LIFECOOLCITY

Climate change is increasingly impacting cities. Heatwaves, heavy rainfall and droughts are just some of the challenges that local governments must address. In response to these threats, new regulations are being introduced in Poland and across Europe, requiring cities to develop comprehensive adaptation plans that balance environmental protection with the needs of residents.

In Poland, a key milestone is the new law passed by the Senate on December 4th, which mandates cities with more than 20 thousand inhabitants to prepare urban adaptation plans for climate change. These documents must integrate environmental considerations with spatial planning and outline specific actions to protect cities from the impacts of extreme weather events.

A cornerstone of these efforts is the implementation of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). This approach leverages natural ecosystem processes to safeguard cities against the effects of climate change. In practice, this means expanding green and blue infrastructure, including parks, urban forests, green roofs, retention reservoirs, and river restoration.

Such solutions:

• lower urban temperatures, countering the urban heat island effect,
• protect against flooding by retaining rainwater,
• support biodiversity, enhancing ecosystem resilience,
• improve residents' quality of life by providing spaces for rest and recreation.

Investing in green and blue infrastructure is not only a response to climate challenges but also an opportunity to create healthier and more livable urban environments. The tools being developed within the LIFECOOLCITY project will be helpful in these efforts, as they will facilitate decision-making and optimize solutions, enabling cities to adapt to ongoing changes more quickly and easily.

At the beginning of November, the Partners' Initiative of Cities Alumni 2024 meeting took place in Wrocław, bringing together representatives of Polish municipalities and experts from across the country. The event was attended by representatives of the LIFECOOLCITY project: Łukasz Sławik, Director of the Remote Sensing Department at MGGP AERO Sp. z o.o., and Małgorzata Bartyna-Zielińska, Head of the Department for Environment and Climate Shaping at the Municipality of Wrocław.

During workshops focusing on opportunities for participating in national and international urban initiatives, key aspects of the LIFECOOLCITY project were discussed. The speakers highlighted the project's origins, Wrocław's role in its implementation, and the benefits it brings to municipalities, emphasizing the importance of managing blue-green infrastructure in adapting cities to climate change.

Participants gained insights into the practical aspects of applying for the LIFE Program and collaborating within consortia. The workshops provided an excellent opportunity for exchanging experiences and inspiring municipalities considering similar initiatives. The event served as a platform for building relationships and advancing efforts towards the sustainable development of cities.

Source: Partnerska Inicjatywa Miast

Representatives of the LifeCoolCity project participated in the international Urban Trees Diversity Conference, an event bringing together researchers and practitioners in the broad field of urban forestry. This year’s edition (UTD5), themed "Embracing the future for and with urban forests and trees", took place in Madrid on October 24–25, hosting over 150 participants from 26 countries across five continents.

The conference served as a knowledge exchange platform focusing on urban greenery development to sustain and enhance urban quality of life. Presentations and discussions revolved around four main topics:

• The use of tree diversity to mitigate risks associated with climate change,
• New approaches to urban tree selection,
• Innovative technologies and their role in urban forest management,
• The use of open data and citizen engagement to support urban greenery.

Justyna Wylazłowska (MGGPAero) presented the logic of the LifeCoolCity project within the context of urban tree condition analysis based on hyperspectral data. Her poster, titled "Assessment of the health of urban trees based on aerial remote sensing", demonstrated this innovative approach.

During the presentation "The IT system for managing urban greenery resources in Wroclaw and delivering open data of urban trees to inhabitants," Aleksandra Zienkiewicz (Municipal Greenery Authority, Wroclaw) discussed the dedicated system for urban greenery management. She highlighted the LifeCoolCity component, with a particular focus on trees. She discussed the project’s objectives, the methodology for creating a ranking for 10,000 EU cities, and an analysis of changes in blue-green infrastructure in Wroclaw. Additionally, she described the development of the Tree Crown Map, its components, and its potential applications for improving urban space management.

Amid pressing challenges such as climate change, extreme weather events and increasing population density in cities, the importance of urban greenery continues to grow. This is consistently validated by global research and projects. Once again, the LifeCoolCity project has proven its alignment with current global research priorities and the critical needs of cities in urban greenery management.

Excitement is still in the air after the Smart City Expo in Barcelona! Representatives of the LifeCoolCity project had the pleasure of participating in one of the most important global events dedicated to urban innovation and sustainable development. It was an excellent opportunity to meet with representatives from European cities, industry leaders, and experts in the field of smart cities.

During the event, we gained valuable insights by exchanging ideas and solutions that can contribute to creating greener, more resilient and smarter cities. Our mission gained new momentum, and the inspiring conversations with our partners made us confident that the direction we are heading is the right one.

We would like to thank everyone we had the pleasure of meeting. Your ideas are driving us forward! Together, let’s make our cities more sustainable, innovative, and environmentally friendly.

The Eco-Miasto conference, organized for more than a decade by UNEP/GRID-Warsaw and the French Embassy in Poland, in cooperation with the City of Warsaw, is behind us. As every autumn, we gathered at the Copernicus Science Centre, creating a platform for exchanging knowledge, experiences, and best practices in contemporary urban development among local government representatives, urban development experts, and entrepreneurs.

This year’s focus was on urban resilience, defined as the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Discussion topics centered around finding ways to shape Polish cities to ensure they are adaptable and capable of maintaining a sustainable development path amid environmental challenges and climate change impacts, always keeping the well-being of residents in mind.

Representatives of the LifeCoolCity project - Karolina Bartocha from MGGP Aero and Daniel Starczewski from UNEP/GRID-Warsaw - were present at this year’s event, where they discussed the project and its achievements at a dedicated stand. They presented the project’s objectives, products, and overarching goal: to support cities in effectively managing blue-green infrastructure and to foster the conditions that enhance cities' adaptive capacities to the impacts of climate change.

Through the results of the LifeCoolCity project, decision-makers, city managers and residents will be provided with four products: CoolCity Ranking, CoolCity View, CoolCity Design and CoolCity Monitoring. These tools will help identify and validate the adaptation needs of urbanized areas, develop BGI management strategies to strengthen adaptive capacity, recommend the most effective nature-based solutions, and monitor the effectiveness of their implementation.

The EuroGEO workshops are behind us - an event promoting the use of GIS technology and satellite data, as well as the exchange of knowledge in the field of Earth observation. This year's edition took place in Krakow from October 8-10, 2024.

Representatives of the Life Cool City project - Dominik Kopeć and Robert Migas from MGGP Aero, and Daniel Starczewski from UNEP/GRID-Warsaw, attended this year's event, where they discussed the project and its current outcomes.

The project aims to support cities in effectively managing blue-green infrastructure, and its products will help shape the best possible conditions for building cities' adaptive capacities to the effects of climate change.

On the second day of the event, the project representatives presented the project's achievements during the poster session. On the final day of the workshop, the overall objectives and goals of the Life Cool City project were showcased at a dedicated booth. The topic attracted significant interest, and new valuable connections were made during the event.

Urban ecosystem management, biodiversity protection, carbon emission control, the importance of green spaces and water systems in cities, and air quality analysis – these are all topics in which the Life Cool City project aligns with the themes of EuroGEO, an event organized by the European Commission and the EuroGEO Secretariat with the support of the Polish Space Agency (POLSA).

Thanks to the outcomes of the Life Cool City project, cities will have the opportunity to access comprehensive knowledge on diagnosing the state of the urban environment and the results of spatial diversity analysis based on current data.

Several of the information products being developed within the project

We know that ongoing climate change can bring heavy, localised rainfall or weather events like the Genoese low. We need to think about land and water management in a completely different way than before. We need to start working hand in hand with nature.

Our powerful ally in flood prevention are large urban trees. Here’s how they can increase our chances of adapting to dangerous weather extremes:

☂ Direct interception of rainfall: Rainfall is intercepted by the canopy of a tree and later evaporates from the leaves or drips from leaf surfaces and flows down the truck to eventually infiltrate the soil.

🌲 Water use: Trees remove water from the catchment area leading to a significant reduction in pressure on drainage systems in urban areas and a reduction in flood risk in rural areas by absorbing runoff from roads and agricultural areas.

🌨 Higher soil infiltration rates: Water penetrates more quickly and more deeply into soils under and around trees than on, for example, lawn or pasture without trees. Tree roots create channels in the soil known as ‘macropores’, and water from heavy rain will infiltrate the soil using these channels rather than flowing over the surface and leading to floods. In compacted soils, tree roots have been shown to improve infiltration by 153% compared with unplanted controls.

🌳 Hydraulic roughness: Trees, shrubs and deadwood along streamsides and on floodplains act as a drag on flood waters, holding back water and slowing the flow during heavy rainfall.

Since trees bring clear benefits in terms of flood reduction, we need systemic investments in monitoring the condition of large trees in cities. Protecting large trees is an action that supports the city's adaptive capacity to threats resulting from the climate change related events, such as droughts, heat waves and floods. Without a doubt, they are a fundamental and priority element of green infrastructure in the city.

A strategic meeting of the LIFECOOLCITY project consortium took place at the University of Łódź Training and Conference Centre. Not only only was it an opportunity to discuss ongoing activities and plans for the near future but also a chance to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that await us in the upcoming stages of the Project.

The meeting provided an opportunity for detailed technical discussions. We thoroughly reviewed our progress and debated the high-quality solutions that will help us achieve our goals even more effectively. A key part of the discussion focused on the challenges we will face to successfully support European cities in managing blue-green infrastructure (BGI).

In addition to the official part of the meeting, we took a walk around Łódź, visiting local Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and woonerfs (a street with limited vehicle traffic, designed to promote pedestrian safety and recreation). It was an inspiring experience that showcased how these innovative solutions function in Łódź's urban space and how they can improve the quality of life for residents.

The "LIFE in COOL CITY. How does nature support cities in the face of climate change?" conference is behind us, yet it continues to inspire, prompting further discussions and actions toward a sustainable urban future. During the event, participants asked many interesting questions. Below, we present the most frequently asked questions along with their answers.

Question: The project description mentions 10,000 cities. How do you plan to achieve this goal?
Answer: As part of the project, a free ranking of European cities, the CoolCity Ranking, will be created, covering 10,000 cities in Europe. This product will be based on the analysis of cities' adaptive potential regarding land sealing, urban heat island, the state of blue infrastructure, the state of green infrastructure, and the state of biodiversity. The products developed within the coures of the project will be available for order by European cities. We encourage you to download the informational materials about the project available on the project's website.

Question: How can I collaborate with the LifeCoolCity project?
Answer: Thank you for your interest in collaborating with our project! We encourage you to join the CoolCity Advisory Team by filling out our registration form. Participation in the team provides the opportunity to influence the development of key tools supporting urban adaptation to climate change and the chance for a free analysis of the state of blue-green infrastructure in your city using remote sensing and geoinformation technology.

Question: Are there any limitations related to joining the CoolCity Advisory Team?
Answer: No, we do not foresee specific limitations for joining the CoolCity Advisory Team. However, we allow for the possibility of limiting the number of participants if there is a large number of cities with similar characteristics, such as area, demographics, or environmental conditions.

Question: Which cities were invited to complete the survey investigating the needs of potential project product recipients, and what was the response rate?
Answer: The survey, sent to Polish cities with populations over 20,000, received a 75% response rate. We are currently focusing on gathering responses from cities across Europe.

Question: Is collaboration with other regions of the world possible?
Answer: The LifeCoolCity project is funded by the European Commission under the Life Program, so the primary stakeholders of the project's results are European cities.

Question: Is the grid size used to analyze factors building the adaptive potential of cities adequate for determining investment priorities?
Answer: The aerial data used in the project is acquired with a resolution of approximately 1 meter, allowing for the creation of detailed informational products for diagnosing conditions within the CoolCity Design product. This information is presented in a hexagonal grid, enabling precise diagnosis of conditions and recommendations for Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). The size of the hexagonal grid cells has been chosen to balance the level of detail in the analysis with efficiency, versatility, and the ability to objectively compare different areas within a single city.

Question: Is it possible to gain access to Obliview LifeCoolCity?
Answer: All members of the CoolCity Advisory Team will have access to the Obliview LifeCoolCity application, which will serve as the primary tool used by the advisory team.

Question: Does data used in CoolCity Design allow for creating products in native resolution?
Answer: Informational products will be available in native resolution, while statistical results will be aggregated to larger units such as hexagons or administrative units.

If you have any more questions, please contact us at contact@lifecoolcity.com. We also invite you to follow projectupdates on our website and social media, and to subscribe to our newsletter.

The European Urban Resilience Forum (EURESFO) is a flagship European event bringing together city representatives, focusing on cities' mitigation and adaptation actions to climate change.The current edition of this event took place in sunny Valencia, and the LifeCoolCity project was proudly represented by three representatives from the consortium leader (MGGP Aero).

This event was a fantastic opportunity to connect with thought leaders, policymakers, and practitioners who are at the forefront of building resilient and sustainable urban environments. The 2024 edition of EURESFO addressed key aspects of:

• resilience,
• sustainable development,
• climate neutrality of cities,
• and the Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change.
  

Our team participated in inspiring sessions and workshops that covered innovative solutions and best practices for enhancing urban resilience, implementing the Mission on Adaptation, and engaging residents in adaptation actions. It was a great opportunity to network and share experiences with professionals from across Europe, including representatives of European projects undertaken within the framework of the Mission on Adaptation.

We return enriched with new knowledge and full of inspiration to develop our products within the framework of the Mission on Adaptation.

We are ready for the next edition to broadly present the LifeCoolCity project and its progress to representatives of cities and regions from across Europe.

Europe - see you next year!

Thank you very much for participating in online conference "LIFE in COOL CITY. How does nature support cities in the face of climate change?" We hope the event met your expectations and provided valuable insights. It was an inspiring event - there were many interesting questions and insights.

Many thanks to our keynote speaker, who gave a very interesting speech on nature-based solutions and challenges in the urban ecosystem using Manchester as an example. Dave Barlow - thank you again for sharing your knowledge and experience.

We are pleased to announce that below is a recording of the entire event.

Additionally, we encourage you to take active involvement in the LIFECOOLCITY project by joining Consultation Team. Please fill out the registration form if you are interested in participating. Your experience and knowledge will be greatly beneficial for our future work.

We encourage to download informational materials about Project LifeCoolCity, which can be found at the bottom of the website’s main page.

Many thanks for your time and valuable feedback. We look forward to seeing you at future events organized by the LifeCoolCity Project.

Recording of the event

Registration is now open for the online conference "LIFE in COOL CITY. How does nature support cities in the face of climate change?", which will take place on June 18, 2024, on the Zoom platform, in Polish with English translation.

We encourage you to register for the event: https://form.jotform.com/241552953506054

This will be a unique opportunity to learn how remote sensing, modern geoinformation technologies, and nature-based solutions can help cities adapt to climate change. During the event, city representatives will learn how they can engage in consultancy activities related to the LIFECOOLCITY Project and receive a free analysis of the state of the blue-green infrastructure in their city.

During the conference, we will discuss how to strengthen the development of blue-green infrastructure (BGI) in terms of 5 factors that build a city's adaptive potential, namely: land sealing, urban heat islands, the state of blue infrastructure, the state of green infrastructure, and the state of biodiversity. It will be an occasion to exchange views and experiences about the identification of city needs in terms of climate change adaptation, the development of a blue-green infrastructure management strategies and the monitoring of the effectiveness of its implementation.

The event will be held in Polish with English translation. Due to the fact that the conference is international, the registration form is in English.

AGENDA

Time	Event	Speakers
11:00-11:15	Conference opening	Łukasz Sławik, Director of the Environment Remote Sensing Department, MGGP Aero Maria Andrzejewska, General Director, UNEP/GRID-Warsaw Katarzyna Szymczak-Pomianowska, Director of Sustainable Development Department, Municipality of Wrocław
11:15-11:35	Keynote speech on Nature Based Solutions and challenges in the urban ecosystem	Dave Barlow, Senior Policy Officer Lead - Green infrastructure & Biodiversity Environment, Planning and Infrastructure Team, Manchester City Council
11:35-11:45	Keynote speaker - Q&A
11:45-12:35	Use of remote sensing and geoinformation for management of blue-green infrastructure in the process of city adaptation to climate change	Project LifeCoolCity: Using remote sensing in the process of adapting cities to climate change - Dominik Kopeć, PhD, Deputy Director of the Environment Remote Sensing Department for Research and Development, MGGP Aero, PhD Professor (Associate), University of Lodz How do satellite data support the management of blue-green infrastructure in 10,000 cities of the European Union? - Martyna Wietecha, Senior Remote Sensing Specialist, MGGP Aero Where planting a tree benefits the city most: a few words about the CoolCity Design - Robert Migas-Mazur, Software Developer, MGGP Aero
12:35-12:45	How can you get involved in the LIFECOOLCITY project?	Daniel Starczewski, Head of IT & Geosolutions Unit, UNEP/GRID-Warsaw
12:45-13:00	Q&A and Conference closure

The patrons of the event are Polish NBS Hub in Wrocław, Making Cities Resilient 2030 i Register now!.

Zarejestruj się już dziś!

In the middle of May, the LIFE Information Days were organized by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management. During the two-day event, representatives of the LIFECOOLCITY project had the opportunity not only to get to know activities of other projects funded by the LIFE program but also to present the results of their work so far. Representatives from the project leader, MGGP Aero, and partner UNEP/GRID-Warsaw discussed the foundations and logic of LIFECOOLCITY, focusing on how the products being developed can support cities in adapting to climate change. They established many relationships with representatives of cities and projects funded by the LIFE program, laying the groundwork for future collaborations.

In Poland, besides the rise in average air temperatures, anthropogenic climate change also means the ongoing intensification of droughts and heatwaves that have been occurring for several years during the summer, higher frequency of increasingly intense downpours, the intensification of storms and gales, as well as unstable and unpredictable winter weather. All these factors adversely impact cities, compounding their specific structure and climate. High summer temperatures—especially heatwaves ^[1] with tropical nights ^[2]—exacerbate the so-called urban heat island effect, a phenomenon of nighttime overheating of cities compared to their surrounding suburban areas. Such conditions are dangerous for the health and lives of small children, the elderly, and those chronically suffering from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Intense floods cause water to quickly and in large volumes run off the sealed surfaces of the city, often exceeding the capacity of the stormwater drainage system. This leads to flooding, city paralysis, and significant losses of property and infrastructure. Climate change thus impacts the quality of life, health, and safety of city residents. It can cause human, material, economic, and technological losses and permanently limit the development potential of cities. Therefore, adapting cities to climate change is a huge challenge, requiring long-term, consistent, and comprehensive planning and action. Urban Adaptation Plans assist cities in this endeavor.

An Urban Adaptation Plan is a document that, based on the analysis of climate hazards for a specific city, assessment of its vulnerability and adaptive potential, defines a set of long-term actions aimed at mitigating the effects of climate extremes experienced by people and minimizing the negative impact of these extremes on infrastructure and economic development. Adaptation actions are divided into three categories: educational-informational, organizational, and technical. Educational-informational actions help build awareness among residents, officials, and decision-makers about ongoing changes, inform about the current situation, and manage crisis events. Organizational actions allow changing the way the city operates under new conditions, e.g., adjusting the working hours of offices to thermal conditions or establishing spatial planning rules for more effective introduction or protection of green areas and water. Technical actions are purely on an implementation basis, covering a range of areas, such as introducing building materials resistant to climate change, adapting urban public transport fleets to heatwaves, thermomodernization of public buildings, or introducing elements in the urban space that relieve the stormwater drainage system during intense rainfall, e.g., by unsealing surfaces, green roofs, or rain gardens.

These latter actions are known as "blue-green infrastructure" (BGI) actions. In cities, which are areas heavily modified by humans, they are centered on protecting, properly maintaining, and creating new or restoring degraded green and water areas. The latest IPCC report ^[3] emphasizes that the ecosystem-based approach, including supporting BGI, is one of the key adaptation tools. However, it is crucial that when applying BGI, nature-based solutions (NbS) are also used, supporting ecosystems as close to natural as possible, biologically diverse, and functioning correctly.

Adaptation actions planned in the Urban Adaptation Plans should be implemented at all decision-making levels, also involving citizens. Therefore, Urban Adaptation Plans should be prepared in a participatory manner, strengthening the sense of co-responsibility for the urban space.

In Poland, the main directions of adaptation actions are set by the document SPA 2020 - “Strategic Adaptation Plan for Sectors and Areas Sensitive to Climate Change up to 2020 with a Perspective to 2030”. It identifies urban areas as one of the key adaptation areas. Consequently, in 2017, the Ministry of Environment launched a two-year project “Let's Feel the Climate”, within which Urban Adaptation Plans were developed for 44 cities with more than 100,000 residents ^[4]. The project's aim was to identify threats, create adaptation plans, and—ultimately—increase cities' resilience to threats resulting from climate change. These plans were prepared based on a unified methodology, consistent with the recommendations contained in the “Climate Change Adaptation Handbook for Cities” (PL: ”Podręcznik adaptacji do zmian klimatu dla miast”) ^[5].

In recent years, based on the same methodological frameworks, Urban Adaptation Plans are also being prepared for small and medium-sized cities in Poland. Among the first of these smaller cities to implement Urban Adaptation Plans were Bełchatów, Nowy Targ, Ostrołęka, Tomaszów Mazowiecki, and Siedlce. These cities prepared their plans as part of a project coordinated by the Institute for Environmental Protection – National Research Institute – under the CLIM CITIES program "Climate change adaptation in small and medium-sized cities". According to estimates from the Ministry of Climate and Environment (MKiŚ), to date, 79 cities with over 20,000 residents have initiated work on preparing Urban Adaptation Plans on their own, of which 64 cities have already completed their Urban Adaptation Plans project or have adopted it through a resolution. Two years ago, MKiŚ prepared a draft law stating that cities with over 20,000 residents would be required to create Urban Adaptation Plans, implement them, monitor their effectiveness, and regularly update them. However, as of now, this draft law has not yet been enacted.

The accelerating pace of climate change and its irreversible nature, in the perspective of our lifetimes, underscore the critical importance of promptly and effectively implementing adaptation actions and monitoring the achievement of their set goals. However, cities do not always have access to data, sufficient knowledge, and tools to precisely identify priority intervention areas and monitor the effectiveness of their actions. Support for cities in this process is the goal of the LIFECOOLCITY project. Within this project, four products are being developed to support cities in the implementation of Urban Adaptation Plans. All these products are based on satellite and aerial data, assisting cities in addressing environmental issues such as excessive soil sealing, adverse water conditions, biodiversity decline, plant quality degradation, and increased ground temperatures. The project is being implemented in Wrocław, Poland as a demonstration city and will ultimately include an analysis of environmental problems and the adaptive potential of 10,000 cities in the European Union.

Recently, the Project Management Team at LIFECOOLCITY had an inspiring meeting combined with a walk along the Wrocław #NBS trail, which stands for nature-based solutions.

Before discussions on project progress and plans for the near future, representatives of organizations involved in the project, along with its leader MGGP Aero, took time to explore Wrocław and its current projects that support the city's resilience to the effects of climate change, based on solutions that utilize natural processes. Nature provides us with many solutions that can mitigate the climate crisis and positively impact the health and safety of entire communities.

One example of such implementations in the city is the reconstruction and removal of hardened surfaces at Orląt Lwowskich Square. The action included, among others, the removal of impermeable surfaces and the introduction of organized greenery, designing appropriate drainage slopes for surfaces and managing water in rain gardens and terrain depressions with greenery, improving habitat conditions for trees, and placing educational signs.

This is just one of the examples of positive changes happening or planned in Wrocław and other Polish cities.

The ambition of the "Use of remote sensing for management of blue-green infrastructure in the process of city adaptation to climate change” (LIFECOOLCITY) project is to support the management of blue-green infrastructure (BGI) in 10,000 cities in the European Union. This will be addressed by implementing innovative systems that utilize Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing (satellite and aerial imagery). The goal is to enhance the adaptive capacity of cities to the effects of anthropogenic climate change and bring them closer to the model of smart cities of the future.

The project is being jointly implemented by seven organizations:

• MGGP Aero (lead organization)
• Wrocław City
• University of Łódź, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, UNESCO Chair of Ecohydrology and Applied Ecology
• University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences
• Ingenieurgesellschaft Prof. Dr. Sieker mbH
• Space Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences
• UNEP/GRID-Warsaw.

Climate crisis and its impact on urban life

Topic of the climate crisis and its consequences has been present in public debate for a long time. While the climate has naturally changed over centuries (and geological eras), scientific evidence clearly points out that in the last 150 years, since the beginning of the industrial revolution, humans have significantly contributed to the rapid pace of these changes, deepening their negative effects.

Where are we heading?

In 2015, under the Paris Agreement, the governments of nearly 200 countries set a clear goal: "by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5°C." However, reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate that this ambitious goal may not be achieved, and the 1.5°C threshold could be surpassed as early as 2030. This means that we must learn to adapt to a changing climate today.

Cities, due to their characteristics and the way they change the natural landscape, are highly vulnerable to experiencing the negative impacts of climate change. At the same time, they can significantly contribute to mitigating these changes. According to UN data^[1], cities consume nearly 80% of the energy produced and are responsible for over 60% of greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, urbanization is still progressing. The UN predicts^[2] that within the next 30 years, the percentage of Europeans living in cities will increase from the current 74% to 83%.

Urban landscape - to live or survive in?

As cities develop, there is a major transformation of the natural landscape into an anthropogenic landscape, with built structures and infrastructure as key elements. Their emergence increases the share of impermeable surfaces at the expense of green areas, accompanied by a transformation of the natural water cycle. Our cities lose the ability to retain water, resulting in an increased frequency and intensity of so-called flash floods even during light rainfall, while intensifying the occurrence of droughts during rainless periods. The presence of a large amount of concrete surfaces also contributes to local air temperature rise in city centers compared to suburban areas – this phenomenon is known as the urban heat island effect.

As a result, vegetation quality in cities is declining, functioning less effectively than in suburban areas, with limited flowering and fruiting, often gradually withering. This situation is not improved by the frequent air pollution in cities, as well as poorly planned maintenance practices, such as intensified mowing and trimming.

Why is the issue of urban greenery so crucial? Because it provides us with numerous ecosystem services, and its presence brings us many benefits – not only those related to aesthetics. Vegetation in the city purifies the air we breathe and helps reduce temperature as well as capture rainfall. Therefore, it supports us in effectively adapting our cities to climate change. This is particularly crucial since life in cities is not easy. Just look at the statistics: according to information published by the C40Cities organization^[3], in less than 30 years, over 1.6 billion people living in the world's thousand largest cities will be exposed to regular, extreme heatwaves, equivalent to over 40% of the current urban population.

Urban environmental challenges

Cities today face enormous challenges. Climate change and the negative effects of advancing urbanization overlap, influencing everyone's lives. The need for the effective implementation of European adaptation strategies and the growing grassroots pressure resulting from increasing awareness and social expectations require cities to make quick and accurate decisions regarding efficient adaptive actions.

Among the urban environmental challenges, five main problems can be distinguished, the solution of which is crucial for the effective adaptation of cities to a changing climate:

1. Low quality of vegetation
2. Unfavorable water conditions
3. Increase in ground temperature
4. Surface sealing
5. Low biodiversity

As part of the LIFECOOLCITY project, we will analyze the current state of the mentioned environmental challenges to support the management of blue-green infrastructure (BGI) in 10,000 cities in the European Union. This will be addressed by implementing innovative systems that utilize Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing (satellite and aerial imagery). The goal is to enhance the adaptive capacity of cities to the effects of anthropogenic climate change and bring them closer to the model of smart cities of the future.