Speakers
Description
The impacts of climate change have increased the risks for many cities to the point where policy makers and planners need to consider more proactive adaptation options. Nature-based solutions (NbS) have been recognised as an important strategy for both mitigating and adapting to climate change, particularly in urban settings. NbS enhance resilience and green infrastructure, but their benefits vary depending on the local context. Understanding the specific local situation is essential for effective implementation. The online GreenScape CE Visual Mapping Platform (GVMP) has been developed to address the challenges and trade-offs associated with NbS ( Interreg Central Europe GreenScapeCE project; https://greenscapece.visualmapping.eu/). The GVMP is an analytical tool that supports local governments in participatory planning and the development of action plans for NbS in five pilot cities: Milan, Ptuj, Szeged, Warsaw and Zagreb. Based on open data and open source software, it integrates climate, land use, social and health data from project partners, the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service and the European Environmental Atlas. The data used to develop the GVMP for each pilot area has been unified as much as possible. The platform includes three interactive map-based geoprocessing tools. 1. The GVMP Accessibility tool supports the assessment of population access to GIs, facilitates discussions with stakeholders and explores alternative solutions. It provides detailed information on the demographic profile, education and housing standards (where available) of the population in a given catchment area. 2. The GVMP NBS tool provides NBS data for each pilot area and allows direct consultation of climate and health data (European Environment Atlas) and climate projections calculated from Copernicus satellite data. 3. The GVMP Connectivity tool addresses green space fragmentation and is ideal for quickly measuring connectivity in a selected area. It serves as a resource to alert stakeholders and guide discussions on improving green space connectivity at a detailed local level. The added value of the GVMP platform is its "dashboard" nature; whenever the user changes the catchment area, the figures and graphs of the relevant indicators are recalculated. The platform is designed to support activities to raise awareness of the benefits of NbS and GI among local communities (citizens, NGOs, SMEs). It ensures that users, especially those without a technical background, can easily understand the information displayed without having to deal with different legends and interpretations from different national and local contexts. The solution is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, allowing participants to quickly understand the area under discussion and the problems, benefits, alternatives and other relevant issues of NbS and GI in urban planning. First analyses in five pilot areas show different planning practices in Central Europe. Evaluations of GI connectivity and functionality have shown deficiencies in GI provision and gaps between identified GI assets in all five cities. The results of this study will lead to the development of guidelines for integrating and making accessible different datasets, addressing bottlenecks and using data to create people-centred, evidence-based GI.
| Keywords | geoprocessing; visual mapping; decision-making support; climate change adaptation; urban planning |
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| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
