CitySports pilot – climate-adaptive artificial grass pitches
Contributing to a sustainable and climate-robust urban living environment
What do we see here?
The artificial grass system, developed and tested within the framework of CitySports, temporarily stores infiltrating rainwater in a hollow foundation located directly under the playing pitch. Through capillary action, the water is returned to the surface for evaporation. Thanks to this system, the rainwater is captured (not discharged to the sewage system or surface water) and is made available for evaporation and thereby to cool the pitch. The system provides a solution to the negative features of existing artificial grass pitches, such as the (overly) rapid discharge of rainwater and the extreme heating due to the absence of cooling through evaporation, without compromising on pitch playability.
What's this pilot for?
The CitySports artificial grass system makes an important contribution to a sustainable and climate-robust urban living environment. It eliminates the negative features of conventional artificial grass, which, in sunny and warm weather, can heat up to a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius. This contribution involves an integration of surplus rainwater storage, and thus the prevention of urban flooding, with the evaporation of this water, and thus the cooling and better preservation of the playability of artificial grass pitches, and the reduction of the city’s heat stress.
Who is behind this?
CitySports is a TKI Water Technology project. The scientific research is being conducted by KWR at two locations in Amsterdam: the Marineterrein Amsterdam, and V.V.A. Spartaan on the Laan van Spartaan. KWR is collaborating in this project with the following consortium partners: Municipality of Amsterdam, Drain Products, Marineterrein, Waternet, Veolia and Dutchblue.
