Understanding urban challenges and innovative solutions
Urban areas are heating up faster than their surroundings.
Average urban heat island (UHI) effect: +2°C to +7°C compared with nearby rural zones.
Heatwaves are increasing in frequency, intensity, and duration.
Air pollution peaks (NO₂, PM₂.₅, O₃) often coincide with these heatwaves, worsening health risks.
The combined effects lead to public health crises, higher energy demand, and unequal exposure across neighborhoods.
Climate change and rapid urbanization exacerbate this imbalance. As cities densify, sealed surfaces, lack of vegetation, and poor ventilation amplify heat and pollution concentration.
Urban planners and decision-makers lack integrated, predictive tools to assess how planned construction or green infrastructure will affect local temperature and air quality in the coming years.
Current issues:
Temperature, pollution, vegetation data sources without unified modeling.
Most tools show today's situation, not tomorrow's predictions.
Climate models are often too coarse (1–10 km) for city-scale decisions.
Air quality, heat, and comfort treated separately despite being connected.
Citizens have no accessible way to understand where and when their city becomes unsafe or uncomfortable.
The result:
| Stakeholder | Key Needs | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Municipalities | Predictive planning | Need decision tools to evaluate projects under climate change scenarios (10+ years). |
| Urban designers / engineers | Fast impact simulations | Need to test project alternatives and get measurable indicators. |
| Citizens | Awareness and accessibility | Need maps to locate cooler, less polluted zones and plan mobility routes. |
| Researchers / policy makers | Consistent datasets | Need harmonized multi-source data to study long-term adaptation. |
Cities urgently need a unified, data-driven decision platform to model temperature, pollution, and comfort; simulate urban projects; and provide both expert insights and public access.
Re-Fresh provides an integrated, data-driven solution for cities to predict, simulate, and visualize the combined effects of heat, air pollution, and urban design choices.
A web-based predictive map powered by NASA and Copernicus datasets, enhanced by machine learning models that estimate how new buildings or green areas will influence temperature, pollution, and comfort over the next decade.
| Area | Innovation | Added Value |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-layer modeling | Integrates thermal, air quality, and comfort data | Unified view of urban health |
| Predictive AI | ML models forecast changes 5–10 years ahead | Predictive analysis |
| Scalable architecture | Modular data pipeline and API | Adaptable to any city |
| Citizen interface | Map showing fresh, low-pollution areas | Public engagement |
| Decision dashboard | Quantitative metrics for planning | Policy support |
Satellite + GIS + demographics data
Feature extraction, ML prediction, scenario engine
Interactive map, API, citizen dashboard