Colouring Dresden project seeks citizen scientists

Since the beginning of March, citizens of Dresden can actively participate in a citizen science project. The project is about bringing together knowledge about the city's diverse buildings in a digital map and thus making it visible and usable. The information is collected on the online platform "Colouring Dresden", which is operated by the IOER. Various event formats provide insight into the project and invite people to join in the research.

Map section of Dresden with coloured buildings on a black background — Source: IÖR-Media/GeoSN

On 6 March, the official starting signal was given for the research project and the online platform of the same name "Colouring Dresden". Since then, numerous Dresden citizens have already registered and mapped a wide variety of building features.

How old are Dresden's buildings? What materials were they mainly made of? And how well are they structurally prepared to cope with extreme events such as heavy rain, floods or heat? - In order to be able to answer these and other questions, information on the buildings of the city of Dresden and their features is to be collected in an open knowledge platform, visualised in maps and made available as open data.

The offer is aimed at everyone who is interested in the city of Dresden and its architecture, in preservation of historical monuments or climate-adapted building. Everyone, from schoolchildren to senior citizens, can participate. Hobby researchers are just as welcome as people who like to work with archives or photo databases.

In order to provide information about the project and to present the various possibilities for active involvement, the project team invites you to a whole series of events.

The Dialogue Series "Building culture and climate-friendly architecture" (Baukultur und klimagerechte Architektur) provides insights into the practical and research topics of two experts each. Experiences in the "Colouring Dresden" project can also be exchanged in an open discussion.
The Digital Regulars' Table (every third Thursday of the month) is open to everyone who would like to exchange ideas and network within the project. The project team also provides insight into current background statistics and welcomes suggestions that help to further develop the project and create synergies.
The project team has also already invited to joint mapping events, in the streets of Dresden as well as from the desk. The next opportunity to jointly map a part of Dresden's buildings is on 30 June, 6.30 p.m. Then the project team invites you to an excursion and joint mapping between the IOER at Weberplatz in Dresden and the campus grounds of TU Dresden during the Dresden Science Night.

Scientific contact
Dr. Robert Hecht (project management), E-Mail: R.Hechtioer@ioer.de
Tabea Danke (project coordination), E-Mail: T.Dankeioer@ioer.de

Background
The project is funded as a winner in the citizen science competition "Auf die Plätze! Citizen science in your city". The competition is being organised by "Wissenschaft im Dialog", the joint initiative of German science for science communication, and by the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin in close cooperation with the citizen science platform "Bürger schaffen Wissen" (citizens create knowledge). The funding comes from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

The Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER) submitted the project idea together with the Association of German Architects (BDA), Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB) with its regional portal Saxorum and the ZfBK Centre for Building Culture Saxon. In the meantime, many other partners are supporting the project.

More information on the project (in German)

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