CBER Seminar - Aude Vuilliomenet, UCL

Abstract: In this seminar, I will be discussing my PhD research entitled “Gardens of Things” which lies at the intersection of ecology, urban science, and electronics. 

Extreme weather events are driving cities to reconsider urban design. Recent efforts by urban planners and policy-makers to incorporate nature into cities include concepts such as nature-based solutions, biophilic design, and green and blue infrastructure. These terms cover elements from biodiversity to human health and well-being, as well as resilience and sustainability. Considering the increased interest in urban greening, one question that arises is how can cities manage and monitor these newly created green habitats to ensure they deliver the ecological-social and environmental benefits they have been designed for. 

The “Gardens of Things” PhD research explores the potential of technological tools to inform and evaluate the efforts by cities to green their urban spaces. The name “Gardens of Things” reflects the focus of the research on both the elements of gardens such as plants, animals, and people and the network of internet-connected sensor devices refer to as the Internet of Things (IoT). The research aim is to investigate the use of IoT sensor networks and embedded machine learning (ML), also known as edge AI, to better understand the ecological-social and environmental processes of urban green spaces.  

The research is made of different case studies, each aiming to develop an element of a monitoring system that can evaluate the ecological life of urban green spaces. The research is made of different case studies, each aiming to develop an element of a monitoring system that can evaluate the ecological life of urban green spaces. The first case study engages with the real-time acoustics classification of bats and birds, the second with real-time visual detections of flowers and insects in wildflower meadows, and the third with real-time monitoring of wasps’ nests. In addition to collecting and processing data, Gardens of Things PhD examines how the sensed data can be presented physically to citizens in interactive and informative ways to encourage appreciation of nature in urban settings.