| START Conference Manager |
(Submission #158)
Urban areas play a key role in the evolution towards several of the UN's sustainable development goals. At EU level, several investment priorities of cohesion policy, e.g. the shift to a low-carbon economy, sustainable transport systems, resource efficiency, etc. can clearly be linked to elements of implementation in urban areas.
Understanding the needs of cities, benchmarking their performance and assessing relevant trends in urban social, economic and environmental topics requires ever more comparable data and indicators. While at European level there is a quite firm tradition established in collecting and analysing regional data, the data infrastructure for cities is not so strong. This creates particular challenges but also opportunities for data with a strong spatial component.
Hence, several INSPIRE data themes, combined with Copernicus products and with open data sources are or can become "winning combinations" enriching the knowledge and understanding of what is happening in Europe's cities.
These opportunities can be illustrated by a few recent examples of analysis by DG Regional and Urban Policy. Access to green urban areas has been assessed using population distribution data, road networks and land use data. Access to urban public transport in addition required open data on timetables, while a rail services analysis requires even more network-related data. Each on these examples shows the necessity of standardised, timely, authoritative and reliable data. The high level of spatial detail challenges even more the quality of the input data.
Commercial and or voluntary geographical information sources alone cannot guarantee sustainable solutions for the development and maintenance of policy-related indicator infrastructures. Further progress in INSPIRE implementation and in Copernicus services will be very important instruments for these developments.
Topic Area: [2.4] INSPIRE + Open Data + COPERNICUS Abstract Type: Oral Presentation
START Conference Manager (V2.61.0 - Rev. 4195)