This is an idea proposed in 2023 as a Cambridge Computer Science PhD topic, and is currently being worked on by Andres Zuñiga-Gonzalez. It is supervised by Ronita Bardhan and Anil Madhavapeddy as part of the Remote Sensing of Nature project.
Cities around the globe have experienced unprecedented growth in recent years, becoming centres of economic, cultural, and social hubs for human activity. Rapid urbanisation has transformed the physical landscape and significantly altered local climates, with predictions stating that cities will harbour more than 70% of the population by the middle of the 21st century. This has also changed the climatic variables to which humans are most directly exposed. Combining global climatic changes with localised human activities has created new challenges that cities must solve to be sustainable homes for humanity in the coming decades.
Given the complexity of building sustainable cities and the breadth and variety of available information, it is crucial to use data-driven approaches for urban planning. Urban environments have become humanity's home in the past century, and they will play a key role in shaping the culture, environment and society of the 21st century. Moreover, due to how cities have been built historically and how their urban structure reflects social and economic conditions, it is essential to address the challenge of shaping cities into a more sustainable and equal future regarding the environment and human health. In particular, green spaces and trees have been regarded as one of the most crucial interventions in cities because of their ecosystem services.
This PhD project aims to model the role of vegetation in regulating urban climates and improving human health, using several sources of information, including weather and climate data, remote sensing products and census and survey data (socio-economic and health indicators). Read more in the first abstract: Green Urban Equity: Analyzing the 3-30-300 Rule in UK Cities and Its Socioeconomic Implications