Bridging urban climate science and decision-making: the role of earth observation

Chrysoulakis, N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5208-626X, Seto, K. C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4928-2446, Birkmann, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8733-3964, Christen, A., Georgescu, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7321-2483, Grimmond, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3166-9415, Roth, M. and Zhao, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6481-3786 (2026) Bridging urban climate science and decision-making: the role of earth observation. Environmental Research Letters, 21 (15). 151002. ISSN 1748-9326 doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/ae8d3c

Abstract/Summary

Urban climate science and urban planning necessarily operate at different scales, drawing on distinct datasets and approaches. The challenge is not the difference in scales, but the lack of integration across them and multi-scalar complexities and data availability across planning scales, which can hamper opportunities for effectively addressing climate challenges in urban decision-making at city scales. Climate projections are generally delivered at global and regional scales, whereas urban decision-making whilst also crossing multiple scales - including starting with general urban policies and guidelines (also for linking climate and urban) at national and state level is focused on much finer scales, with planning processes linked to planning urban forms and building typologies - typically at neighbourhood or district levels. One challenge within the multi-scale planning process is the availability of data across scales for linking climate science and urban policies. This paper explores opportunities to support linking urban climate science and urban development and planning through Earth Observation (EO) data in order to support decision-making for urban climate mitigation and adaptation across scales. We identify key knowledge gaps that EO can help bridge and outline how EO derived data can provide useful information to support informed choices and actions.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/131105
Identification Number/DOI	10.1088/1748-9326/ae8d3c
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	Institute of Physics
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