´Copernicus for Future Cities´ Workshop

On 9 November the European-Commission-brokered NEXTSPACE consortium is putting on in Brussels the Copernicus for Future Cities Workshop to explore how the Copernicus earth-observation program can support sustainable development of future cities.

In particular, the workshop will explore EU citizens’ needs in terms of the Urban agenda for the EU in order to improve such urban features as air quality, energy efficiency and mobility, among other issues. It will also take stock of the current state-of-the-art of earth observation in cities and discuss potential Copernicus developments and upgrades to address any identified gaps.

La Agenda urbana de la Unión Europea, launched in 2016 with the Pact of Amsterdam, puts forward a series of actions driven by key European stakeholders to bring out the full potential of urban zones and help them achieve common objectives at national and EU level. Its remit is to strengthen the urban dimension of both national and EU policies, advocating a new multilevel working method that will allow all EU institutions, member states, cities and other stakeholders to pull together towards this end.

At the moment GMV is priming the European Commission’s NEXTSPACE framework contract, which sets out to define user requirements of the future generation of Copernicus satellites. It is also one of Spain’s Copernicus Relays, groups that act as national champions coordinating and promoting activities around the Copernicus Programme to bring it to wider notice and encourage its use.