UrbanPulse: Global City Livability Explorer

UrbanPulse is an interactive data app ranking 60 global cities across 9+ livability factors. Users can adjust weights or choose presets to personalize rankings.

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Inspiration

We asked ourselves: what truly makes a city livable—is it cheap rent, clean air, or blazing-fast Wi-Fi? 🌆💜💛 The idea of letting people define their own version of “best city” inspired UrbanPulse.

What it does

UrbanPulse ranks 60 cities across 9+ factors and lets users personalize weights or choose presets (Student 🎓, Family 👨‍👩‍👧, Nomad 💻). The app reshuffles rankings live and reveals trade-offs with charts, maps, and correlations.

How we built it

We combined datasets (livability, air quality, CO₂, internet, commute, green space) → normalized to 0–100 → engineered preset scoring modes. Using Plotly Studio + pandas, we built interactive bar charts, radar comparisons, slope charts, and heatmaps—all themed in purple + yellow.

Challenges we ran into

Data gaps and mismatched city names were constant battles 🥴. Normalizing “bad is high” metrics like crime or commute required inversion. Designing charts that were clear, not cluttered, was another hurdle.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We turned raw global stats into a fun, sleek, personalized explorer 🌍✨. The correlation insights (e.g. green space ↔ CO₂, cost ↔ crime) surprised even us. The clean purple–yellow design feels polished and vibrant.

What we learned

Livability is never one-size-fits-all. Safety tends to cost more, infrastructure factors move together, and environmental choices leave a strong fingerprint. Data storytelling + interactivity = real insight.

What's next for UrbanPulse: Global City Livability Explorer

We’ll add more factors (GDP, education, renewable energy ⚡), integrate real-time feeds (AQI, internet speed), enable multilingual UI, expand it to contain 350 cities and generate shareable “My Top 3” cards 📸. Long-term: an AI-powered city recommender to match people with their perfect vibe 🧭🤖.

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