In the earlier summer months of 2024, members from our partner, the Climate Media Factory (that is Ephraim Broschkowski and Caroline Bertram) had the opportunity to visit three out of the total eight Living Labs of the I-CHANGE Project. What was the mission? To collect and document the activities and voices of citizens and stakeholders who directly contribute to the outcomes and successes of the project for a film.
Equipped with a camera and sound recorders, our team of two travelled to Amsterdam, Genoa and Bologna to meet with citizens and stakeholders that work closely with our local project partners on advancing the network and impact of citizen science.
In the Amsterdam Living Lab
The first visit was to the Amsterdam Living Lab, a city, like any other, that is affected by climate change in many ways. Particular risks for the city and its inhabitants arise from extreme weather events such as heat waves in the summer months. Our partners from the meteorological department of the University of Wageningen, Esther Peerlings and Gert-Jan Steeneveld, are, among other things, focussing their research on the question: during heatwaves, how hot does it get inside the houses where people live and try to sleep at night?
One of the benefits of citizen science is that it reaches where ordinary science does not: in this case the living rooms and bedrooms of private persons, and not just one: The project has activated 100 participants across Amsterdam that collaborate in collecting data for the research.
Then, the Climate Media Factory visited Yannick, a citizen scientist, at his home near the well-known Westerpark. He has a very comfortable way of being in front of the camera and understands the filmmaking process, which made it very easy for the team to feel easy in his personal space. Yannik has a natural interest in science, he even works as a weather forecaster, and his enthusiasm about the I-CHANGE project is real. He has two sensors in his apartment, one in the living room, one in his bedroom, which constantly measure temperature, humidity and other parameters that influence how humans ‘feel’ the air, and he can access the data via an app. Being quite sensitive to warm temperatures, he told us how the project has helped him understand how to shield the heat from his home during heatwaves and as a weather forecaster, he sees his responsibility in passing on this knowledge to other citizens.
Spending half of the day filming on the backseat of a rickshaw and exploring the city through the scientific eyes of Esther and Gert-Jan was an amazing experience. We leave Amsterdam with many great impressions.
In the Genoa Living Lab
At the Genoa Living Lab, which was our second stopover for the shoot, our partners from CIMA Research Foundation are also concerned with extreme weather events, but of a very different kind: heavy rains affect flash floods and landslides in the area, which is tucked in between a mountainous landscape and the Mediterranean Sea. Our scientific partners from CIMA, represented by Antonio Parodi and Nicola Loglisci, together with citizens, stakeholders and institutions have built an impressive widespread network of data collectors who essentially help scientists predict extreme weather events so that necessary adaptive measures can be taken in time.
Given the diverse landscape and weather variables, the Genoa Living Lab has a regional approach in that it has activated an equally diverse range of citizens, covering the data collection from different locations, such as the sea and coastline, the city and the surrounding hills. Among the citizen scientists that we got to meet for the shoot was the mountain biking association Turchino Outdoor. We met their president, Giacomo, and his fellow bikers in the beautiful mountain range just west of Genoa. Equipped with the citizen science tool MeteoTracker, a mobile weather station device that is clipped to the bike and continuously collects data and stores it in a central cloud, Giacomo and his biker buddies collect data on the move and in a weather sensitive area that lacks a reliable weather station infrastructure.
Through the project, Giacomo told us that his perception and understanding of what happens to the climate has changed. Being a son of farmers, he could see that land and soil have changed with climate change. Now, understanding what affects the weather better, he can make sense of the changes and feels that his biking routine has gained another meaning: he is not just biking for pleasure anymore, but also to collect data.
In the Bologna Living Lab
For the occasion of the I-CHANGE Day, which was held simultaneously in all the Living Labs, on the 5th of June 2024, the Climate Media Factory visited the city of Bologna. Conceptualised as a citizen science experiment, the I-CHANGE Day brought together residents from the city to gather real-time data on temperature, humidity and air pressure and compare it to their perceived temperature.
Meeting at the sociology department of the University of Bologna, our partners Silvana di Sabatino, Carlo Cintolesi and Teresa Carlone gathered with the participants and bicycles to set up the mobile weather station tool, the MeteoTracker, to their bike and connect the device to their mobile phones. The tour took us through many different parts of the city, covering areas with a lot of trees, intense street traffic, narrow lanes, and open areas. In each, the participants were asked to fill a form, responding to questions about how they perceived the temperature on their bodies. Not being able to ride a bicycle and film at the same time, Caroline who was behind the camera, had the pleasure of being driven around in a cargo bike, recording the excursion from the street level.
In the interviews that have been recorded after the tour, participants reflected on the exercise. Connecting subjective temperature changes in different urban areas with the proof of ‘hard data’ was particularly interesting to one participant: Seeing the micro-climates change by several degrees in temperature, the participant said he now realised how the design of a city can really affect people’s well-being.
Guiding Questions
How can citizens become more active agents in climate science? And what happens when the gap between citizens and science is bridged? How does knowledge impact behaviour? These are the questions that led our filmic investigation in the three Living Labs in Amsterdam, Genoa and Bologna. As unique as each Living Lab’s work, as diverse were the voices that we heard and recorded. Outlined above are just a small selection of engaged citizens who, each in their own way, make a significant contribution to a large network of data collectors, that feed the insights of scientists about how the changing climate is affecting the lives of people in cities.
What was going to be one film covering the three LLs, is now turning into 3 separate films, given the diversity and multiplicity of voices that all play a part in making I-CHANGE possible on the ground. We look forward to presenting the films to you soon, so stay tuned!