Prospettiva Terra

The challenge

Prospettiva Terra is a non-profit project created by companies that decided to tackle global warming together, through technology and science. The challenge: to prove, with data, that every tree in a city is not a cost but an investment.

The project

The first project gives a voice to the trees of BAM — Biblioteca degli Alberi, in Milan, within the cultural programme of Fondazione Riccardo Catella. We installed 300 IoT sensors developed by Stefano Mancuso and PNAT, a spin-off of the University of Florence, on the trees of the park’s circular forests.

The Communitree® sensors analyse in real time the CO₂ stored, the particulate matter removed and the stability of each tree. This last measure is new to the scientific landscape: by reading oscillation frequencies it makes it possible to predict the risk of a tree falling and to act before extreme weather events.

The CO₂ and particulate data were broadcast throughout the project on a DOOH screen in Piazza Gae Aulenti, showing citizens in real time the benefits of the urban park next door.

The stability sensor comes from a genuine research project, with Prospettiva Terra acting as an accelerator: thanks to the installation and to the project funding, the machine-learning and AI system behind the sensor faced its first field test. Six months of data collection and processing made it possible to finalise an effective computational model, bringing the sensor a step away from the market, with the goal of making it accessible to cities and public administrations as a tool to protect urban greenery.

Partners & media coverage

Publitalia — media partner, told every phase with the support of Mediaset. Acone Associati — DOOH campaigns on maxi-screens across Milan for the whole duration of the project. INC (Istituto Nazionale di Comunicazione) — Media PR. Under the patronage of the City of Milan.

Gallery