Clustering urban areas by a geological point of view: The Urban Geo Footprint tool

The Urban Geo Footprint (UGF) is a project currently developed in the framework of the EuroGeoSurvey Urban Geology Expert Group (UGEG) and specifically focused on the geo-environmental pressures in urban areas.

The main goal of the study is to set up a classification tool (UGF) aimed to identify the main geological features that could influence and/or interfer with (ongoing) anthropic activities within urban catchments.

The following main drivers are defined in the «UGF framework»: Geology, Climate, Geohazards, Geomorphology, Subsoil anthropic pressure. Each driving factor is articulated in quantitative and indexed (using scores) parameters. At the present early stage all these parameters are going to be indexed and weighted based on two levels of investigation: “basic” and “advanced”. The final result for each city is the “UGF INDEX”  coming from the combination of all the drivers specific scores. The higher the index value, the higher the geotechnical and environmental complexity of the urbanized catchment.

The expected outcomes of the UGF urban areas indexing are:

• A classification of cities according to their geological setting and climatic features, eventually allowing their clustering and supporting sharing of knowledge and capabilities among urban areas.
• Better understanding of geo-environment processes possibly interacting with urban subsurface and ground infrastructures, thus also encouraging and support cities’ subsurface resilience for sustainable (future) growth.
• Help for better assessing the ‘economic’ and ‘social well-being’ benefits (i.e. in terms of ‘geological resilience’) that could derive from urban planning associated to subsoil knowledge.
• A fact-sheet referred to the subsoil of each city, to be progressively updated.

Other objectives of the project are:

• Contributing to develop a method for the comparison of data from different environmental urban contexts.
• Improving the European collaboration and, therefore, the exchange of ideas on good practices to increase urban areas’ resilience.
• Improving citizens' awareness of both the resources and the threats associated with geology.
• Produce a tool for decision makers support (e.g. urban planning, hazards prevention) in order to obtain economical and social well-being benefits.