On 10 December, the Navarra Center for International Development organized a workshop titled "Urban Deprivation: from Earth Observation to Urban Policies". International speakers included Monika Kuffer (University of Twente), Stefanos Georganos (Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden), Pere Roca (European Commission & United Nations) and Anthony Boanada-Fuchs (St. Gallen Institute of Management in Latin America).
The workshop, organized by NCID researcher Ãngela Abascal, analysed the importance of Earth Observation and satellite imaging for analysing the urban context of cities, especially those with poorer areas.
The poor suburbs of some cities, known as slums, and very present in urban areas in Africa, are a great challenge for our societies because they often present a large accumulation of rubbish that is negative both from an environmental and health point of view for the people who live there.
Furthermore, due to the demographic growth that the African continent is experiencing, especially in the cities, it is more necessary than ever to commit to effective public policies that improve the life of these cities not only from a socio-economic point of view, but also from the point of view of urban planning.
All the speakers agreed that to the information obtained through these images it is very important to add the information offered by the community through interviews and workshops in which the opinion of the neighbours can be known through what is known as Citizen Science. With all this data, appropriate public policies to combat poverty in the slums can be addressed. 