EuroFab: European Urban Fabric Classification Using Artificial Intelligence

The EuroFab project leverages spatial data science and modern deep learning techniques to develop a scientific, technical and applied basis for a detailed, consistent, updatable and open classification of urban fabric in Europe. The project will perform a comprehensive assessment of every building and street segment to provide a rich multiscale description of the built environment, serving as the foundation for a hierarchical classification of patterns of urban fabric, yielding easily interpretable types whose distribution will be mapped in time and space using artificial intelligence reading satellite imagery, providing valuable information for sustainable urban development, climate change mitigation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, nature-based solutions, and biodiversity conservation. The outputs produced by EuroFab contribute to define novel and more granular indicators to measure progress towards the targets set by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework, especially SDG11, dedicated to sustainable cities and communities, and is in line with many of the core principles behind the UN’s New Urban Agenda.