Imbalances among geography, ecology, economy, society and institutions are compromising the future sustainability of cities. Rapid demographic growth, economic expansion, and the increasing environmental footprint of cities have triggered dynamics that challenge city institutions. There are now more than 37 megacities – cities with populations of more than 10 million inhabitants – and more than half of urban populations are concentrated in cities with at least one million inhabitants. Furthermore, most cities are located in areas highly vulnerable to disasters, with cities in less-developed regions both at higher risk of exposure to disaster and more vulnerable to disaster-related economic losses and mortality. New tools and integrated approaches that strengthen city governance can reduce disaster risk and better protect human, economic, and environmental assets. Earth Observations are emerging as an important resource for monitoring environmental hazards, quantifying risk and providing complex visualizations on the interconnectedness of populations, key infrastructure, and climate-related processes. For example, remote sensing imagery is being used to delineate human settlements as well as the locations of critical infrastructure, e.g., roads, highways, bridges. This session will explore how Earth Observations are being applied at the city scale, particularly when they are integrated with information about the cities’ economic, physical and social systems. Specifically, the session will examine how remote sensing and Earth system modeling can enhance local organizations' planning and operations. This session seeks submissions that consider:
- Integration of Earth Observations, models and tools for the benefit of cities at short-term (e.g., air quality, water quality, disaster response) and longer-term scales (e.g., infrastructure planning, transportation policy);
- Research combining social science and physical science to improve understanding of vulnerability and exposure within cities; and
- Examples of programmatic and technical approaches that build predictive capacity within city institutions and local networks by harnessing Earth Observations.
- Indicates paper has been withdrawn from meeting
- Indicates an Award Winner