Winner of: 1 Prize, the Creative Business Health Challenge, and the Sustainable Living Challenge

The CityTree by Green City Solutions is a 4m high, 3m wide and 60cm deep, freestanding unit, which contains specific moss cultures that eat particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide and ozone – together offsetting 240 t CO2/year. The construction contains smart sensors collecting environmental as well as climatic data to regulate and control the unit and ensure that the moss culture survives. Thus, the CityTree has the same effect as 275 natural urban trees but requires 99& less space and 90% less investment. Every CityTree has a capacity to clean the air in a proximity of up to 50m. Thanks to solar panels and a rainwater retention system, the unit requires less than 5 hours of maintenance per year. Furthermore, CityTrees allow digital and visual information transmission via e.g. wifi, IBeacon and NFC for the purpose of showing sponsored messages and advertising, while integrated screens make them ‘green gateways’ to the Smart Infrastructures of the cities.

The team of founders consists of four passionate friends whose friendships go back more than 15 years. Our backgrounds in various disciplines: urban design, IT, biology and mechanical engineering, has assured our success up to today and therefore, according to the Fast Company magazine, they are the ‘impossible team’.

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