Use of remote sensing for management of blue-green infrastructure in the process of city adaptation to climate change

Introduction

Rebuilding blue-green infrastructure (BGI), and thus the enhancement of its ecosystem services, is one of the main efforts that cities undertake as part of climate change adaptation. However, impermeable surfaces (grey infrastructure), unfavourable water conditions, declining vegetation quality, and rising ground temperatures are key environmental problems limiting the adaptation potential of BGI. Furthermore, EU cities often lack knowledge to precisely indicate priority implementation areas for efficient adaptation.

Project Objective

The main objective of the LIFECOOLCITY project is to increase the adaptive capacity of at least 10,000 EU cities by implementing two innovative IT systems for BGI management.

EUROPE System

The EUROPE system, based on satellite data, will be implemented in 10,000 selected EU cities in 23 EU countries to develop a ranking of BGI status related to the key environmental problems.

CITY System

The CITY system, based on airborne data, will be implemented in the city of Wroclaw to:

1. Precisely identify areas with the highest priority for action.
2. Link them to the most effective Nature-based Solutions (NBS) interventions.
3. Monitor their performance after implementation.

NBS Interventions

Based on the CITY system’s recommendations, three NBS intervention types will be implemented in Wroclaw:

1. Protection of spontaneous greenery at a minimum of 5 ha.
2. Change of the management procedures at a minimum of 62 ha.
3. BGI building - a minimum of 15 constructions.

Implementations will be co-designed in a participatory process.

Effectiveness Monitoring

The effectiveness of the CITY system recommendations will be verified by monitoring the key environmental problems at the NBS intervention sites, as well as tracked by 22 horizontal and specific KPIs.

Commercialisation and Replication

The EUROPE and CITY systems will be commercialised and replicated during and after the project among the target group cities. This replication will be preceded by information and education campaigns aimed at reaching the target group and building knowledge to fully utilise the functions of the developed systems.