Tour of blue-green infrastructure as part of the Plants4Cooling project

On 15 April 2026, an open discussion event took place in Wolkersdorf as part of the Plants4Cooling project (Interreg ATCZ00093), organised by BAW-IKT in collaboration with Natur im Garten and the Lower Austrian District Agricultural Authority. Numerous stakeholders accepted the invitation.

The event kicked off with a virtual laboratory tour, during which the latest findings from substrate analyses carried out at the BAW-IKT laboratory were presented. The focus was on the significance of different substrate types for blue-green infrastructure, as well as the challenges involved in their soil hydrological analysis. This was followed by a visit to a multi-benefit hedge on the premises of Steinbauer. Its functions and planting conditions were explained by the Lower Austrian District Agricultural Authority. A measuring system developed as part of the project to record the cooling effect is also located on site: a thermal imaging camera compares the surface temperatures of the hedge, meadow and sealed surfaces in real time. Using an artificial reference leaf, the evaporation rate and thus the cooling effect of the hedge is quantified using the so-called ‘3T-model’. The results are to be displayed clearly in real time at the Wolkersdorf ecocenter in future.

Later in the programme, three ‘sponge city’ trees were inspected at the Wolkersdorf road maintenance depot, which differ in terms of their water supply methods: surface water via a ground filter basin, roof water via partial drainage pipes, and infiltration via a permeable car park surface. Initial monitoring results were presented. The event concluded with a virtual excursion to Seestadt, offering insights into monitoring systems for infiltration basins and a ‘sponge city’ tree.