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Test in Nexus Universe

Test in Nexus Universe

The mission themes Cities and Built Environment brings to the annual Nexus Universe programme, governed by The Global Risks Forum, with its own website at universe.nexus.

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Publisher
The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation
Field
Cities and built environment, Critical infrastructure, Society and human development
Status
In development
Service level
R0: information and enquiries

Action week

Nexus Universe · Cities · Week 22

Week plannedGCRI · Cities and Built Environment

Tracks

controlled sessions

MonTueWedThuFri0910111213141516Housing and risk forumGreen infrastructure pipelineWard risk walkHeat action planningStand-down and hot washObserver briefing

Observer notes

  1. O-1Escalation path unclear between cellsTrack 12 h
  2. O-2Data hand-off worked as designedTrack 21 h
  3. O-3Public message drafted before verificationTrack 31 h

Cities and Built Environment · Action weekAction week, in outline: domain structure with placeholder names and illustrative values, not a record.

01In brief

The short answer.

Testing in Nexus Universe is how Cities and Built Environment brings work to the annual programme governed by The Global Risks Forum, with its own site at universe.nexus. Its proposed mission theme is urban heat and housing continuity. Selected work is tested under controlled conditions, reviewed and published with its limits; a theme is a proposal, not a confirmed exercise.

02Canvas

Scoping to review.

Canvas · scoping to reviewDesign, not a record
Test in Nexus Universe: an exercise from design to lessonsObjectives and a scenario are designed with the owner; injects are scripted; players respond in cells while controllers and observers watch; a hot wash and an after-action report turn observations into owned improvements. Design of the process, not a record of a run.

Fig.A programme from scoping to the owner's decision. Design, not a record.

03Geography

Urban signals in India.

For test in nexus universe, in GCRI's spatial-intelligence reading, the map opens on night lights, population density and true-colour imagery with built-up and settlement extent from NASA GIBS, framed on India; 3 further NASA layers wait in the list.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 3

Urban signals, for this page

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

For test in nexus universe, in GCRI's spatial-intelligence reading, the map opens on night lights, population density and true-colour imagery with built-up and settlement extent from NASA GIBS, framed on India; 3 further NASA layers wait in the list.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date; indicators, not assessments of any place; claim ceiling INTEGRATED.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · Copernicus Sentinel-2 L2A · CIESIN/Columbia, NASA SEDAC HBASESources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). CC BY 4.0
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Observed (EO): Copernicus Sentinel-2 L2A (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026), Microsoft Planetary Computer
  • Context: CIESIN/Columbia, NASA SEDAC HBASE. Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University, and NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC): Global Human Built-up And Settlement Extent (HBASE) 2010; Seto, Guneralp and Hutyra 2012, Global Grid of Probabilities of Urban Expansion to 2030; Global Urban Heat Island (UHI) Data Set, 2013.
  • Optional layers (17 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
  • Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026

04Themes

Mission themes from this field.

  1. 01

    Urban heat and housing continuity

    Proposed for controlled testing in the annual programme; a theme is not a confirmed exercise.

05Exercises

Compound-stress exercises designed for urban.

Exercise themeWhat it tests
Urban heat and housing continuityWhether a city can protect residents in poor housing through a long heat wave with power and water stress
06How testing works

Controlled, reviewed and reversible.

Selected work is tested under controlled conditions, reviewed and then published with its limits. Results that pass go to Nexus Reports. The planned stand-down of each edition keeps review, reconciliation and corrections going after the event.

07Key terms

Terms used on this page.

Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.

TermDefinition
Mission themeA subject a platform proposes for controlled testing in the annual Nexus Universe programme; a theme is a proposal until the programme confirms an exercise.
Simulation exerciseA practice, training or evaluation activity in which an emergency is described or simulated and participants respond as they would in reality, so that plans and capacities can be tested, as WHO's exercise manual describes.
Tabletop exerciseA discussion-based exercise in which participants talk through decisions in response to a scenario.
After-action reviewA structured discussion after an activity of what was planned, what happened, why, and what to change.
08Sources

Where this page's references lead.

The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.

09Connected

Where this page leads across the Consortium.

10Questions

Questions and answers.

Where is Nexus Universe?
It has its own website at universe.nexus. GRF governs the programme.
Related

Around Cities and Built Environment.

Cities and Built Environment

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