Buzzing in the City and the Internet of Things

Transformational potentials of urban apiculture from a social anthropological perspective

Abstract

Using ethnographic methods and data, this paper explores the transformational potential of urban beekeeping for climate-neutral and intelligent cities, e.g., in terms of low-emission urban food production or pollination services for urban biodiversity. As a result, the current trend of beekeeping in urban areas shows a combination of social innovations (community beekeeping) and technological innovations (agro-informatics techniques and Internet of Things applications). Both innovations are in tension between ecological motivations on the one hand and agro-industrial orientations of digital technologies for beekeepers on the other hand. The results show that the transformation potential of urban beekeeping lies in particular in the networking of beekeeping data and in the integration of nature conservation-related data through information and communication technologies.