GCRI · Cities and Built Environment
Source and data register
Where Cities and Built Environment gets its data: each source with its licence, lineage, resolution, quality checks and known gaps.
01Register
Source and data register on the record.
Cities and Built Environment
- 02STEM methods9 canonical methods applied
- 03Topics8 subject pages
- 04Counterparts5 platforms in shared fields
- 05PublisherThe Global Centre for Risk and Innovation
02What is recorded
Each source carries five facts.
01
Origin
Who produces the data and how.
02
Access terms
Licence, restrictions and permitted uses.
03
Quality
Coverage, resolution, update frequency and known errors.
04
Provenance
How the data reached the platform and what was changed.
05
Gaps
What is missing and how the gap is handled.
03Every source the topic
Every source the topic dossiers cite, with its terms.
| Source | What it gives | Terms | Used in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlas of Urban Expansion (NYU Marron Institute) | Expansion, density and layout for a global sample of cities | Licence to check | Urban growth and land |
| Copernicus Urban Atlas and street tree layer | Urban land use and trees for European cities | Free, Copernicus terms | Buildings and heat |
| Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys | Household services and dwelling characteristics | Free with registration, survey terms | Informal settlements |
| Demographic and Health Surveys housing modules | Dwelling materials, crowding and services | Free with registration, DHS terms | Housing and affordability |
| ECOSTRESS (NASA) | Land surface temperature at different times of day | Open, NASA data policy | Buildings and heat |
| ESA WorldCover | Global land cover at ten-metre resolution | Open, CC BY 4.0 | Urban growth and land |
| ESA WorldCover and Copernicus land monitoring products | Land cover and imperviousness | Open, CC BY 4.0 and Copernicus terms | Green blue infrastructure |
| Eurostat housing statistics (EU-SILC) | Overburden, overcrowding and housing deprivation in Europe | Open, Eurostat reuse policy | Housing and affordability |
| Global Covenant of Mayors reporting | City climate risk assessments and action plans | Public, terms per platform (to check) | Municipal governance interface |
| Global Human Settlement Layer (European Commission JRC) | Built-up area, population and settlement classes over several epochs | Open, CC BY 4.0 | Urban growth and land |
| Global Land Tool Network and SDG 1.4.2 tenure data | Tenure security measurement | Public, terms per source | Housing and affordability |
| GTFS public transport feeds | Schedules, routes and stops published by agencies | Open, licence per agency | Transport and mobility |
| Household travel surveys | Trips by purpose, mode and time | Licence per survey | Transport and mobility |
| IBNET utility benchmarking | Utility coverage, continuity and finance | Public, World Bank terms (to check) | Urban utilities |
| IEA cooling and buildings data | Cooling demand and appliance ownership | Licence per dataset (to check) | Buildings and heat |
| IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions | Criteria for designing and assessing nature-based solutions | Public, IUCN terms | Green blue infrastructure |
| Landsat Collection 2 surface temperature (USGS) | Land surface temperature at thirty-metre resolution | Public domain, US government data | Buildings and heat |
| Municipal budget and planning documents | Revenues, spending and plans | Public records, licence per city | Municipal governance interface |
| Municipal tree inventories | Location, species and condition of street trees | Open data where published, licence per city | Green blue infrastructure |
| OECD Affordable Housing Database | Housing costs, conditions and policies across OECD countries | Public, OECD terms | Housing and affordability |
| OECD and UCLG World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment | Subnational government finance across countries | Public, terms to check | Municipal governance interface |
| Open machine-learned building footprint datasets | Building outlines derived from satellite imagery where cadastral data are missing | Open, CC BY 4.0 or ODbL depending on the release | Informal settlements |
| OpenStreetMap | Street, path and transit networks | Open, ODbL | Transport and mobility |
| OpenStreetMap community mapping | Streets, buildings and services mapped with residents | Open, ODbL | Informal settlements |
| Sendai Framework Monitor target E | Local disaster risk reduction strategies | Public, UN terms of use | Municipal governance interface |
| Slum Dwellers International Know Your City profiles | Community-collected settlement profiles | Public summaries, terms to check | Informal settlements |
| Tracking SDG 7 energy progress report | Access to electricity and clean cooking | Open, CC BY 3.0 IGO | Urban utilities |
| UN DESA World Urbanization Prospects | Urban and city population estimates and projections | Open, CC BY 3.0 IGO | Urban growth and land |
| UN-Habitat housing and SDG 11.1 data | Population in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing | Public, UN-Habitat terms (to check) | Housing and affordability |
| UN-Habitat SDG 11.1.1 data | Share of urban population in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing | Public, UN-Habitat terms (to check) | Informal settlements |
| UN-Habitat SDG 11.2.1 data | Access to public transport in cities | Public, UN-Habitat terms (to check) | Transport and mobility |
| UN-Habitat SDG 11.7.1 data | Public open space in cities | Public, UN-Habitat terms (to check) | Green blue infrastructure |
| UN-Habitat Urban Indicators Database | SDG 11 indicator data for cities and countries | Public, UN-Habitat terms (to check) | Urban growth and land |
| UN-Habitat Waste Wise Cities data and SDG 11.6.1 | Municipal solid waste generation and management | Public, UN-Habitat terms (to check) | Urban utilities |
| UNDRR Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities | City self-assessment of resilience across ten essentials | Public, UN terms of use | Municipal governance interface |
| Urban hydrology monitoring studies | Measured performance of rain gardens, swales and green roofs | Licence per publication | Green blue infrastructure |
| Utility and municipal annual reports | Service, investment and performance data | Public records, licence per publisher | Urban utilities |
| WHO and WMO heat-health guidance | Heat-health action planning and warning systems | Public, WHO and WMO terms of use | Buildings and heat |
| WHO Global status report on road safety | Road traffic deaths and safety legislation by country | Public, WHO terms of use | Transport and mobility |
| WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme | Urban and rural water, sanitation and hygiene coverage | Open, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO | Urban utilities |
04Known gaps
Where the urban data record is thin.
- Building-level data on construction type and age.
- Informal settlement boundaries and populations.
- Indoor temperature data in homes.
- Municipal budgets for risk reduction.
05Status
How the register grows.
Sources are added to the register as they are reviewed. A source is listed only once its terms permit the use described.
06Sources
Where this page’s references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
07Questions
Questions and answers.
Can I suggest a data source?
Yes. Write to the contact form with the source, its owner and its terms.
ReportsContribute
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
GCRICities and Built EnvironmentGlobal Sector Risk and ResilienceEvidence Brief
- EmailGateway GW-GCRISend it from this pageEvidence, a correction, a case, a method, a review, a translation or profile input. It arrives tagged with this page, so the editor who owns it receives it.
- ZenodoOpen depositDeposit it and submit to the communityPublish your own record on Zenodo with your ORCID iD, then submit it to the Reports community there. Curators review it; the DOI stays yours.
- ReportsGCRISee every way to contributeThe contribution types, how each is reviewed, what credit you receive, the licence and what is never accepted.
Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.
Cities and Built Environment
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