Reports · GCRI · Established
Cities and built environment · Critical infrastructure · Society and human development
Cities and Built Environment in Reports
Urban development, buildings, mobility, infrastructure, housing and human-scale resilience. This page shows the series it feeds, the evidence behind it and how to contribute.
- Series
- 2
- Systems
- 3
- Methods
- 9
01In brief
What this area brings to the editions.
Urban development, buildings, mobility, infrastructure, housing and human-scale resilience.
02Field
Cities and Built Environment on the map.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 3
Urban signals, for this page
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2) (NASA LAADS DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA LAADS DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite radiance, corrected for moonlight and atmosphere
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-12
- Resolution
- about 500 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite night-time radiance for the date shown; lights are a proxy for electricity use and outages, not a measurement of supply or access.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Estimated
- Source
- Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University))
- Provider
- NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University)
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- Vintage
- static product; Census-based estimate, static (2020)
- Resolution
- about 1 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Census-based estimate of people per square kilometre in 2020, shown as exposure context; not a count of people affected by any hazard.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (persistent cloud still leaves gaps)
- Source
- VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- 8-day; Satellite 8-day composite; persistent cloud still leaves gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-09-14
- Resolution
- about 1 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite skin temperature of the ground over the 8 days ending on the date shown, a heat exposure indicator; not air temperature, heat index or a heat warning.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite image
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-14
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite image. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Modelled (latest year GIBS publishes)
- Source
- MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1) (NASA LP DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA LP DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- yearly; Satellite classification; latest year GIBS publishes
- Newest at build
- 2024-01-01
- Resolution
- about 500 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite land cover classes for the year shown, including croplands; a classification with known errors, not a farm register.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (clouds leave gaps)
- Source
- OMI Aura (NASA GES DISC)
- Provider
- NASA GES DISC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite retrieval; clouds leave gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-10
- Resolution
- about 2 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite column of nitrogen dioxide in the lower atmosphere on the day shown, mostly from combustion; not a ground-level concentration or a health warning.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
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.
Urban signals, framed on India.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · U.S. Geological Survey · NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERT
Sources 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). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. 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
- OMI nitrogen dioxide (Aura) and OMPS aerosol index (Suomi NPP), NASA; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; 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). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. 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.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- Live: U.S. Geological Survey Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- Observed (EO): NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERT (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). 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).
- NASA GIBS: 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).
- Air quality forecast, 5 days, PM2.5 (CAMS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2026.
- Past year, daily temperature and sunshine (NASA POWER): These data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) POWER Project funded through the NASA Earth Science/Applied Science Program..
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (16 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
- Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
- 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
- Nitrogen dioxide, lower atmosphere column: OMI Aura, NASA GES DISC · 10 Oct 2026
03In the editions
9 findings of the drafted editions that bear on Cities and Built Environment.
Drawn from the Baseline Edition 2026 drafts through the systems this area reads. Each opens at its anchor in its edition, with its numbered sources.
- AREUnited Arab EmiratesNet greenhouse-gas emissions were 195.2 Mt CO₂e in 2022 including land use, 0.8% below 2019; energy gave 164.1 Mt, industrial processes 29.6 Mt and waste 5.6 Mt, and land use removed 6.6 Mt.REPORTED · COUNTRY-ARE-CLI-001
- ARGArgentinaThe national inventory reports 400.9 MtCO₂e including land use for 2022, and 377.8 MtCO₂e net on the climate-contribution basis.REPORTED · COUNTRY-ARG-CLI-001
- AUAfrican UnionIn 2024, 55.1% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa had electricity, up from 46.4% in 2018; about 579 million had none (derived).REPORTED · COUNTRY-AU-ENE-002
- AUSAustraliaGreenhouse-gas emissions excluding land use were 591.5 Mt CO₂e in 2024, against 605.2 Mt in 2019 and 579.5 Mt in 2020.REPORTED · COUNTRY-AUS-CLI-001
- BRABrazilGross greenhouse-gas emissions fell 16.7% in 2024 to 2,145 Mt CO₂e, led by lower land-use change; net emissions were 1.49 Gt CO₂e. SEEG is a civil-society estimate, not the official inventory.REPORTED · COUNTRY-BRA-CLI-001
- CHESwitzerlandGreenhouse-gas emissions were 40.1 MtCO₂e in 2024, 27.3% below 1990 and 22.3% below when land use is included; transport emitted 13.4 MtCO₂e and international aviation and maritime a further 5.5 MtCO₂e outside the 2030 target.REPORTED · COUNTRY-CHE-CLI-001
- CHNChinaThe national mean temperature was 10.9 °C in 2025, 1.0 °C above the 1991 to 2020 normal and tied with 2024 as the highest since 1951; hot days averaged 16.5, the most since 1961.REPORTED · COUNTRY-CHN-CLI-001
- EUEuropean UnionNet domestic greenhouse-gas emissions were 40% below 1990 in 2024 and 3% below 2023; on the 2030 target basis the cut was 37%.REPORTED · COUNTRY-EU-CLI-001
- GS-02Global EnergyGlobal energy demand grew 1.3% (8 EJ) in 2025, down from 2% in 2024, and electricity demand grew nearly 3%, more than twice as fast.REPORTED · SECTOR-ENERGY-GLOBAL-ENE-001
04Evidence path
From Foundry evidence to the series.
The evidence, step by step, from the systems this area reads to the series it feeds.
How Cities and Built Environment reaches Reports: what it reads, how it reads it, the sealed cut and the series it feeds.
| Step | What happens | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 01 What it reads | Cities and Built Environment reads NXS-EOP (earth observation and digital twins) and NXS-NST (civilian common operating picture): governed sources with their releases, never a value without its source. | |
| 02 How it reads them | Structural and earthquake engineering and Urban and transport engineering turn the evidence into findings, with assumptions and limits stated beside each value. | |
| 03 The cut is sealed | Each quarter the evidence is sealed in one cut, so OBSERVED, REPORTED and ESTIMATED values stay apart and every edition can be rebuilt. | |
| 04 The series it feeds | The cut feeds Global Sector Risk and Resilience and Evidence Brief, from the Baseline Edition 2026 into the quarterly series. | |
| 05 Who decides | Decisions stay with the authorities that hold them, under their own rules; an edition informs a decision and never makes it. |
A teaching model of the evidence path, not a forecast and not a record of any run; the systems, methods and series named come from the registries. Sources: Cities and Built Environment in Reports (2026); Cities and Built Environment home (2026).
05Series
The series it feeds, and what backs each.
| Series | Foundry systems it draws on | Academy disciplines | Series home |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global Sector Risk and Resilience | The Global Risks Index (NXS-GRX) one sector’s structure, dependencies and concentration measures NXS-EOP observed change in the sector’s assets and their surroundings | Trade, supply chains and geoeconomics Critical infrastructure and lifelines | Global Sector Risk and Resilience series home |
| Evidence Brief | NXS-GRX the evidence behind one question, with its strength and gaps NXS-POR (public, client and partner delivery) the public-safe release of a brief and its corrections NXS-DSS (decision cases and deliberation) what the evidence settles for the decision in hand | Research, evidence and the science-policy interface Risk communication and risk literacy Uncertainty and decision making | Evidence Brief series home |
06Backed by
The systems, methods and teaching behind it.
- NXS-EOPNXS-EOPNXS-EOPRooms: Acquisition, Change.
- NXS-NSTNXS-NSTNXS-NSTRooms: Incidents, FieldOps.
- NXS-DSSNXS-DSSNXS-DSSRooms: Scenarios, Decisions.
- STEM methodSTEM CommonsStructural and earthquake engineeringThe canonical method page, with its limits.
- STEM methodSTEM CommonsUrban and transport engineeringThe canonical method page, with its limits.
- STEM methodSTEM CommonsGeospatial information systemsThe canonical method page, with its limits.
- STEM methodSTEM CommonsSpatial statistics and geostatisticsThe canonical method page, with its limits.
- STEM methodSTEM CommonsSocial and behavioural scienceThe canonical method page, with its limits.
- STEM methodSTEM CommonsEarth and geophysical scienceThe canonical method page, with its limits.
- Academy disciplineRisk AcademyCities, housing and the built environmentFaculty of Infrastructure, Energy and Industry
- Academy disciplineRisk AcademyHeat, drought and wildfireFaculty of Hazards, Disasters and Resilience
- FieldGCRICities and built environmentThe field across science, governance and finance.
- FieldGCRICritical infrastructureThe field across science, governance and finance.
- FieldGCRISociety and human developmentThe field across science, governance and finance.
07Across the Consortium
Where the same subject is reported elsewhere.
- Counterpart · GRFReportsDisaster and Crisis GovernanceShared: Critical infrastructure.
- Counterpart · GRFReportsInformation Integrity and Public TrustShared: Society and human development.
- Counterpart · GRAReportsDevelopment Finance NexusShared: Critical infrastructure.
- Counterpart · GRAReportsInstitutional Funds NexusShared: Society and human development.
- Counterpart · GRAReportsFinancial Cyber and Operational ResilienceShared: Critical infrastructure.
- Standards areaNexus StandardsSocietal and information risk standardsGovernance, security and society. Parts NS-0, NS-9, NS-11, NS-12.
- Standards areaNexus StandardsCities and urban systems risk standardsCities and the built environment. Parts NS-0, NS-1, NS-3, NS-5, NS-9, NS-10, NS-11.
- Standards areaNexus StandardsCritical infrastructure and critical entitiesEnergy and critical infrastructure. Parts NS-0, NS-3, NS-9, NS-10, NS-11.
- Standards areaNexus StandardsCities and the built environmentCities and the built environment. Parts NS-0, NS-3, NS-5, NS-9, NS-10, NS-11.
09Contribute
Contribute on Cities and Built Environment.
Evidence, a case, a correction, a method or profile input on this subject. The composer tags it with this area and its series.
Contribution composer
Write a contribution the editor can act on.
Say what it is, where its record is kept and on which licence. It arrives tagged with this page, its area and its gateway, so it reaches the editor who owns it.
Your email opens with the subject and a template already filled in for GW-GCRI.
- Evidence
- Correction
- Case study
- Analysis or method
- Peer review
- Translation
- Profile input
Never send personal data or sensitive infrastructure detail. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights.
10Open science
Open science for Cities and Built Environment.
How a contribution on this subject is deposited, identified, credited, licensed and found, and the metadata for it prefilled from this page.
Cities and Built Environment’s open record
- Area
- Cities and Built Environment
- Feeds
- Global Sector Risk and Resilience, Evidence Brief
- Record
- A UNI for every accepted contribution; cited with its DOI in the edition that uses it
- Links
- isSupplementTo the edition it informs; isNewVersionOf its earlier version
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0 (SPDX CC-BY-4.0) for original material; metadata CC0 1.0
Credit and identity
- ORCID
- Your iD in the deposit and the contribution record; DataCite can then add the work to your ORCID record
- ROR
- Your organisation by its ROR identifier, never by a typed name alone
- CRediT
- Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualisation, Writing, review and editing
- Account
- None needed to contribute; never a password
Find and follow
Search the open indexes for Cities and Built Environment; software is cited by its SWHID from Software Heritage. Annotation is your choice: Hypothesis opens this page in its own viewer.
Mirrors and harvest
The DOI is canonical. At release each signed bundle is also given an IPFS content identifier and a bloxberg anchor as mirrors; both are listed in the record once they exist. Zenodo exposes every record over OAI-PMH, and reviews and endorsements can arrive through COAR Notify where the repository supports it.
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}11Latest
Releases for this area.
Releases tagged to this area appear here once released.
ReportsContribute
Send evidence on Cities and Built Environment.
Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication, written by six desks. This page sits with the Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI) Systems Evidence desk. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work. Sent to the wrong desk, it is forwarded, not refused.
GCRI Systems Evidence deskCities and Built EnvironmentGlobal Sector Risk and ResilienceEvidence Brief
- EmailGateway GW-GCRISend it from this pageEvidence, a correction, a case, a method, a review, a translation or profile input. It arrives tagged with this page, so the editor who owns it receives it.
- ZenodoOpen depositDeposit it and submit to the communityPublish your own record on Zenodo with your ORCID iD, then submit it to the Reports community there. Curators review it; the DOI stays yours.
- ReportsGCRISee which desk takes what you haveThe routing table opens the contribution page: what you have, the desk that takes it, how each contribution is reviewed and credited, and the licence.
Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.
Related
Around the reports at GCRI.
Sector signature
The sectors behind Cities and Built Environment.
A reading aid: the sectors the findings run through and how strongly they depend on each other.
Select corners · hover lines6 / 15 relations
Context
Infrastructure and its partners
Infrastructure gives pipes, dams and treatment works to water (0.6), transmission and fuel logistics to energy (0.6) and access to care to health (0.5).
W · E · I · F · H · B
- Sectors
- 4 of 6
- Relations
- 6 of 15
- Coupling
- 0.46 share of total
Strongest relations in play
- Energy → Infrastructure · power for transport and telecoms0.8
- Water → Energy · cooling water and hydropower0.6
- Infrastructure → Water · pipes, dams and treatment works0.6
- Water → Health · drinking water and sanitation0.7
Reports · GCRI
Bring what you know to the next edition.
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