pilot area indicate promising effects. Projected to the currently 5000 young trees in Frankfurt, we argue that water distribution within one round of irrigation in spring could be reduced by up to 1 million liters.