Urban Data Platform: Learning from energy and climate data

As a smart city and klimakommune.digital, the city of Hagen collects various energy and climate data with the help of the Urban Data Platform (UDP). For this reason, the UDP can be considered the city’s energy and climate dashboard. It enables not only city employees but also anyone interested to gain an insight into consumption, emissions and the state of nature in Hagen. There is a website where various different views can be consulted, such as data on traffic volumes or the water requirements of trees. Who sees which data depends on the access rights of the specific individual. This allows city employees to view detailed data so they can develop targeted measures, while the public is shown aggregated values, such as the energy consumption of buildings. The transparency and protection of sensitive data is thus guaranteed in equal measure.

The UDP empowers the residents of Hagen to reduce emissions in their everyday actions by providing information about climate and energy data. This is not only easy on their wallets, but also promotes their active participation in their city’s climate protection. One specific example is finding parking spaces quickly, which saves petrol. Sensors in the city’s car parks allow drivers to find out in advance whether and where there is space for their car. Another way to make Hagen more climate-friendly: adopt a tree in the ‘urban forest’. Special sensors are used to measure soil moisture around trees. Based on these values, the UDP shows whether a tree should be watered or not. The watering serves a two-fold purpose: for one, it supplies the trees with water, and for another, it keeps the soil moist so that it can absorb the water better during rainfall (in particular, when it is heavy). 

The data collated and visualised via the Urban Data Platform supports the city of Hagen in both reducing emissions and adapting to climate change. Many sensors from the transport sector contribute to prevention, enabling forward-looking traffic flow planning via qualitative traffic flow simulation – thus reducing traffic emissions. The air quality-based forest fire detection system, for example, falls within the scope of climate change adaptation. This means that forest fires can be detected earlier and fought and contained more quickly by emergency services. 

The klimakommune.digital project is designed to make sensor installation, data capture and data analysis easier. In addition to the transport and climate adaptation sectors, buildings, industry and the heating (grid) are also included here. The aim of the project is to demonstrate the digital technologies that contribute to municipal climate protection and the urban energy transition. The city of Hagen can now make data-driven decisions in the five sectors mentioned while reducing emissions and cutting costs. The installation of sensors in both the electricity and heating sectors is also advancing the integration of sectors in Hagen and creating a holistic picture of energy consumption. The collaboration with industry partners and the involvement of residents makes the project a committed undertaking for the entire city of Hagen. 

The Urban Data Platform is currently still under development. The digital infrastructure required for this allows data from various sources to be fed into the UDP and analysed together. However, this requires the implementation of interfaces to various partners and the definition of access rights to the data. The aim is to map all the data collected using the UDP and to derive initial measures by the end of 2024.