As cities and human settlements face increasing pressures from climate change, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, pollution, and growing social inequalities, there is a rising need for inclusive, data-informed and integrated approaches to climate and environmental action. This session explores how citizen science, participatory data generation, and innovative analytical tools can support climate adaptation and mitigation and other environmental priorities, while improving understanding of interdependencies, synergies, and trade-offs across sectors and policy domains. It highlights how citizen-generated data and qualitative and quantitative approaches such as indicator-based assessments, system dynamics and integrated modeling can enhance environmental monitoring, hazard detection, and evidence-based decision-making, while also strengthening community engagement in climate research and action.
The session invites contributions that demonstrate the use of citizen science datasets, participatory sensing technologies, and the integration of citizen science with Earth Observations, AI, modeling, and system-based approaches to assess both adaptation and mitigation measures in the context of climate change and broader environmental challenges. At the same time, it emphasizes processes, methods, and tools that help identify and incorporate interdependencies across climate mitigation and adaptation and environmental domains, moving beyond sectoral silos to support coordinated urban planning and policy development. Particular interest lies in innovative engagement models involving underrepresented or vulnerable groups, stakeholder-driven approaches that raise awareness of cross-sector interactions, and case studies showing how participatory and integrative methods can address data gaps, support community-led action, and inform local policies—including in resource-constrained settings and low- and middle-income countries. The session fosters cross-disciplinary and cross-regional dialogue among researchers, practitioners, policymakers, technologists, and data scientists working toward climate-resilient, low-carbon, and inclusive cities.