The overreaching goal of the project is to develop a consistent and generic methodology that enables globally consistent analysis of urban heat islands worldwide. This is done via satellite earth observation and crowdsourcing.

ENLIGHT addresses both the global urban data gap and its integration into climate management at global, regional and urban scales.

In the first phase ENLIGHT develops a consistent urban database that includes land-cover, urban climate effects and the exploration of policy-relevant modelling capacities. It builds up on existing research strengths and international links.

ENLIGHT creates four main components 

• A global urban database for climate studies
• An extensive database on the urban thermal effect (the urban heat island, UHI, i.e. canopy layer UHI and surface UHI)
• An assessment of the intra and inter urban heat island variation in relation to context, meteorology and topography
• Evaluation of an urban modelling tool that enables policy and planning

The in content, scale and extent consistent urban database is closely linked to the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tool WUDAPT. Its co-design can lead to synergies and increased functionality, resulting in an up-scaling of urban climate solutions.