During a one-week summer school on the topic ‘Learning from Geoenvironmental Data: Tools for a Changing Planet’ offered by the Venice International University, I explored methods on how to efficiently utilize data related to geospatial phenomena.

A special focus was on the application of geo-statistical and machine learning approaches to risks arising from natural hazards in urban areas. As the venue of the summer school was Venice, the approaches were often illustrated by using the lagoon city as example and supported with on-site field visits. It was particularly interesting to see how conditions and management practices differ between Venice and the two TRANSCEND case studies Mumbai and Jakarta, while all three are coastal cities. It became clear that different environmental, social, cultural and historical settings have to be emphasized while adapting to future flood risk in coastal cities.

The Venice International University is a consortium of multiple international universities and is located on the island of San Servolo in Venice. The University of Munich (LMU) is part of that consortium and thus PhD students from LMU are offered a scholarship to participate in the events organized by VIU.