Karlsruhe (GER)
Pilot city No. 4
Karlsruhe is situated in the Karlsruhe Technology Region in the Upper Rhine area close to France. It hosts excellent academic and research institutions, is an innovative hotspot of digitalisation and an outstanding cultural and creative centre. The Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe is a unique cultural institution worldwide.
Innovation management, internationalisation and economic growth are highly driven by industry clusters in IT, energy, automotive engineering and creative industries. With a population of 308,000 and growing, but limited space, sustainable spatial planning is essential for responsible and equitable growth: urban mobility systems, quality urban environment, affordable housing, and development of industrial estates. Further issues concern climate adaptation, waste reduction, water and energy consumption of households and businesses. The City of Karlsruhe is certified with the European Energy Award since 2010 and won a prize as Germany’s most sustainable city in 2015.
Karlsruhe shall continue to be a place to live with a high quality of life and a green city in the future. Today, the climate change that can already be observed requires forward-looking adaptation to the unavoidable consequences of climate change. Because Karlsruhe is located in the Upper Rhine Valley in the warmest region of Germany, climate adaptation also includes adapting to today's climate. This is due to the fact that heat waves with temperatures of over 35 °C during the day and only slight cooling at night occur regularly in summer. Due to the urban heat island effect, Karlsruhe's inner city is already up to 7 K warmer than the surrounding rural area. This is often also associated with high humidity.
What are our interests in CityCLIM?
CityCLIM will support implementing Karlsruhe's climate change adapation strategy. One focus of the strategy published in 2021 is heat protection, both in the field of public relations and health care as well as in relation to urban planning and urban greenery and in many other areas. Another focus is on dealing with drought and its consequences, especially in the forest and with regard to urban trees. Precautions against heavy rainfall events and flood protection are further important concerns, which primarily require measures in the fields of action of urban drainage and surface water.
The UltraHD weather forecasting service to be developed as part of CityCLIM will provide better insight into spatial temperature and precipitation patterns in the urban area and will expand the data base for local climate change adaptation measures in a suitably well-founded manner.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 101036814. This website reflects the views only of the Consortium, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained herein.
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