Stadtklimadashboard – Application of Indicators for Urban Climate Adaptation

The Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs, and Spatial Development (BBSR) has commissioned the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IÖR) in collaboration with Plan4Better GmbH, LUP – Luftbild Umwelt Planung GmbH, and bauchplan to develop an interactive WebGIS dashboard. This dashboard aims to provide data-driven support to municipalities, states, and the federal government in planning and assessing climate adaptation measures. Based on the WebGIS GOAT platform, the dashboard visualizes and analyzes nationally comparable indicators such as "Accessibility to Cooling Green Spaces" and "Permeable Surfaces." Additional indicators for urban heat prevention and natural water balance are integrated into the system.

Background
The impacts of climate change – increased heat, drought, and heavy rainfall – present significant challenges for cities. Particularly in densely built-up urban areas, heat islands form, and the sealing of large surfaces impairs the natural water cycle. Climate-conscious urban planning is therefore essential to ensure quality of life and promote ecological sustainability.

Objective
The objective of this research project is to design and implement a nationwide indicator system for climate change adaptation in cities, which will be achieved in two stages:

1. Calculation of Core Indicators:
   a) Accessibility of Cooling Green Spaces with a focus on green spaces that provide high cooling effects during the day.
   b) Permeable Surfaces as an indicator to evaluate progress in water-sensitive urban design.
2. Further Development and Integration into a WebGIS Dashboard:
   The indicators will be integrated into a WebGIS dashboard to be used for federal urban climate monitoring starting in 2027.

The results will be incorporated into federal monitoring to evaluate the success of the German Climate Adaptation Strategy. Methods, scripts, and datasets used in the project follow an Open Data and Open Science approach, ensuring they are freely available for reuse. This supports sustainable development and ensures continuity.

Since the software development will primarily use open-source modules, the open license of the products allows for scalability and sustainable reuse of the developed scripts. Municipalities and other stakeholders will also be involved in the development process to ensure the best possible solution for the target audience.

Plan4Better is responsible for the methodological and technical implementation of the dashboard and supports the calculation of green space accessibility.

Conclusion
The "Urban Climate Dashboard" demonstrates how innovative GIS technologies can support climate change adaptation. Plan4Better's methodological approach—from defining requirements to final software development—combines technical excellence with a clear user focus. The result is a future-proof tool that helps cities and municipalities effectively address urban climate challenges.

You can find the BBSR project profile here.