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

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

European cities face strong challenges posed by climate change. With increasing urbanisation, the share of impermeable surfaces increases and green areas decrease. Impermeable surfaces disturb the water cycle, by reducing water infiltration.In densely built-up parts of cities about 80% of precipitation is discharged directly to sewage systems and receivers (rivers), while only 20% is subject to landscape retention (e.g. soil retention).As a result, the frequency and intensity of short-term flooding (flash floods) increases, without necessarily replenishing groundwater levels. These phenomena intensify water shortages and water stress for plants. A particular manifestation of the decreasing area and condition of vegetation is increased ground surface temperature and more widespread urban surface heat island effects, i.e. excessive heating of the city surface in relation to the surface temperature in the suburbs. It leads to a deterioration of the thermal comfort of residents, and often to a direct threat to their health and life. Increasing temperature has also a negative impact on vegetation, exposing it to thermal stress. The growing climate threats and the negative effects of urbanisation act synergistically – they overlap and contribute to deterioration of the blue-green infrastructure (BGI) in urban areas, understood as a variety of forms of vegetation and water providing a wide range of ecosystem services.

Rebuilding BGI, and thus enhancing its ecosystem services, is one of the main efforts that cities undertake as part of their adaptation to climate change. 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 areas for efficient adaptation.

OBJECTIVES

The LIFECOOLCITY project aims to develop and provide city managers and the public with monitoring and decision-support systems based on satellite and remote sensing methods, leading to cost-effective and efficient redevelopment of green areas in cities.The main objective is to increase the adaptive capacity of selected EU cities by implementing two innovative IT systems for blue-green infrastructure (BGI) management: the EUROPE system and the CITY system.

The EUROPE system, based on satellite data, will be used to monitor EU cities to identify specific problems, such as soil sealing, deterioration of water conditions, the decline in the quality of vegetation, and increases in ground temperature. The system will be used to prepare a ranking list of 10 000 European cities experiencing those problems, and to prepare for 20 EU cities (project stakeholders) an annual report identifying their particular BGI problems.

The CITY system’s MONITORING module, based on aerial data, will be used for precise monitoring of blue-green and grey infrastructure facilities in the city of Wrocław (Poland), to identify facilities of particular sensitivity or of high adaptive potential. The CITY system’s AUDIT module, also based on aerial data, will be used for precise valorisation of blue-green and grey infrastructure facilities in Wrocław; this module will support the process of reducing areas particularly exposed to climate change and protecting green areas of high adaptation potential.

RESULTS

Expected results:

• Development, testing and demonstration of two complementary IT systems supporting blue-green infrastructure (BGI) monitoring in cities and their effective adaptation to climate change: (i) the EUROPE system, and (ii) the CITY system (MONITORING and AUDIT modules).
• Implementation of three categories of Nature-based Solutions (NBS) in Wrocław to confirm the operational effectiveness of the CITY AUDIT system: (i) protection of vegetation of high adaptive potential on at least 5 ha; (ii) changing the way green areas are maintained to increase their values for regulatory ecosystem services on at least 62 ha; and (iii) constructing BGI to create adaptive potential and reduce the impermeable area by a minimum of 1 500 m².
• Confirming the CITY MONITORING system effectiveness by reducing the areas particularly susceptible to climate change through: (i) improvement of water conditions (retaining a minimum of 1 382 m³ of rainwater); (ii) reduction of the urban surface heat island (lowering the ground temperature on at least 25.42 ha); and (iii) improvement of the condition of vegetation (an increase of 43.50 ha of land area).
• Supporting EU climate policy in selected cities: (i) replication and transfer of project results to EU cities through the provision of at least 170 paid services in the field of adaptation to climate change using the EUROPE and CITY systems; (ii) supporting EU programmes on adaptation to climate change by providing once a year, for a minimum of five years (2025-2029), 10 000 cities with a monitoring indicator generated in the EUROPE system "Trend in vegetation cover in Urban Green Infrastructure" for the Green City Accord programme; and (iii) development and implementation of the City Wrocław adaptation strategy for 2030-2040 using the EUROPE and CITY systems.