The innovative potential of GEOURBAN lies in the development of a web-based information system which reflects the multidimensional nature of urban planning and management, as operationalized in intelligible and transferable indicators which are easily understood by non-experts.
The main objectives of the GEOURBAN project are:
- Bridge the gap between EO scientists and urban planners by addressing issues of needs and the potential of EO methods and data for diverse stakeholders dealing with urban and regional planning and management.
- Analyse the urban planning and management requirements relative to EO.
- Review the EO data sources and the respective analysis techniques and implement the most promising ones at selected case studies.
- Analyze the potential of future EO missions to support urban planning and management.
- Develop a set of EO-based indicators that support sustainable urban planning and management.
- Develop a web-based information system based on these indicators.
- Demonstrate the developed information system in specific case studies.
- Illustrate the socio-economic advantages of using of EO methods and data on a routine basis in urban planning decisions.
The gain in competitiveness and the added value resulting from the cooperation among the partners of the consortium is mainly because:
- the synthesis of the consortium, as well as the selected case studies will support its dissemination to European, includingRussia, as well as toMiddle Eastcountries, analyzing the different urban planning and management perspectives;
- most partners have considerable experience in EO applications for urban planning and management, however, they are complementary since they are focusing on different applications (from urban sprawl to urban metabolism and micro-climate) and on different scales (micro, local and regional);
the synergy between academic and research organizations with industrial partners will lead to a pre-operational product and service which will have the potential to be further exploited after the completion of the project towards their operationalization.