Human interactions with the environment leave many traces. In the last several hundred years, the human impact on the Earth’s surface has grown tremendously. Changes brought about by human activities can be measured objectively by observing them from space.
Europe is one of the most urbanized continents on earth. Today, approximately 75% of the European population lives in urban areas, while still enjoying access to extensive (semi-) natural landscapes. Physically expanding urban areas have impacts threatening both the natural and rural environments, raising greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, and elevating air and noise pollution levels which often exceed the agreed human safety limits. More than a quarter of the European Union’s territory has been directly affected by urban land use. It is clear that the urban future of Europe is a matter of great concern and that incremental urban development should be carefully planned and managed. However, this should be done not only on the urban level but also in harmony with other land use on a regional level.
The challenges and needs
Land use is driven by the interplay of economic, social and environmental factors. Good land management tries to find the right balance of these, often competing, factors, takes in account daily demands and translates all this into political objectives leading to a sustainable urban & regional land use. To achieve this, cities and regions need land use information. This information must not only cover the current state of the land, it should also evaluate the evolution over the last years and predict future trends.
Remote sensing methods can be employed to detect different land use types in a practical, economical and repetitive fashion, without facing typical problems with borders to cross or areas that are difficult to reach. This makes satellite data and its resulting applications an important input for reliable and timely land monitoring tools. The availability of different sensors guarantees regular revisiting times and allows handling each case at an appropriate scale.
How can EUROSENSE help?