Europe seen from the stars: evaluating EU cohesion funding using satellite data.

Abstract

For public auditors, auditing policy performance relates by and large to the effectiveness of any given policy. It involves identifying and measuring the impact of policy implementation, which most often takes place through specific programmes and projects. In cohesion policy and other policy areas, many factors come into play, which makes it challenging to attribute effects to a certain policy action. Availability of data and new research techniques are crucial for performance auditing, and new venues — where they can be used — are particularly relevant. Satellite data are becoming increasingly available, and new insights on how to use remote sensing information are evolving quickly. Hannes Taubenböck is leading the ‘City & Society’ team at the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and is also a lecturer at the University of Würzburg. Katharina Gnath is Senior Project Manager at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, and an expert on European and international economic governance. They explain below how geospatial data can be used as a proxy for economic and social changes not only at country level but also at local level to capture the local impact of place-based policies.