Focused on U(rban) D(evelopement) E(xplorations) using N(atural) E(xperiments) the project gathers 9 partners, from 6 countries including Tunisia, Turkey, Serbia, Italy, France, and Slovenia, to build sustainable urban environments and address the challenges posed by increasing urbanisation and the effects of climate change.

UDENE’s main goal is to provide urban visionaries and developers with a virtual laboratory to test the impacts of their assumptions. The Exploration Tool (ET), one of the major project results, will provide scenario-based projections derived from Copernicus Earth Observation (EO) data complemented by relevant in-situ observations. It will be complemented by a Matchmaking Tool (MT) that will promote the uptake of European space-based offers and competencies and connect end-users to relevant products, solutions, services and applications from the European space sector.

Setting the bases for the collaboration to come, this three-days meeting was a wonderful opportunity for participants to get to know each other and to exchange on the future developments of the project.

Read and download the press release now!

Funded through the HORIZON Europe 2022 Space calls managed by EUSPA, the project will last until January 2026.

Follow the activities on the project on the dedicated social platforms, X, Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2023 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 101131190. 

Who can apply?

Diverse participants from city consortia, industries, SMEs, researchers, and experts.

Why apply?

Elevate your profile within the expansive EU Smart Cities community, fostering connections with influential EU-level initiatives and collaborative projects through the Smart Cities Marketplace. Engage in meaningful peer exchanges, potentially forging consortia to drive tangible, cross-regional, and Member State-reaching actions. Your ideas, your impact.

What is expected?

Members in the Discussion and Focus groups contribute on a voluntary basis. Focus groups meet online or in person, while Discussion groups exchange ideas in an online forum.

When to apply?

Applications for both calls must be submitted by 29 September 2023 at 18:00 CET.

Explore the possibilities, shape your project ideas, and close a deal for launching your Smart City solution!

For inquiries, contact info@smartcitiesmarketplace.eu. Apply now and be a part of the future of smart cities!

Apply here

The World Settlement Footprint provides five products that monitor the changing dynamics of urban areas. Such products help policy makers to take informed decisions to make cities more sustainable and resilient to future changes. The WSF combines satellite Earth observation with machine learning and information and telecommunication technologies to provide assessments and predictions, and even to enable participatory platforms to collect and share information on urban settlements.

The 7^th episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series was conducted by Dr Thomas Esch, Senior Scientist and leader of the “Smart Cities and Spatial Development” team at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

83% of cities are highly vulnerable to disaster-related mortality and the number of people living in urban areas is constantly increasing. Sustainable and resilient management of our cities is of key importance for our future. The World Settlement Footprint Initiative developed by DLR wants to exploit Earth observation to provide up-to-date and area-wide insights into the status and the dynamics of the built environment.

Sentinel-1 radar and Sentinel-2 multispectral images, open and free, are the core of the WSF information system, that has the ambition of providing free services.

In addition to the information provided daily by satellites, the platform includes data generated by social media and volunteered geographic information, like OpenStreetMap.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence allow scientists at DLR to organise the data collected and to turn it into actionable information for policy makers, scientists and the industry.

The World Settlement Footprint initiative includes five products, or data layers.

The WSF is the first they created in 2015 and updated in 2019, a binary settlement map of the globe indicating where settlements are and how they interrelate with each other. The product is based on Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite images. It provides very precise information on the settlements’ extent on the entire Earth.

WSF visualisation of settlements in the Bavarian area of Germany based on a Sentinel-2 image and processed by an algorithm.

The second product considers the amount of impervious surface to locate the settlements. Created in 2019, it is based on WSF and Sentinel-2 images and it provides an insight into the density of built areas within cities.

WSF Imperviousness in Laos. Here, different satellite images collected over a period of time have been analysed with the support of machine learning to mask the clouds on the final image. The product shows indexes, like the built-up areas (in red), the vegetation index (in green) and the water index (in blue).

The third product developed by DLR, WSF Population, uses satellite data and statistical data on population to provide information on the distribution of people in a certain area. These products have been used on several occasions by entities such as the World Bank, that asked them to estimate the number of people exposed to natural hazards on the whole African continent.

WSF Population showing the distribution of population in Cape Town. White areas are industrial complexes where no population is estimated.

WSF Evolution shows changes of the built-up area and trends over time. Developed in collaboration with Google, the product shows where settlements are growing and how fast.

WSF evolution allows to distinguish planned urban development from more spontaneous urban growth globally. It also allows to measure indicator 11.3.1 “Ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate” of the Sustainable Development Goal 11 “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.  Indeed, a city is supposed to be more sustainable if the settlements’ growth is higher than the population’s growth.

By combining the data on settlements’ growth coming from WSF evolution with population data provided by the UN, the experts of DLR were able to find out that in cities in low-income countries, settlements grow faster than the population, while in cities in high-income countries, buildings tend to appear at a slower pace than new inhabitants.

Evolution of settlements’ extent in Cairo from 1985 to 2015 based on Landsat satellite images from that period. The colours — from red (before 1985) to violet (2015) — indicate the years in which the buildings appeared.

The products of the World Settlement Footprint are continuously evolving. Currently, building up on the WSF Evolution, WSF Imperviousness is being fed with Landsat images from 1985 that allow for the assessment of the evolution of the impervious surface over time, while also indicating population density.

In the future, Dr Esch’s team wishes to integrate such analyses with population data, as they did for the International Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, where they mapped the distribution of the population from 2015 to 2020.

Evolution of impervious surface over population density in Gaza between 1995 and 2015.

Most population modelling activities are still made in 2D. The last product of the WSF initiative, WSF 3D, also includes information on the height of the buildings in the settlements mapped, which allows to estimate population density much more precisely.

The algorithm of the WSF 3D product estimates the location of the centres of cities based on buildings’ volume.

In the main graph: the height of buildings in Paris. Even though it is still not possible to calculate the height of each building, the algorithm of WSF 3D allowed scientists at DLR to find out that cities in high-income countries tend to concentrate high buildings in the city centre, while these are more equally distributed in the neighbourhoods of cities of low-income countries.

These data have a great potential to support decision making, especially when integrated within thematic applications. Among current activities, DLR is running the Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform project, funded by the European Space Agency. On the platform users can generate information on demand by selecting their area and time of interest. The platform also provides other data, like population data, that can be combined to produce statistics.

The World Settlement Footprint intiative’s products are largerly used for evidence-based policy advice and decision support (e.g., by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank) and for knowledge and technology transfer (more than a thousand institutions use the WSF products).

Nevertheless, also local authorities can use such data if they have a geographic information system (GIS). In addition, the WSF can also provide data in the form of statistics or Excel tables that can be used also by municipalise without a GIS. At the moment, the DLR team is also working on technologies to transfer information machine-to-machine for users who can’t store large datasets.

To know more about the activities of DLR visit: https://www.dlr.de/EN/Home/home_node.html

The presentation of the webinar is available here: 20221104_EurisyMembersCorner_DLR-TEsch (2)

The recordings can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/R08Rq6DUAVI

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) on the 16th of December 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM CET.

As the newest associate member of the European Space Agency, the Slovak Space Office intends to leverage on international opportunities to boost the development and use of space-based services locally.

After the Members’ Corner webinar organised on the issue of space-based services for the transport sector in May 2022, the Slovak Space Office hosted a new webinar of the series, this time focused on their activities to stimulate the use of satellite data and services to build sustainable cities and communities.

Despite being a relatively small country, Slovakia has a vibrant space ecosystem, including private space tech companies, R&D institutions, and companies operating in spin-in technologies (such as electronics and ITC).

After becoming the newest associate member of the European Space Agency, the Slovak Space Office prepares to select new additional programmes within the organisation, and to leverage on its fast-growing downstream ecosystem to stimulate the participation of local entities to Horizon Europe projects.

Michal Brichta, leading the Industry Branch of the Slovak Space Office, introduced the audience to the activities and the mission of the newly established national space agency, created one year ago by merging the Space Policy Unit of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports and the Space Industry Unit of the Investment and Trade Development Agency of Slovakia (SARIO).

The SSO currently supports 20 project partnerships, resulting from inter-institutional as well as international cooperations. Both locally and internationally, the SSO also supports discussions on the democratisation of space, working to ensure that all countries and all people can benefit from space research and applications.

Furthermore, the SSO operates to raise the awareness of such benefits of private and public entities, and to build skills for the future generations.

To this end, the SSO organises the “Emerging Space” staple event, which next edition will be held on May 3^rd 2023, and it has been hosting a Cassini Hackathon in 2021. In November 2022, the SSO will also contribute to ActInSpace, an international innovation contest uniting over 100 cities across 50 countries, open to everyone.

For this 6^th webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series, the Slovak Space office selected three examples of use of satellite data to increase quality of life in urban aeras.

The first example was presented by Alex Kutka, from Gospace Tech s.r.o. Initially focused on upstream space activities, since 2016 Gospace made its mission to “bring rocket science into urban challenges”.

Since then, the company developed a smart parking solution and a smart hydrometeorological station monitoring system, both using data from satellites.

This second service was developed to enable city authorities to intervene rapidly in the event of a rise of the Danube River in Bratislava. The system allows for the automatic monitoring of water levels and it includes a mobile app that alerts authorities and citizens via email and SMS.

The system is based on a small sensor (match.com), the size of a cup of tea, connected through a wireless satellite connection and equipped with a battery that can last for at least 5 years. Thanks to the satellite connection, the measurements of the sensor can be communicated to a control unit over a distance up to 700 kilometres.

This system allows for the monitoring of water pumps, water reservoirs, waste waters, and river levels also in remote locations, and even underground.

Gospace’s portfolio of customers includes the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, the Bratislava Water Company and the Slovak Water Management Company.

Following the presentation of the services of Gospace, the webinar showcased the experience of the University of Prešov (UNIPO) using satellite data to come up with innovative urban solutions based on citizen science.

Since 2020, Mr Miloslav Michalko is one of the two mentors of a group of self-organised students who are passionate about the potential of crowd mapping. The group is part of an international community of humanitarian mappers, that got inspired by the role played by satellites to enable mapping and post-disaster intervention in Haiti in 2010.

At UNIPO, they acknowledge the power of the crowds to use satellite imagery to map roads, trails, cafes, train stations and much more around the world, as it happens in OpenStreetMap (OSM) under an open license.

In 2022, the UNIPO team won a citython co-funded by the European Union with the “Green Parking Smart Surrounding” app. Since temperatures in cities are increasing, the team wanted to provide people with an app allowing to monitor temperatures in parking areas and to take measures to cool down the air there.

The app relies on satellite data from Sentinel-2 and Landsat to identify the hot spots. Based on the analysis of the data, the team proposed measures to cool the air around parking spots, for example by adding natural shadowing and installing solar panels, which potential output is also calculated by using satellite data.

The app wants to use citizen science as a way to actively engage people in data collection and mapping. In this sense, Citythons are not only a means to come up with new solutions, but also an occasion to train the young generation on the potential of satellite imagery to design, implement and monitor policies to make cities more liveable and sustainable.

Finally, Mr Matus Bakon presented some of the products developed by INSAR s.r.o. to monitor urban infrastructure with the support of satellites.

The stability of buildings in urban areas is threatened by events like landslides and earthquakes and collecting in-situ measurements to better prevent and manage damage is often expensive and time-consuming for local authorities.

The app developed by INSAR provides visual alerts on the conditions of roads, rails and infrastructure.

The application relies on satellite INSAR data and provides guidance to urban decision-makers in a number of cities, for example in New Delhi, in India, but also in Slovakia, where the company provides data useful to prevent and understand damage to buildings caused by undermining.

The use of satellite data allows customers to limit ground inspections and to have an historical overview of soil movements over a vast area.

Urban planners, but also companies and citizens can easily identify areas where soil movements could endanger infrastructure and buildings, verify conflicting uses of the urban space, and plan interventions (e.g. renovation works).

The solution is particularly interesting for local governments, providers of smart cities solutions, infrastructure operators, and assets managers.

To know more about the activities of the Slovak Space Office visit: https://spaceoffice.sk/ 

Presentations:

Michal Brichta, Slovak Space Office

Satellite technologies for smart cities and sustainable communities in Slovakia

Alex Kutka, Gospace Tech s.r.o.

Internet of Things: solutions for connecting in-situ measurements and satellites

Miloslav Michalko, University of Presov

From satellite data to smart solutions for cities: Experience with Citythons

Matus Bakon, INSAR s.r.o.

Satellite data as a critical asset for urban infrastructure monitoring

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) on the World Settlement Footprint initiative on the 4th of November 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM CET !

To register: https://bit.ly/3eJfuZy

During the workshop, a variety of satellite-based services in cities were presented.

• For the production and management of solar energy, satellite imagery can help cities to exploit unused roofs or parking spaces to produce green energy. The two applications presented are In Sun We Trust and NextSENSE, two online services providing access to  data on solar radiation at the city level.
• Earth observation data also carries precious information to foresee soil subsidence and to prioritise the maintenance of buildings, infrastructure and street pavements. The case of Amsterdam demonstrated how satellites help to better monitor bridges in the historical city centre, while the example of the Spanish Geological and Mining Institute showed how Earth observation helps to foresee soil subsidence due to groundwater extraction near the Segura river basin.
• Data such as from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) can help cities to monitor pollutants in the air affecting urban health. The National Observatory of Athens presented an online platform (SMURBS EO Platform) that makes available data on fine particulate matter in cities based on satellite imagery. The CURE project (Copernicus for Urban Resilience in Europe) also illustrated how air quality data derived from Earth observation can be combined with other data to help local authorities define the best policies to make their cities more sustainable.

Furthermore, there are funding mechanisms to develop new services better adapted to user needs. Through the European Green Deal Calls, with specific calls for urban solutions, the European Commission makes available support and funding to increase the sustainability of our cities. In line with the development of the Copernicus services and the creation of the DIAS (Data and Information Access Services), many services based on Earth observation have also been funded.

Slide from the presentation of Cristina Martinez, DG CONNECT

The lack of awareness among public administrations about the existence of services based on satellite applications, and in particular on Earth observation, is still a big obstacle. The information carried by Earth observation data remains difficult to find for the local city managers. This highlights the need to better communicate about the existence of satellite data and services. One way of doing this is to embed the data extracted from satellite imagery where the intended users actually look for information, such as on websites of regional and local entities dedicated to public services.

More case studies of satellite-based services demonstrating cost-effectiveness and their capacity to respond to cities’ concrete operational needs are required. Such case studies should not be showcased only to audiences with an interest towards ICTs and satellite applications, but should be presented to the general public and to local administrations in their language, avoiding technical jargon.

“Cities are hampered by budget constraints and low innovation culture – however the efficiency arguments supporting ICT investment are fully compelling and may be viewed as a solution to financial pressure. But for these arguments to win through, the services need to prove to be fit for purpose.” David Ludlow, Copernicus for Urban Resilience in Europe

The key to turn innovation into operation is to focus on needs. The Eurisy experience shows that the satellite-based services that are most likely to be used operationally and sustainably by local administrations, are those that have been conceived to respond to their specific needs and those that can be easily embedded into their operations, requiring little maintenance or technical skills.

To focus on needs means to involve city administrations actively in all phases of R&D projects, which requires a prior process of mutual education between city administrations and service providers. On the one hand, service providers need to learn about the priorities and needs of city departments, as well as about their structure, capabilities, and functioning. On the other hand, public administrations need to understand what parameters satellites can monitor, at what resolution and how often, and need to be aware of the time and resources they are expected to invest.

Finally, even when city administrations are aware of satellite-based services and convinced of their cost-efficiency, procuring them might not be obvious. Cities need support to procure satellite-based services because they often lack in-house experience to select the most pertinent service and to write the technical specifications for it.

Energy management, connectivity, mobility, urban planning, protecting infrastructure against geo-hazards, air quality monitoring, the list of satellite applications goes on. However, there is still a lot to be done to turn innovation into operation. The speakers that contributed to our workshop are well aware that the transfer of satellite-based services to cities can only happen if these are clearly adapted to the operational needs and capabilities of local administrations. If all stakeholders focus their communications on such aspects, they can find the common language needed to co-design scalable satellite-based solutions enabling cities to make their green and digital transition.

The recordings of the sessions are available here. The presentations of the different speakers are accessible on the event page. You can also read the full report.