Making cities safer, healthier and greener with open data
Publication Date/Time
2026-03-09T12:00:00+00:00
Country
Europe
How high-value datasets support safety, public health and climate
resilience in regions and cities in Europe
High-value datasets are key public sector datasets that play an
important role in delivering social, environmental and economic
benefits. Made available free of charge and in machine-readable
formats under EU rules, they are central to creating innovative public
services and responding to complex challenges.

In a previous data story
[https://data.europa.eu/en/publications/datastories/new-era-urban-resilience-and-efficiency]
on urban resilience and efficiency, we saw how regions and cities like
Attica, Porto, Herne and Napoli are already turning high-value
datasets into concrete services that improve daily life: from wildfire
detection to flood forecasting and smarter mobility.

This follow-up story offers new examples of how high-value datasets
are helping European cities tackle equally pressing challenges related
to public safety, environmental health and climate adaptation and
offer proactive, citizen-oriented solutions.

 

VILNIUS: TACKLING INVASIVE SPECIES WITH DATA AND AI

Vilnius, the European Green Capital for 2025, faced a growing
environmental challenge: the spread of Sosnowsky’s hogweed, an
invasive and phototoxic plant that poses risks to both ecosystems and
public health. Monitoring its expansion across the city required more
resources than were available through traditional field inspections.

To address this, the city used drone imagery and AI to identify and
map invasive plant areas. The resulting datasets allowed municipal
workers to visualise affected zones, calculate their size
automatically and track how the plant spreads over time, including
projections based on wind patterns.

As a result, the quality and usability of datasets related to green
spaces and natural environments improved significantly, and new
datasets on invasive species were created. This helped the city target
eradication efforts more effectively and plan interventions based on
reliable, up-to-date information. Moreover, by making this data
publicly available (open), residents can assess the presence of these
plants in their area and understand the likelihood of further spread.

Several related high‑value datasets produced through the Vilnius
pilot are available on the European Data Portal
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets?locale=en&query=vilnius&page=1&catalog=beopen&limit=10].
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/vilnius_0.jpg]
_MAPPING TOOL USED BY MUNICIPAL WORKERS TO PLAN AND MONITOR
ERADICATION WORK IN VILNIUS_

 

__
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/Vilnius2.jpg]
_DRONE IMAGERY USED TO DETECT INVASIVE SPECIES: THE SAME AREA VIEWED
USING RGB (LEFT) AND THERMAL (RIGHT) CAMERAS_

 

CARTAGENA, MOLINA DE SEGURA AND TORRE PACHECO: SAFER, HEALTHIER URBAN
SPACES

Three cities in southern Spain – Cartagena, Molina de Segura and
Torre Pacheco – focused on improving urban security, environmental
health and climate resilience by bringing together data from multiple
domains such as air quality, traffic and crowd density monitoring.
This data was integrated for the first time into a single digital
portal.

 

IMPROVING SAFETY IN HISTORIC CITY CENTRES 

In areas with high pedestrian density, the cities combined data on
traffic, air quality, noise levels and crowd movements to support
better situational awareness. By integrating these datasets into a
single digital platform, authorities were able to monitor risks in
real time and shift from responding to incidents after they occur to
preventing them earlier.

In parallel, this approach improved the quality and completeness of
the underlying datasets from around 30–40 % to full coverage,
supporting more informed decisions during busy periods and public
events.
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/Cartagena%20dashboard.jpg]
_DASHBOARD OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CARTAGENA SHOWING THE LEVELS OF
NOISE IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE CITY_

 

SMARTER STREET LIGHTING FOR HEALTH AND EFFICIENCY

The cities also addressed the impact of public lighting on energy use
and health. Using geolocated data on LED (light-emitting
diode) street lights, energy consumption and light intensity, they
developed tools to assess where lighting could be adjusted to reduce
energy use and limit exposure to blue light.

The initiative helped these cities improve the quality and
completeness of their data, providing decision-makers with more
reliable information and helping planners make evidence-based choices
that improved both efficiency and public well-being.

 

RESPONDING TO HEATWAVES AND URBAN HEAT ISLANDS

To better manage extreme heat, the cities created publicly accessible
maps showing temperature, humidity and air quality in near real time.
These tools made it easier to identify heat‑prone areas, support
municipal planning and inform citizens during heatwaves.

By improving the quality and accessibility of environmental datasets,
the cities were able to turn climate plans into real, on-the-ground
action.

Several related high‑value datasets, such as those from Molina de
Segura, are now available on the European Data Portal
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets?locale=en&query=Molina_de_Segura&page=1&limit=10].

 

FROM PILOTS TO POLICY: WHAT CITIES CAN LEARN

The pilots featured in this story were developed as part of the
EU‑funded BeOpen project, which supports cities in using
high‑value datasets to address urban challenges through open data
and digital tools.

Antonio Filograna, Senior Researcher at Engineering Ingegneria
Informatica S.p.A. and project coordinator of BeOpen, said: ‘The
project helped break down the silos where most data was trapped,
unlocking its potential to create innovative digital services that
enhance citizens’ quality of life. This journey has been
extraordinary, thanks to the incredible people and professionals who
collaborated to achieve a shared goal: empowering cities to exploit
their data, enabling public and private entities to deliver high-value
services to the community.’

Together, these examples show how high-value datasets can help regions
and cities protect public health, improve safety and adapt to climate
pressures. By turning fragmented data into usable, reliable
information, local authorities can deliver services that are more
responsive to citizens’ needs and better prepared for future
challenges.

