Background/Motivation

The importance of urban green spaces (such as parks, gardens, greenery on buildings, tree-lined streets and cemeteries) for well-being and mental, emotional and physical health is becoming increasingly important in times of advancing climate change.

Urban green spaces are increasingly becoming the focus of attention for spatial planners, architects, municipal authorities, doctors and social organisations, especially in the summer months due to the ever-increasing heat load.

Urban green spaces offer a variety of benefits, including the promotion of physical activity, the reduction of stress levels, the promotion of social interaction, as a low-threshold social meeting place, especially in small-scale housing, the strengthening of the connection to nature and, finally, biodiversity and a lower temperature in the summer months.

However, the distribution and quality of urban green spaces in cities can vary greatly, potentially leading to differences in the well-being of residents and to disadvantage and exposure to health risks in times of climate change.

Contents and goals

The ClimateCare project aims to use climate and earth observation data to investigate the relationship between urban green spaces and well-being, especially for retirement and nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities where populations vulnerable to heat (heat-vulnerable) live.

Methodical Approach

Specifically, the project will analyse the relationship between urban green spaces and the social facilities for heat-vulnerable groups for 10 pioneer cities through the integrated evaluation of climate data, including the integration of climate data, and optical satellite data.

Climate data will serve as a secondary data source and Sentinel-2 satellite data as a primary data source. They will be used to analyse urban green spaces and the needs of heat-vulnerable groups in the 10 Austrian pioneer cities.

In addition, very high-resolution aerial images will be collected and included for detailed analyses and qualitative data using the geo-referenced survey tool 'Bürgercockpit'.

Expected Results

Results will include:

• Identify proximity of retirement and nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities for heat-vulnerable groups to urban green spaces in the 10 pioneer cities and a classification for heat threat.
• Recommendations for investments in greening (rooftops, façades, etc.) that could potentially provide the greatest well-being benefits for heat-vulnerable populations.

ClimateCare can be used to generate recommendations for action on which locations of retirement and nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities greening can be implemented as quickly and cost-effectively as possible and which facilities have the greatest need. This can be applied to both existing and new buildings.

Cities will be able to assess the need for action based on a possible ranking of urgently required investments. This not only results in an improved and targeted competition process but also raises awareness of the importance of green spaces.

This approach can be rolled out further across Austria and the entire DACH region using the free climate and satellite data, thus offering the companies involved a further lucrative economic model.

Project management

Spatial Services GmbH

Project or cooperation partners

• Universität Salzburg – Fachbereich für Geoinformatik (Z_GIS)
• GRÜNSTATTGRAU - Forschungs- und Innovations GmbH

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