Challenges in the SPACE4Cities Pre-Commercial Procurement
- Challenges communicate a direction in which the procurers want to develop themselves as smart, sustainable and future-proof cities. Use cases do not form an exhaustive list but are presented as examples of European cities’ needs, validated by the SPACE4Cities partners.
- Each challenge requires Suppliers to leverage the European Space Agency’s Copernicus and Galileo satellite services in their solutions, but these satellite services can be combined with other technologies and services by Suppliers when building their solutions.
- Challenge themes and use cases were adjusted and developed further during Open Market Consultation (June–October 2024) in dialogue with organisations participating in the SPACE4Cities OMC activities. The SPACE4Cities consortium collected feedback about the challenges, their feasibility and current state of the art throughout the OMC period.
- Use cases are listed in Appendix 1 of Tender Document 2. Tender Documents are availqable for download on Call for Tenders page.
1. Sustainable Mobility Challenge
SPACE4Cities is challenging suppliers to innovate using satellite technology to transform urban mobility. The initiative focuses on solutions that not only allow for a more dynamic management of mobility within cities but at the same time will significantly reduce CO2 emissions in the transport and mobility sector. This call to action addresses critical challenges related to active mobility, public transportation, logistics management, resilience to disruptions, accessible infrastructure and safe and secure drone flights.
How can earth observation and geolocation technologies provided by satellites be leveraged to tackle persistent urban mobility problems and bring about a paradigm change in our car-focused societies? The initiative aims to harness the potential of advanced satellite technology to create more efficient, responsive, and sustainable urban mobility networks.
Themes under Sustainable Mobility Challenge:
Active mobility
Active mobility options, such as walking and cycling, are valued for their minimal environmental impact, both in terms of greenhouse gases and physical footprint. Satellites can enable cities to collect detailed data on pedestrian and cyclist activity, including patterns, crowd density, speed, and accident-prone zones, to support informed infrastructure and policy decisions that prioritize active mobility over car use. This infrastructure should be optimised to better support and encourage active mobility.
Public transport
Public transport represents a sustainable alternative to car use, yet it often falls short of the service levels expected by today’s consumers. Inefficiencies often result in high ticket prices, inflexibility leads to overcrowded vehicles and stations, and traffic congestion causes unreliability. The challenge lies in addressing these shortcomings by leveraging satellite data to improve service delivery.
Public space and logistics management: Public space in urban areas is getting increasingly crowded. Different interests are competing over the scarce space available leading to reduced accessibility, inefficient utilization of available space and potential safety risks for residents. Cities are thus motivated to dynamically manage the multifunctional roles of public spaces, allowing for adaptive responses to evolving needs over time.
Accessibility of infrastructure
Cities often experience disruptions due to large events, extensive public space renovations or general maintenance activities. Without a comprehensive, up-to-date overview, maintenance routes are frequently inefficient. Poor infrastructure conditions or damaged road marking contribute to safety risks, inefficient traffic flows, and parking violations. In terms of accessibility as well as emission reductions, Low or Zero Emission Zones have high potential and may benefit from easier implementation and more dynamic management with help of satellite data.
Drones in urban environments
Drones offer innovative prospects for transforming urban life with a wide range of applications that are time-, cost- and emission-efficient. It is expected that satellite technology can play a critical role in supporting cities by drone traffic detection and dynamic policies on restriction areas or no-fly zones, as well as helping drones to adapt to these dynamic urban environments. Such application of satellite technology could facilitate the safe integration of drones into urban settings, maximising their efficiency and benefits for city operations.
2. Climate Resilience Challenge
SPACE4Cities is calling on suppliers to harness satellite technology to address the dual challenge of climate change mitigation and adaptation in urban environments. The initiative seeks innovative solutions that enhance climate resilience, facilitate greenification, and support the energy transition. These efforts are crucial as cities worldwide strive to not only reduce their environmental footprint but also to adapt to the changing climate conditions that threaten urban infrastructure and living conditions.
How can earth observation and geolocation technologies from satellites be effectively utilised to create sustainable, resilient urban systems that are well-prepared for future climatic uncertainties? By applying these advanced technologies, cities can become more adaptive, reduce their environmental impacts, and transition towards a sustainable energy future.
Climate change and local pollution significantly impact urban living conditions. Issues such as air pollution, the heat island effect, and extreme precipitation present ongoing challenges that cities around Europe need to act upon. SPACE4Cities solutions should help with identification of the problem areas affected by these environmental issues and produce actionable insights to improve on it effectively.
Urbanization often results in more densely populated cities, which restricts the space available for greenery. Public green spaces positively impact biodiversity, climate, well-being, and air quality. It is therefore essential for cities to expand their green spaces. To increase vegetation in urban areas effectively, cities need a comprehensive strategy and actionable insights related to existing and potential green spaces.
Themes under Climate Resilience Challenge:
Environmental risk modeling & prediction
Changing environmental conditions pose risk for European cities, especially those located in coastal areas. Flooding and sea level rise damage cities’ infrastructure and is a major safety hazard for citizens. Rising urban temperatures pose a health risk to cities’ inhabitants. City planning and development that takes in account changing living conditions, and development of early response and early care policies by cities reduce harmful environmental effects.
Dynamic emissions & air quality management
Urban air pollution poses a health risk to citizens. Near real-time air quality data and forecasts allow cities to adjust their policies and manage traffic and other emission sources dynamically to improve air quality through responsive, data-driven policies that reduce harmful emissions, fostering a cleaner, healthier environment for residents. Link with Low Emission Zones under challenge 2.1 above.
Climate resilience
Climate change and local pollution significantly impact urban living conditions. Issues such as air pollution, the heat island effect, and extreme precipitation present ongoing challenges. Cities must identify problem areas affected by these environmental issues and obtain actionable data to improve effectively. By reducing the reliance on fossil fuels, urban areas become cleaner with better public health outcomes. Solar and wind potentials need to be maximally utilised to align with the arising energy demands of households, industry, and urban public spaces, such as street lighting, electric public transportation, and energy-intensive events or facilities.
Green cities
Urbanization often results in more densely populated cities, which restricts the space available for greenery. Public green spaces positively impact biodiversity, climate, well-being, and air quality. Loss of green spaces causes cities to lose their biodiversity and become less climate resilient, so it is essential for cities to expand their green spaces. To increase vegetation in urban areas effectively, cities need to implement a comprehensive strategy that involves assessing existing green spaces using satellite imagery and environmental data.
3. Urban Planning & Management Challenge
SPACE4Cities is launching a challenge to leverage digital technologies in urban planning and maintenance, addressing the critical need for up-to-date, accurate data in order to produce actionable insights. Traditional planning methods often lack the required accuracy, frequency of updates and scalability, leading to inefficient planning processes and potential inaccuracies in representations such as the digital twin. The Buyers Group therefore seeks pioneering solutions to improve the precision of urban data collection, enhance the ability to model new urban scenarios, and effectively visualise these models in 3D models. These capabilities are essential as cities all around Europe aim to not only manage their development efficiently but also respond adaptively to urban dynamics, local events as well as citizen needs.
The challenge highlights the importance of integrating advanced digital tools to maintain real-time urban data repositories, simulate potential urban developments, and render these simulations in detailed visualisations. The focus is on how technologies such as digital twins, AI-driven modelling, and immersive visualisation platforms can be harnessed to support continuous urban planning, better disaster preparedness and proactive maintenance of infrastructure and greenery. By embracing these sophisticated digital solutions, cities can improve their planning and maintenance operations, engage more effectively with citizens, and ensure robust urban infrastructure prepared for future developments.
More concretely, SPACE4Cities is launching a challenge to leverage digital technologies in urban planning and maintenance, addressing the critical need for up-to-date, accurate data in order to produce actionable insights. Traditional planning methods often lack the required accuracy, frequency of updates and scalability, leading to inefficient planning processes and potential inaccuracies in representations such as the digital twin. The Buyers Group therefore seeks pioneering solutions to improve the precision of urban data collection, enhance the ability to model new urban scenarios, and effectively visualise these models in 3D models. These capabilities are essential as cities all around Europe aim to not only manage their development efficiently but also respond adaptively to urban dynamics, local events as well as citizen needs.
Themes under Urban Planning & Management Challenge:
Digital city models & data inventories
Keeping urban data current and accurate is crucial for effective city management and planning. Maintaining an up-to-date inventory of the current state of the city, including details about urban expansion, critical infrastructure, assets like streetlights, and the geometry of buildings and infrastructure. With enhanced data, planners can better manage public spaces, allocate resources efficiently, and ensure that digital models accurately reflect real-time conditions, leading to more responsive urban management.
Modelling and simulation for policy testing
Effectively predicting and preparing for future urban scenarios requires a sophisticated understanding of a wide range of data, from demographic shifts to environmental changes. An accurate 3D representation of the city that captures both current and future scenarios, enabling stakeholders to visualize and interact with urban developments and various policy impacts. Cities want to better anticipate significant urban events, from large citywide activities to potential disasters, and to plan urban development strategically, whether in terms of building the environment or policy formulation.
To learn more about Pre-Commercial Procurement and Call for Tenders, you can find information on our website. To learn more about use cases and challenges, you can watch our webinars.