Decision-Support Framework for Green and Blue Infrastructure in Urban Climate Action Planning: The Naples SECAP Case Study

Green and Blue Infrastructure (GBI) is increasingly addressed within climate adaptation and mitigation policies as a strategic operational measure for reducing climate-related impacts in urban environments. However, GBI effectiveness relies strictly on the biophysical condition of natural assets and on the capacity to monitor and interpret ecosystem processes over time, specifically vegetation quality and its physiological response to climatic stressors within complex urban fabrics. This variability emphasizes the need to integrate ecosystem performance into decision-making through digital frameworks capable of quantifying and accounting for ecological resources across temporal scales. In this context, Remote Sensing (RS) technologies provide a structured informational basis for assessing vegetation health and surface thermal patterns in relation to climatic stress thresholds and human exposure. This paper presents a policy-aligned geospatial evidence framework to bridge the gap between environmental monitoring and urban climate action. By integrating high-resolution multispectral remote sensing with heterogeneous spatial datasets and climate models, the framework enables the multitemporal assessment of ecological conditions to inform where GBI measures can support SECAP implementation, project refinement, and monitoring activities. Developed within the Horizon Europe KNOWING project and applied to the Naples East district, Italy, the framework was operationalized within the city’s Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP). The application produces scenario-oriented outputs for interpreting the potential contribution of GBI and NbS measures to outdoor heat-stress reduction under SECAP conditions. Its practical value lies in translating biophysical data into reusable GIS/WMS layers that connect ecological performance, climate exposure, socio-energetic vulnerability, and planned urban transformations, thereby supporting SECAP implementation, project refinement, and monitoring.