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Madrid's Green Divide
Why wealthy suburbs have 3x more vegetation than working-class neighborhoods.
Satellite-based vegetation monitoring for European cities
In May 2016, Berlin's Morgenpost published a groundbreaking investigation: "Das sind Deutschlands grunste Grossstadte" (Germany's Greenest Cities). Using 185 Landsat satellite images, they analyzed all 79 German cities with over 100,000 inhabitants - revealing that Siegen, not Berlin or Hamburg, was the greenest with 86% vegetation coverage.
"Viele Stadte behaupten von sich, besonders viele Grunflachen zu bieten" - Many cities claim to offer particularly large green spaces. But what's on paper often differs from what satellites actually see.
Their methodology was revolutionary: instead of relying on official statistics about public parks, they measured all vegetation - private gardens, green roofs, street trees, courtyards. For the first time, cities could be compared fairly.
Nearly a decade later, the question remains urgent across Europe. Climate change is accelerating, urban heat islands are intensifying, and cities are racing to plant trees. But who's actually tracking progress over time? And what about cities outside Germany?
The problem is threefold:
Urban Heat — Cities are 2-5°C hotter than surrounding areas. Vegetation provides critical cooling.
No Ongoing Data — Most cities lack systematic, comparable vegetation monitoring over time.
Satellites See All — Sentinel-2 captures every European city every 5 days at 10m resolution - for free.
Building on Morgenpost's methodology, we're creating an open, ongoing monitoring system for urban vegetation - but with key improvements:
Sentinel-2 provides 10m pixels vs Landsat's 30m - we can see individual trees and small gardens that were invisible before.
Not just a snapshot, but ongoing monitoring. Are new parks making a difference? Is development eating green space? We'll track changes annually.
Starting with Spain and Portugal, expanding across the EU. Same methodology, comparable results - finally enabling cross-border comparisons.
All data outputs licensed under CC BY 4.0. Journalists, researchers, and citizens can use, share, and build on our work with attribution.
Data-driven investigations into urban vegetation patterns.
Why wealthy suburbs have 3x more vegetation than working-class neighborhoods.
Two Iberian capitals, two approaches to urban green. Who's winning?
How cities' vegetation holds up during the hottest months.