The Copernicus programme: Europe’s eye on urban areas

in June 2018 European Commission celebrate the twenties anniversary of European space adventure. Since the “Baveno Manifesto” signed in 1998, several regulatory acts established an innovative legislative framework for shaping a more secure future to European citizens. The systematization of Member States and European Space and Earth Observations capacities, along with an innovative ICT approach and resources resulted in the creation of a new advanced technological tool, applicative platforms and operational services for environmental, urban and land management. A special focus of the program is the realization of the “Urban Atlas” presently the most interesting digital library of satellite images dedicate to European cities, even if most of urban managers, both engineers and architects knows very little about the immense potentiality of that tool.