Welcome to the U-Care Platform
From street-level research to city-wide action,
reveal how everyday street conditions shape health, equity, and climate exposure.
Using LiDAR, thermography and other on-site field surveys, the U-Care Platform turns pedestrian-level evidence into clear, comparable insights for research and teaching.
The problem
Cities increasingly commit to health, equity, and climate goals, yet often struggle to translate these ambitions into effective action on the ground. City-wide strategies typically rely on aggregated indicators that support strategic planning but rarely explain how everyday street conditions shape pedestrian health, safety, and comfort.
A mobility analysis may inform bicycle networks or major corridors, but it does not necessarily show whether children can safely walk from a tram stop to school. District-scale climate assessments may identify priority areas, but they do not indicate where shaded seating is most needed for older adults along pedestrian routes. As a result, many policies lack the street-level evidence required for equitable and effective implementation.
UrbanCare responds to this gap by examining how spatial inequity is produced and experienced along everyday pedestrian routes. Rather than treating risks in isolation, it assesses how environmental burdens and benefits accumulate at street level, particularly for vulnerable and slower-paced users.
To make these conditions observable and comparable, UrbanCare studies spatial inequity focused on four critical problem areas that directly shape pedestrian exposure, health risk, and long-term economic efficiency:
Walkability
Fragmented pedestrian networks, discontinuous paths, and poorly designed crossings increase physical effort and travel time while limiting safe and comfortable movement. These conditions discourage everyday walking, contribute to sedentary health risks, and reduce the efficiency of local mobility systems and street-level economic activity.
Surface Runoff
Sealed surfaces and insufficient drainage lead to surface flooding, water accumulation, and contamination along walking routes. These conditions compromise pedestrian safety, disrupt daily mobility, and increase maintenance costs, infrastructure damage, and long-term financial burdens for municipalities.
Urban Heat
Heat-absorbing materials, limited shading, and poor ventilation intensify thermal stress at street level, particularly where pedestrians slow down or wait. Elevated heat exposure increases health risks, reduces outdoor usability, and drives higher energy demand and economic losses linked to reduced productivity and comfort.
Biotope Loss
The degradation and fragmentation of vegetated systems weaken cooling, water regulation, and ecological continuity in urban environments. These losses intensify environmental stress, diminish public space quality, and contribute to long-term economic costs through increased climate vulnerability and reduced ecosystem services.
The approach
UrbanCare
UrbanCare is the methodological framework that underpins the U-Care project, positioning spatial inequity as a strategic lens for linking street-level evidence to city-scale transformation.
It focuses on how everyday pedestrian conditions shape cumulative health, climate, and environmental burdens along walking routes, particularly for slower-paced users whose movement characteristics increase effort, exposure, and risk. By shifting attention from who people are to how they move, UrbanCare makes visible where urban systems fail under real-world conditions and where targeted interventions can generate disproportionate benefits.
UrbanCare structures urban cases through a consistent research, planning, and design workflow, supported by a matrix that aligns neighborhood- and street-level analysis across walkability, surface runoff, urban heat, and biotope loss. This approach ensures that evidence collected at pedestrian scale remains traceable, comparable, and actionable at higher planning and policy levels.
UrbanCare App
The UrbanCare App is the operational environment that directly supports the UrbanCare project cycle and the structured development of urban cases.
It implements the UrbanCare methodology across the Research, Planning, and Design phases, using a matrix to align spatial scales, project phases, and urban conditions. Through this workflow, the App structures how city goals are translated into neighborhood priorities and street-level actions, following an ordered sequence of intervention: walkability, surface runoff, urban heat, and biotope loss.
The App is used by project partners and approved institutions to collect, organise, and validate evidence, ensuring that street- and scene-level data informs planning decisions while remaining traceable, comparable, and actionable across phases. In this role, the UrbanCare App serves as the research and development pillar of the U-Care project.
U-Care Project
U-Care is an Erasmus+ funded project focused on studying and transforming urban ecosystems to improve health outcomes across European cities in diverse climatic contexts.
The project integrates urban health research, neighbourhood-level diagnostics, and participatory decision-making into higher education, supporting the development of skills and methods needed to address the impacts of climate change on urban environments. It is implemented through a collaboration between European universities, SMEs, and research organisations, including Building Health Lab, Technische Universität Berlin, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Chalmers Tekniska Högskola, the University of Cyprus, and RESET.
U-Care Platform
This platform provides open access to the validated outputs of the U-Care project.
It presents UrbanCare case studies, public data viewers, and cross-case analyses, making results comparable across cities and contexts. The platform supports knowledge exchange, teaching, and policy-oriented interpretation without requiring access to the UrbanCare App.
Access to the UrbanCare App is provided through institutional partnerships to structure and contribute to UrbanCare cases.
Contributions to the current Erasmus+ case studies are open and supported through the project, while the development of new cases is undertaken through additional partnerships.
How this platform works
Start with a case
Each case evaluates a real urban area selected for its relevance to everyday pedestrian activity and public health conditions.
Follow pedestrian loops
Pedestrian loops of approximately two kilometres structure neighborhood-scale assessment and reflect everyday walking routes, connecting recurring street-scale observation points.
Focus on urban scenes
Street-scale analysis concentrates on key locations where pedestrians slow down, wait, or reroute: stops and stations, street crossings, respite areas, and priority entrances to essential daily functions.
Assess four mitigation targets
Walkability, urban heat, stormwater runoff, and biotope loss are assessed across both neighborhood and street scales. Spatial inequity is examined across all four targets.
Interpret and compare the evidence
Filtered views and cross-case comparisons allow users to assess environmental exposures and potential health impacts across cities, neighborhoods, and urban scenes.
Who it is for
The U-Care Platform primarily serves the academic and educational activities of the U-Care project. It is designed to support research, teaching, and learning in the fields of urban planning, public health, and climate-responsive urban development, while also offering insights that are relevant to professional and policy contexts.
Students and educators
Within higher education, the platform supports case-based learning in urban planning, architecture, public health, and related fields. Students can explore how everyday street conditions shape health and climate exposure, while educators can integrate real urban cases and comparative analysis into teaching.
Urban planners, designers, and practitioners
For professional audiences, structured street-level evidence helps bridge strategic objectives and local implementation. The platform supports the diagnosis of pedestrian environments and the interpretation of environmental exposure, highlighting where targeted interventions can improve health, equity, and resilience.
Public authorities and policymakers
Accessible and comparable outputs support cross-departmental dialogue, policy development, and evaluation. The platform is particularly relevant for teams working on mobility, public space, public health, and climate adaptation.
Researchers and analysts
Across academic and applied research, the platform enables the exploration and comparison of validated results across cities and contexts. A shared analytical framework supports cross-case learning, mixed-method interpretation, and the integration of spatial, environmental, and perception-based evidence.
Facilitators and workshop organisers
As a common reference point for participatory processes, the platform provides a shared evidence base for stakeholder workshops and learning activities. It supports structured discussion, transparent interpretation, and the documentation of insights that can inform planning, teaching, and policy processes.
U-Care courses
U-Care Courses provide structured learning on urban health, environmental assessment, and evidence-based urban planning and design. These courses combine academic learning modules developed by project partners with practical guidance on how to use the U-Care Platform and interpret its outputs.