On the 17th of July, Dr. John Friesen gave a inspiring talk at the seminar of the department “Georisks and Civil Security (GZS)” at the Earth Observation Center (EOC) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The talk was titled “Urbanization and infrastructure in the context of climate change“.
‘To be modern is to live within and by means of infrastructures,‘ as Paul Edwards reminds us. This is particularly apparent in our rapidly urbanizing, climate-impacted world. Infrastructure — from water pipes and power lines to parks and communication nodes — not only underpins daily life, but also holds the key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by ensuring clean water, reliable energy and resilient cities. Today, our colleague John Friesen presented his work on urbanization and infrastructure, showing how, within the EO4CAM project, Earth observation data is used to identify where urban green spaces could most effectively cool heat islands, where stormwater runoff models reveal hotspots for flood mitigation measures and which community hubs and network nodes could serve as crisis communication centers in the event of a disaster. By combining Earth observation with on-the-ground planning, EO4CAM can help political stakeholders transform infrastructure in the face of the uncertainties posed by a warming planet.
