This project develops, tests and deploys the Healthy Cities information system comprised of efficient and interoperable backend services beyond today’s search engines, and intelligent frontend or client-based services beyond complex user interfaces and adapting new participatory tools and mobile devices. The system will provide access, fusion, integration and data correlation so that key information can be more readily available for just-in-time services and change detection and pattern and complex events recognition. We exploit the fact that citizens are not only data consumers, but also data producers via crowdsourcing methodologies. Where, they collect data about their local environment and share it with others, as well as provide automatic feedback to city government and service providers for real-time decision-making.

The data to support this system, both top-down official sources and bottom-up crowdsourced data, are available in part due to previous EU and national projects but have not been harvested and indexed for optimal access and exploitation. One example is the European Environmental Agency and National Meteorological Agencies that are publishing huge volumes of data via web services or new methods such as Linked Open Data. Another is the Big open-data initiatives are growing across Europe and the collection of sensor webs that are generating enormous dynamic data streams describing environmental, transport, and economic activities, which affect urban sustainability. We propose a system, designed to exploit these data and to offer tools to generate information to help make urban living healthier. Case studies and demonstrations for the project include major urban and environment impacts on health.

The system includes tools for analysis and presentation of massive amounts of data in the form of simplified graphics and distilled numerical indices. Beyond the initial toolset the system encourages the creation of future tools by outside parties, thus creating a multiplier effect that will potentially serve more users, both citizens, and urban planners and managers. Better symmetric interactions between citizens in their environment and the city itself will have measurable impact on public health and quality of life.