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One of the biggest hurdles in sustainable urban planning has been the lack of direct access to environmental data at a local scale. CURE’s efforts aimed to fix this problem by taking advantage of the vast amount of information collected by Copernicus, the Earth Observation (EO) component of the EU Space Programme.
“With CURE, we can support urban planners with spatial planning related to land use and transportation, but also with planning activities related to climate change adaptation and mitigation at neighbourhood scale,” explains project coordinator, Nektarios Chrysoulakis, director of research at the Foundation for Research and Technology in Greece.
His team created a 360-degree picture of urban environments by leveraging the four Copernicus Core Services: Land Monitoring Service (CLMS), Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), Climate Change Service (C3S) and Emergency Management Service (EMS), and combining them with EO data from other third-party sources.
This data was then used to monitor factors concerning climate change mitigation and adaptation, including the health of cities and social environments, energy and economics.
Empowering cities
CURE’s key achievement was the development of a user-friendly online system based on WEkEO, the Copernicus Data and Information Access Service (DIAS) that allows interested parties to make use of satellite data.
This portal provided access to the 11 different applications CURE developed to address urban resilience challenges related to heat and CO2 emissions, nature-based solutions, floods, subsidence, thermal comfort, air quality and health.
“If you are a small SME or urban planner, you can’t start from scratch and use the Copernicus Core Services,” says Chrysoulakis. “That’s why we collected, developed and provided a platform and the means for downstream application developers to use.”
Using Copernicus data, the CURE System is able to tailor individual applications. However, the project went beyond just data, it also focused on developing best practices for implementing it in the real world. Through workshops and collaboration with 10 pilot cities across Europe, CURE helped urban planners and policymakers integrate EO data into their decision-making processes.
The Cretan city of Heraklion in Greece is using CURE data to monitor the spatial-temporal pattern of CO2 emissions. The information helps them identify natural and human-made carbon sources and sinks, and to develop strategies to reduce emissions.
In Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, authorities leveraged CURE data to monitor changes in street surface temperature. This information helps them identify city hotspots and plan heat mitigation measures for sustainable urban development.
And in Bristol, United Kingdom, a pilot programme is utilising CURE data to track nitrogen oxide and particulate matter concentrations. This air quality data is used to inform public health bodies and implement targeted measures focused on specific sectors to reduce pollution levels.
Further work is under way in Basel, Berlin, Copenhagen, Ostrava, Munich, San Sebastian and Sofia.
Collaborative sustainability
Thanks to the creation of a network of pilot cities and sharing best practices, the project has promoted collaboration and knowledge exchange across Europe. This approach allows cities to learn from each other’s experiences and develop more effective solutions to common challenges.
Plus, CURE’s focus on open-source data and user-friendly tools ensures that its benefits are widely accessible. In the future, urban areas of all sizes (not just the major ones) will be able to make use of the project’s tools to enhance their resilience. This is particularly important for smaller cities that may not have the resources to invest in expensive monitoring systems.
The project’s success has been recognised through scientific publications and conferences such as the International Conference on Urban Climate, advancing knowledge in the field of urban resilience. It also offers valuable resources that will support implementation of the EU Mission: Adaptation to Climate Change in cities.
Looking ahead, CURE’s legacy is likely to be long-lasting. The project’s methodologies offer a valuable starting point for future initiatives, while the network of pilot cities established by CURE provides a strong foundation for continued collaboration and knowledge sharing.
“We proved that it can be done,” concludes Chrysoulakis. “We opened the way, developed the methods, and we know the different pieces of the puzzle. All this can be upscaled for a next-level project if the European Commission chooses to adopt it.”