Re.Rethink.Reuse.Rewater.

There are over 4 billion city residents. Already, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, and this number is steadily increasing. By 2030, it is expected to reach 60%. This means that cities will become the primary habitat for humanity.

At the same time, cities are grappling with global warming, the heat island effect, drought, and urban sprawl. This makes cities challenging places to live. Our concern is how to manage these issues and reduce the inconveniences of living in crowded, noisy, and polluted urban environments.
Cities are becoming increasingly difficult to live in while simultaneously attracting more residents. The forecasts are not optimistic, so cities are taking a series of actions to adapt to upcoming changes. The two main problems are:

1. the urban heat island and the question of how to survive in constantly worsening thermal conditions in cities?

2. sudden heavy rains that cannot be managed with existing infrastructure and the question of how to turn the issue of flash floods into a resource by retaining water in the ecosystem?

The aim of the project is to create an efficient green hydroponic system for the heat island effect mitigation and water retention. 

We created ReSpot - urban green acupuncture semi-autonomous shelter, that is intended to lower the local temperature and relieve urban heat islands! The system connected to weather forecasting, allowing tracking and response to changing weather conditions in real-time.

Satellite Data Usage

We used Copernicus Program to recognize urban heat islands in Poland. 

Satellite data are needed for diagnosing the current condition of urban heat islands and determining places where ReSpots are most needed, analyzing future business clients, i.e. determining trends in the formation of heat islands.

Why we are different and worth paying attention? 

Transforming rainwater into a resource instead of waste, an semi-autonomous, automatic, self-contained system leads to easier maintenance of municipal rainwater drainage networks and prevents local flooding, reducing the costs of storm aftermath cleanup.

An autonomous, automatic, self-contained system results in lower maintenance costs. When establishing municipal green areas, the initial cost is just the beginning, as subsequent maintenance expenses can significantly burden the city's budget, accumulating over the years.

A point-based, modular solution that adapts to available space ensures that even in the densely built city center, there's room for a green area. This retention and purification solution optimizes space usage, simultaneously making such areas suitable for recreational purposes.

Challenges we are solving

Supporting sustainable infractructure development | Strengthening food security & acces to clean water

Members

Sara Strączek - role in the project: leader; 
PSPA, chairwoman of the Student Council of Polish Space Agency, geologist, planetologist, space lover

Urszula Sibik -  role in the project: satellite data usage; 
geologist, environmental protection student and passionate, member of the Student Council of Polish Space Agency

Agata Pelka - role in the project: business model creator;
over 9 years of proffesional experience, Urban Planner and GIS Specialist in Sulejówek City Hall, Spatial Planning Masters Degree (Warsaw University of Life Science), Postgraduate GIS (Warsaw University of Technology) and Management studies (Warsaw School of Economics), thirsty for knowledge and open for innovations

Anna Górska - role in the project: ReSpot designer;
geographer, data processing in GIS, deals with field research, most often mapping, interested in environmental protection, nature and geographical education, photography