Innovation in Community involvement with Climathon Hangzhou, China
At the Climathon Hangzhou, in 24 hours, 8 teams of 28 students participated in the competition. They worked together to provide innovative solutions to the environmental problems faced by the city of Hangzhou in China.
The ‘Climathon’ is a series of international innovative design marathons dedicated to solving urban climate problems. Initiated by Climate-KIC (European Union Climate Change Knowledge Innovation Group), it aims to gather people from all over the world who are interested and capable of climate governance, and within 24 hours, work together to advise on the environmental problems faced by their cities. The global city “Climathon” challenge hosted by the Melton Foundation Zhejiang University, with the theme of ‘Waste management&Community involvement’, invited challengers to discuss the current situation of the epidemic and the subsequent economic and social recovery process based on the characteristics of the city of Hangzhou.
Participants conducted intensive brainstorming and efficient teamwork in just 24 hours, and finally put forward the results:
- Visualization Community Garbage Sorting and Recycling Station
- Integrated Recycling Service System
- Sponge City Construction Hangzhou
, and many other creative projects! Each team focused on the environmental protection issues of Hangzhou City from a multi-disciplinary perspective, really showed us the attitude of “be the change”, and brought a show to the participants in the online exhibition. A feast of in-depth thinking! 
The organizers share with us,
On the morning of October 17, 2020, we introduced the significance and purpose of the event and announced the opening of the event. After the opening of the event, our guest clubs: Cultural China Club and Model United Nations Association gave us wonderful workshops and introduced some environmental protection concepts. This also initiated the participates to think about environmental problems around us.
COVID-19 has reduced global carbon dioxide emissions by 17% in the first quarter, but as the epidemic situation improves, it can be foreseen that this reduction will be unsustainable. We can explore how to save energy and reduce emissions while returning the world to normal.
Driven by Taobao and other electronic shopping malls, China’s network economy is booming in the 21st century and has become an important part of China’s social economy. As the city where the online business platform magnate “Alipay” is located, Hangzhou breeds and incubates many new Internet economy enterprises. With the background of the rapid development of network economy, how to better promote the resource reuse and recycling of corresponding enterprises, industries, and other wastes, so as to save energy and achieve the situation of rapid economic development and green and harmonious environment is an important issue that Hangzhou faces when it is moving towards becoming the first-tier cities.
At the same time, the community is also an important part of the city. In the context of the community with Chinese characteristics, how to mobilize the enthusiasm of individuals and make more people invest in waste management is also a promising research direction.
The main purpose of our Climathon was to discuss which systems, behaviors, and technological changes in the current and subsequent economic and social revival process can play a role in climate improvement, or make it worse. Based on the characteristics of Hangzhou, we asked participants to brainstorm ideas and provide innovative and effective solutions for the recovery and reuse of waste resources.
On the afternoon of October 17, 2020, we invited Fu Yujie, a doctoral student majoring in energy and environmental engineering, to share with us some of his experiences and knowledge in the field of environmental protection, and then answered some questions for the participating teams.
After 24 hours of intense preparation, 8 teams proposed solutions respectively on packaging material and clothes recycling, garbage classification, sponge city, and garbage degradation, with the application of cutting-edge technology such as GIS and IoT. Among these 8 well-planned proposals, the winner, team NoSleeper, stood out with their highly feasible solution of garbage biodegradation. Team stm32’s GIS solution for package delivery optimization and team WE’s analysis of Hangzhou’s sponge city won runner-up and 3rd place. We invited our guest Pro. Zhu to comment on the excellent performance of the contestants. The winners also told their stories about environmental protection and their experience in the competition.
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