Planetary Optimist · Urban biodiversity monitoring
Monitoring urban biodiversity
In brief
Experimental monitoring system developed with Google X. The project spread across ecological research, physical prototyping and digital interaction to turn urban planters into habitats, sensors and public interfaces.
My role
Urban planters needed to shelter pollinators, record what they did, and give people a reason to notice. I researched and designed the physical system, including its enclosure and drawings, and co-designed the digital experience. Eleven installations were built in Poland and Buffalo, New York, and more than 500 insect images were annotated.
- Role
- Product designer and researcherPhysical-system designUX/UI co-design
- When
- 2022
- Team
- 3 designers4 engineers5+ biologists
- Scope
- Physical structurePWAfield testing
- Deployment
- 11 installationsPoland and Buffalo, New York500+ insect images annotated
Overview
One planter and three jobs
Pollinators needed food, shelter and safe materials. Researchers needed observations they could trust. Passers-by needed a reason to stop. The sensing equipment kept changing, so the enclosure was redesigned around each device. The planter carried a biodiversity diagram that was deliberately incomplete: a QR code opened the rest.
Designing for three different users
The primary user could not explain what it needed
Pollinators were the primary users because their activity generated the data. Researchers needed reliable observations, while the public needed a reason to notice and engage with the installations.
Pollinators
Food and shelter and safe materials
Researchers
Reliable observations on ecological activity
Public
A visible reason to notice and understand biodiversity
The physical structure
Attract attention. Hide the technology.
Physical prototypes evolved mainly as the sensing equipment was changing. We tested a couple of devices and I redesigned the protective enclosure whenever the sensing equipment, dimensions or connections changed.
From invisible data to public interaction
When the planter became the interface to scan
Each planter embodied a biodiversity diagram in its physical form, but its meaning was intentionally incomplete. To understand what the structure represented, visitors scanned a QR code that opened the digital experience. From there, they could discover the meaning behind the visualisation, read the planter’s data, find other installations around the city and unlock them as they explored.
Deployment
Built and deployed during spring and summer 2022
Physical installations, live PWA and the city unlock experience
Contribution
From drawings to installation
I researched and designed the original physical system, including its structure, hardware enclosure, maintenance drawers, technical drawings and physical data-visualisation concept. I also participated in building and installing the Polish structures. A Buffalo-based designer adapted the system for local construction and installation in New York. I co-designed the digital experience with another designer, collaborating throughout the project with engineers and biological specialists.
