In July 2025, the ICN project ZUKAMAS was on display in Karlsruhe and Freiburg with the mobile participation laboratory “MobiLab” from the KIT Center for Human and Technology:

    Karlsruhe, Kronenplatz | July 17 to 19, 2025
    Freiburg, Platz der alten Synagoge | July 23 to 25, 2025

The aim was to make the dialogue about urban trees, urban greenery, and climate adaptation visible, tangible, and participatory. 

Under the key theme of “Nachhaltigkeit findet Stadt”, the event took place in Freiburg in cooperation with EUCOR as part of the “Eucor MobiLab Roadshow,” which aims to make cutting-edge research on sustainability in the Upper Rhine region visible to everyone. On Wednesday, July 23, 2025, the second day of the “EUCOR MobiLab Roadshow” in Freiburg, the projects from the Innovationscampus Nachhaltigkeit (ICN) were presented: ZUKAMAS was on site alongside other ICN projects to provide an initial insight into the work of the research project and to be available for discussion.

EXCHANGE/INFORM
The ICN research project ZUKAMAS provided information about its subprojects at the mobile participation laboratory “MobiLab.” Various project posters were provided, but the focus was on engaging in dialogue with city residents.

GET INVOLVED/PARTICIPATE
A space was created to explore the significance of urban trees for the residents of Karlsruhe and Freiburg: A participatory activity allowed visitors to record their connections/associations with trees in their city: the result was a tree that reflects the diverse connections people have with urban trees as a snapshot of their feelings. Children were able to visualize their associations with trees at a painting table.

Visitors could also take part in the research project's survey on the cultural ecosystem services of urban trees on screens in the MobiLab or use “Cognitive Affective Mapping (CAM)” to visually represent their thoughts and feelings about urban trees.

LEARNING/EXPERIMENTING
Around the MobiLab, visitors could explore the prototype of an energy-autonomous sensors that measures air and soil temperature as well as other parameters at the root of a tree. These soil probes are being developed and used in the subproject “Smart Sensors: High Tech for Urban Trees.”

The subproject “Urban trees of the future: Which species can withstand climate change?” provided information about what tree rings reveal about tree growth. Visitors had the opportunity to count the age of the respective trees themselves on three wooden discs.

“CitiesForALL” | Thoughts on animals in the city
On Friday, July 18 (Karlsruhe) and July 25, 2025 (Freiburg), another participatory event was offered in cooperation with the “CitiesForALL” research project. A space was opened up between animal postcards to exchange ideas about wild animals in the city.

“Freiburg packt an” an initiative of the City of Freiburg's Garten- und Tiefbauamts (Parks and Public Works Department) | Tree bed planting campaign
On Friday, July 25, 2025, a tree bed planting campaign took place in Freiburg with Kelly Baldwin. She is a doctoral student at the University of Freiburg and an employee at ICLEI. Despite the rain, a tree bed was successfully planted in front of the municipal theater in Freiburg. 

Freiburg Umweltschutzamt (Environmental Protection Agency) | Mobile green room: linger, relax, reflect.
In the mobile green room, which was placed by the Umweltschutzamt Freiburg (Environmental Protection Agency) on the site of the old synagogue, the effect of urban greenery could be experienced and felt.