JRC Open Data and Tools for the New Urban Agenda

The JRC produces two frameworks for the monitoring and assessment of human settlements and territorial development: the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) and the Knowledge Center for Territorial Policies (KCTP).

The GHSL is a set of georeferenced layers and tools that provides baseline information on human settlements and population with global coverage. It is produced elaborating historical satellite images and data from open sources. The first release of the GHSL datasets consisted in fine-scale gridded layers of built-up area and number of inhabitants in four dates: 1975, 1990, 2000 and 2015. The GHSL allows to measure the growth of cities and towns over time, including information on population distribution, urbanization rate and land consumption. The next releases of the GHSL will integrate Sentinel satellite data and will provide yearly update frequency.

The KCTP has developed two free web tools: the Territorial Dashboard and the Urban Data Platform. The Territorial Dashboard provides a selected set of indicators that cover several domains of territorial and regional development and are elaborated according to a reference scenario. This scenario is used to build future projections at different territorial granularity (European country, region and sub-region). The Urban Data Platform provides an access point to exchange information on the status and trends (past and future) of European cities and regions. With the aim to aid decision makers and stakeholders, it provides tools to monitor urban areas and explore possible future scenarios based on a selection of thematic indicators. The analytical framework of the KCTP is being extended beyond the European borders, and will include the African countries by end 2019.

The training will cover rationale, structure, and applications of the tools, including background on data production, examples and future development. Every participants has the possibility to experience the tool use on her/his laptop or mobile device.