City Of Limassol Research Articles

Design and implementation of an interactive virtual library based on its physical counterpart

The rapid technological advancements and the widespread adoption of the internet have diminished the role of the physical library as a main information resource. As the Metaverse is evolving, a revolutionary change is anticipated in how social relationships are perceived, within an educational context. It is therefore necessary for libraries to upgrade the services they provide to keep in line with the technological trends and be a part of this virtual revolution. It is believed that the design and development of a Virtual Reality (VR) library can be the community and knowledge hub the society needs. In this paper, the process of creating a partially digital replica of the Limassol Municipal University Library, a landmark for the city of Limassol, is examined by using photogrammetry and 3D modelling. A 3D platform was developed, where users have the perception that they are experiencing the actual library. To that end, a perceptual study was conducted, to understand the current usage of physical libraries, examine the users’ experience in VR, and identify the requirements and expectations in the development of a virtual library counterpart. Following the suggestions and observations from the perceptual study, five key scenarios were implemented that demonstrate the potential use of a virtual library. This work incorporates the fundamental VR attributes, such as immersiveness, realism, user interactivity and feedback as well as other features, such as animated NPCs, 3D audio, ray-casting and GUIs, that significantly augment the overall VR library user experience, presence as well as navigation autonomy. The main effort of this project was to produce a VR representation of an existing physical library, integrated with its key services, as a proof-of-concept, with emphasis on easy 24/7 access, functionality, and interactivity. The above attributes differentiate this work from existing studies. A detailed user evaluation study was conducted upon completion of the final VR library implementation, which firmly confirmed all its key attributes and future viability.

Mapping Everyday Public Spaces in Urban Neighbourhoods

Central public spaces in cities have always played an important role in urban experience, and continue to have a city-wide significance, often described as the meeting spaces of cultures, politics, social and individual trajectories. Peripheral and/or neighbourhood public spaces, where the everyday life of citizens unfolds, rarely enjoy any of this significance and may not receive the attention needed from the main stakeholders involved. Many researchers have highlighted the significance of these public spaces in cities, pointing out that the patterns of everyday life in residential neighbourhoods – whether it is the chance encounters in the local market or conversations in the local square– are the essential material of society and may well have integrative social functions, of an individual or collective initiative. This paper aims at an empirical contribution to a better understanding of the synthesizing mechanisms, which shape public spaces in cities’ neighbourhoods, by addressing the variety of factors involved and their relations and by highlighting the need for manifold perspectives on the localized ‘meaning’ of places, constructed, and shaped by local practices and behaviours. Drawing on the theoretical framework of relational theories, the paper sets out to explore the links between the physical sphere and the social sphere of three different residential public spaces in the city of Limassol, critically exploring the ways in which the boundaries of public space are challenged and negotiated. Both spatial analysis and social sciences methods are employed to map and unveil the essential role residential public spaces play, in bringing together what society divides in contemporary, multicultural cities, where multiplicities of identities, languages, religions and cultures may naturally give rise to tensions and even hostilities. The potential for interaction and meetings between different people backgrounds in the public realm is shown to be a crucial prerequisite for shaping encounters during their everyday life, encouraging tolerance and a feeling of belonging.

Evaluation of Urban Sustainability Based on Transportation and Green Spaces: The Case of Limassol, Cyprus

Promoting urban sustainability has been on the agenda of researchers, planners, and policymakers. This paper uses quantitative and qualitative approaches to evaluate the sustainability of the Cypriot city of Limassol through transportation and green spaces indicators. The quantitative approach relies on a geostatistical evaluation of six indicators to describe the transportation sector and the proximity and provision of urban green spaces. The qualitative approach is based on a questionnaire (N = 387) conducted in the city. Results showed that car trips represent more than 90% of the modal share, and around 90% of the city’s transportation infrastructure is designed for cars. In terms of urban green spaces, only 5% of the areas with the highest population density are within 300 m of a green space > 2 ha. The questionnaire confirmed that 71% of the residents are not satisfied with the conditions provided by the city to walk and cycle, while 76% are not satisfied with the green spaces available in the city. This study contributes to informing planners and decision-makers about the need to promote walking, cycling, and greening policies to make Limassol and other similar cities more sustainable.

Developing and field testing the Neighbourhood Observational Tool for auditing urban community environments (CyNOTes) in the city of Limassol, Cyprus

ABSTRACT Systematic Social Observation provides supplementary information about the micro-scale neighborhood environment. This study explored the feasibility of neighborhood audits for the first time in the city of Limassol, Cyprus (population size, 2021 census: 258.900). The prevalence and variability of audited features were investigated using the 126-item CyNOTes inventory, organised along a typology of 17 domains. Two independent audits, with a repeat in two weeks, were performed across 30 randomly selected street segments, stratified in three groups of neighborhoods according to the educational attainment of residents. Associations with census indicators and survey data on SF-36 Quality of Life among residents aged 45–64 (N = 150) were explored. More adverse conditions were recorded in low educational attainment neighborhoods, with differences apparent in domains with generally high as well as low scores. Neighborhood scores correlated with census indicators of the built environment, while negative correlations where observed with sociodemographic indicators, such as population aged over 65 and non-Cypriot population, suggesting social inequities. In neighborhoods with more adverse features, lower physical and mental health-related quality of life were reported. Overall, the study documented environmental inequity. CyNOTes offers the potential for further development and scaling-up for public health research, policy, and advocacy.

This Way Back by Joanna Eleftheriou

Reviewed by: This Way Back by Joanna Eleftheriou Bryon Macwilliams (bio) Joanna Eleftheriou, This Way Back. In Place series. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2020. Pp. 270. Paper $23.99. At first blush Joanna Eleftheriou's collection of essays, This Way Back, seems an unlikely fit for a book series rooted "in place": much is written from a neither here nor there place. Then again, for Eleftheriou—the child of a Greek-Cypriot father and a Greek-American mother, raised in both the United States and Cyprus—liminal space is her place. "I was born with nostalgia in my blood," she writes (59), reminding readers that the word nostalgia comes from the Greek words nostos, homecoming, and algos, pain. Eleftheriou's nostalgia is a burden. After all, how much of a homecoming can there ever be when one has little sense of home? And how much pain must one carry beyond the wounds necessary for personal growth? The pain of duty to a father—his expectations, and his unfulfilled dreams. The pain of disapproval of a mother—and of mother and daughter's shared religion, Orthodox Christianity, with which the writer, a lesbian, is "incompatible" (11). The ache from "centuries-old collective memory" among Greek Cypriots and Greeks, generally—what Eleftheriou calls the "lament" of "our Greek nation's fall from its old glory" (107). Then there is the weight of obligation to dead ancestors—those who worked the land Eleftheriou inherited, and whose newly independent country was partitioned before she was born—and the longing for love that, for many years, Eleftheriou found merely in "the stars . . . the ocean, and words, my work" (139). Throughout the 17 essays in the book, Eleftheriou's first, it is clear that, for a long time, these and other forces conspired to tell the writer that her life—her self—could wait. [End Page 248] The book turns in large part on the family's decision, in the writer's early adolescence, to move from the borough of Queens, New York, to the father's village of Asgata near the Cypriot coastal city of Limassol. As a young adult Eleftheriou returned to the United States, where she is now an assistant professor of English at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. "It's taken decades to begin winding my Americanness back into my identity," she writes. "I had trouble making peace with the birthplace I'd left" (75). In one essay Eleftheriou—"desperate to make sense of a certain kind of beauty that I had just begun to see"—explores desire and permission through the life of the actor Melina Mercouri, for whom "pleasure was her life's guiding principle" (34). In another she wonders when duty to family ends, telling her father in an unsent letter: "I'm not sure I can find a man and marry quick enough to give you peace" (136). She watches from afar footage of Cyprus's first gay pride parade, concluding that "when teachers and priests and politicians said that the Greeks had suffered and deserved to have their human rights better protected" they meant "only certain Greeks—the Greeks who dated the opposite sex" (185). By the end of the book Eleftheriou hopes that telling her story can "offer liberation from this ghost that lives inside me: a sense of exile, a sense of not belonging, a sense of being trapped and unable to flee" (228). There is a sense, too, of Eleftheriou—a runner—trying literally to outrun her ghosts in the early mornings and moonlit evenings among the hills around Asgata. The publisher promotes the book as an essay collection that "reads like a memoir." But, while the essays tell different parts of the same stories, the book reads more like Eleftheriou's description, in a scholarly essay on nonfiction hybrids, of Richard Rodriguez's Hunger of Memory (1983): The book is "divided into discreet parts" that revolve around ideas and "[only] loosely follow the chronology" of her life (Eleftheriou 2014, 42). Indeed, there isn't a clear sense of time in the book. The essays are arranged such that Eleftheriou's sexuality—"I am, indeed, the first gay Orthodox woman I know" (198...

Space-Based Displacement Monitoring of Coastal Urban Areas: The Case of Limassol’s Coastal Front

In the last five years, the urban development of the city of Limassol has rapidly increased in the sectors of industry, trade, real estate, and many others. This exponentially increased urban development arises several concerns about the aggravation of potential land subsidence in the Limassol coastal front. Forty six Copernicus Sentinel-1 acquisitions from 2017 to 2021 have been processed and analyzed using the Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP) and the Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers (StaMPS). A case study for the identification and analysis of the persistent scatterers (PS) in pixels in a series of interferograms and the quantity of the land displacements in the line of sight of the Limassol coastal front is presented in this research, with subsidence rates up to about (−5 to 4 mm/year). For the validation of the detected deformation, accurate ground-based geodetic measurements along the coastal area were used. Concordantly, considering that there is a significant number of skyscrapers planned or currently under construction, this study attempts a preliminary assessment of the impact these structures will pose on the coastal front of the area of Limassol.

Participatory process in environmental monitoring design: examples from the Port of Limassol

Sea transport and seaborne trade have increased significantly in the past few decades. As sea traffic hubs, ports have high risks because of the limitation in manoeuvrability, number of vessels, and land-based port activities. In the coastal city of Limassol, water and air pollution has been anecdotally attributed to port activities. The STEAM project (Sea Traffic Management in the Eastern Mediterranean, INTEGRATED/0916/0063, [1]) aims to set up a monitoring plan to aid in the identification and mitigation of pollution sources. The project followed a participatory process, where port stakeholders and scientists were consulted and included in the ideation, design and implementation process. This participatory process developed a greater sense of stakeholder ownership in the environmental monitoring programs and facilitated their adoption. According to the consultation process, air and water quality are the most important factors to monitor. Five static and one mobile multi-sensor monitoring stations make up the air quality monitoring design for the Port of Limassol. Three air quality stations were installed within the port area along with two stations near the anchorage area. Two environmental data buoys and two oil detectors make up the water quality monitoring stations. The oil detectors will be placed within the port. One environmental data buoy will be placed downstream of the port, while the second buoy will be placed between the port entrance, the Limassol Marina and the anchorage area.

Depicting socioeconomic disadvantage and social gradient in quality of life in Limassol, Cyprus

Abstract Background The lack of validated and accepted area-level indices of socioeconomic disadvantage at national or regional level in Cyprus poses a barrier to “spatial thinking” among Public Health policy-makers and researchers. Methods A composite index of socioeconomic disadvantage was constructed by exploring the factor structure of 28 commonly used census indicators at city quarter (N = 38, median population 3894, IQR 2570-6169) and postcode level (N = 124, median 1320, IQR 798-2014). Predictive validity was explored in mixed random-effect regression models in term of associations with SF-36 health-related quality of life among a stratified random sample aged 45-64 (N = 450, 45 neighbourhoods). Results There was wide variability across communities in all indicators, for instance, 0.4%-25.9% unemployment, 41.1%-90.7% at most secondary level education, 3.6%-95.9% residences built prior to 1980. Two factors were identified: “socioeconomic disadvantage” (SED), with the same set of 11-12 indicators at the two levels of geographical aggregation, and “built environment”, reflecting proximity to the city centre, with nevertheless no meaningful associations with the outcome of interest. The SED index captured a stepwise decrease in physical (-1.39 95%CI -2.06, -0.72) and mental health (-1.26 95% -1.98, -0.54) scores across quartiles of postcodes with increasing disadvantage, of similar clinically significant effect size by gender. Associations attenuated slightly but remained significant after adjusting for person-based indicators of social position, with some weak evidence of cross-level interactions for physical, but not mental, health. Conclusions The composite index, tapping on educational, economic, material, occupational and social disadvantage, allowed the exploration of socioeconomic disadvantage patterning at a small-area level in the city of Limassol and documented the social gradient in health-related quality of life among a late working-life sample of residents. Key messages First-time depiction of the geographical patterning of socioeconomic disadvantage across the small geographical level of postcodes in the city of Limassol, Cyprus. Social gradient in physical and mental health in men and women across the continuum of socioeconomic disadvantage over and above person-based indicators of social position.

CULTURAL HERITAGE MONUMENT DOCUMENTATION THROUGH ADAPTIVE PARAMETRIC DESIGN PROCESS

Abstract. The paper presents a novel adaptive parametric documentation, modelling and sharing methodology, which aims to achieve a continuous holistic documentation, data processing and sharing process for cultural heritage community, such as architects, engineers, archaeologists, conservators, programmers, fabricators, contest creators, game developers, scholars and common citizens. Thus, the use of advance parametric and building information modelling software allows the processing and specification of all data by creating the 3D models needed for the multidisciplinary experts. Two Cypriot case studies from the medieval time period have been chosen for the development, and evaluation of our proposed methodology in order to investigate the process of modelling and sharing all the given metadata and 3D data. The first one is the Asinou Church, a UNESCO Heritage stone monument in the Troodos Mountains with a unique interior and the Kolossi Castle, a former Crusader stronghold on the west of the city of Limassol on the island of Cyprus.

Spatial and temporal analysis of shared bicycle use in Limassol, Cyprus

Cities around the world are moving away from the car-centric infrastructure, urban design and planning policies prevalent since the 1950s and promoting sustainable mobility as an alternative, including cycling. As such, Bicycle Sharing Systems (BSS) have emerged as a transport innovation across the globe. Cycling modal share however remains low in most Southern European island cities. These cities exhibit certain characteristics considered as barriers to cycling, such as hot summers and high humidity, hilliness, and car-oriented culture and infrastructure. Despite this, BSS and policies promoting cycling have emerged in this region as well. These have the potential to provide alternatives for those marginalized by car-based mobility and to reduce traffic related diseases and injuries, noise and air pollution, which can contribute to an improved quality of life for all citizens. Using the Mediterranean island city of Limassol (Cyprus) as a case study, the utilization of bicycle sharing is investigated by constructing regression models to assess the influence of spatial and temporal factors on the demand for BSS use at stations. From the regression models it appears that land use factors such as residential, commercial and park land use, as well as the presence of the beach and cycling paths positively influences frequency of use, as does higher network connectivity. While higher tourist arrivals have a positive effect, the presence of hotels in a 300 m buffer around the stations does not. Higher rainfall, as well as higher temperatures, are associated with a decrease in BSS use. Explicitly incorporating spatial dependence, in Spatial Auto-Regressive (SAR) models, led to the formulation of models with comparable or better explanatory power, when compared to the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) models. The insights from the regression models can be used to inform policies promoting cycling and the design and planning of BSS (expansion) in Limassol and other cities.

Multi-Temporal Change Detection Analysis of Vertical Sprawl over Limassol City Centre and Amathus Archaeological Site in Cyprus during 2015-2020 Using the Sentinel-1 Sensor and the Google Earth Engine Platform.

Urban sprawl can negatively impact the archaeological record of an area. In order to study the urbanisation process and its patterns, satellite images were used in the past to identify land-use changes and detect individual buildings and constructions. However, this approach involves the acquisition of high-resolution satellite images, the cost of which is increases according to the size of the area under study, as well as the time interval of the analysis. In this paper, we implemented a quick, automatic and low-cost exploration of large areas, for addressing this purpose, aiming to provide at a medium resolution of an overview of the landscape changes. This study focuses on using radar Sentinel-1 images to monitor and detect multi-temporal changes during the period 2015–2020 in Limassol, Cyprus. In addition, the big data cloud platform, Google Earth Engine, was used to process the data. Three different change detection methods were implemented in this platform as follow: (a) vertical transmit, vertical receive (VV) and vertical transmit, horizontal receive (VH) polarisations pseudo-colour composites; (b) the Rapid and Easy Change Detection in Radar Time-Series by Variation Coefficient (REACTIV) Google Earth Engine algorithm; and (c) a multi-temporal Wishart-based change detection algorithm. The overall findings are presented for the wider area of the Limassol city, with special focus on the archaeological site of “Amathus” and the city centre of Limassol. For validation purposes, satellite images from the multi-temporal archive from the Google Earth platform were used. The methods mentioned above were able to capture the urbanization process of the city that has been initiated during this period due to recent large construction projects.

Measurements of Local Sources of Particulates with a Portable Monitor along the Coast of an Insular City

The air quality of modern cities is considered an important factor for the quality of life of humans and therefore is being safeguarded by various international organizations, concentrating on the mass concentration of particulate matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10, 2.5 and 1 μm. However, the different physical and anthropogenic processes and activities within the city contribute to the rise of fine (<1 μm) and coarse (>1 μm) particles, directly impacting human health and the environment. In order to monitor certain natural and anthropogenic events, suspecting their significant contribution to PM concentrations, seven different events taking place on the coastal front of the city of Limassol (Cyprus) were on-site monitored using a portable PM instrument; these included both natural (e.g., dust event) and anthropogenic (e.g., cement factory, meat festival, tall building construction, tire factory, traffic jam, dust road) emissions taking place in spring and summer periods. The violations of the limits that were noticed were attributed mainly to the various anthropogenic activities taking place on-site, revealing once more the need for further research and continuous monitoring of air quality.

The effect of social gradient and area-level features on arterial health: Study protocol and preliminary results from the depict study

Background and Aims: Introduction: Arterial stiffness, as measured by carotid-to-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV), is a robust indicator of arterial health and a strong predictor of both CVD events and all-cause mortality in the general population. Socioeconomic status (SES) as well as local environmental and other well-being indicators, such as walkability,perceived safety,etc could affect cardiovascular risk. However, the relationship between arterial stiffness and social well-being at the community level, has not been studied. Aims: Combine community-level and individual-level health indicators, to decode and quantify the possible effect of social well-being on arterial health in an observational, cross-sectional study in the city of Limassol, Cyprus.

Localizing emotions: Soundscape representations through Smartphone Use

The term “soundscape” refers to a well-defined field that acts as a source of auditory stimuli and whose characteristics are directly related to the listener’s position. The study of soundscapes entails the study of the interplay between the listener and sound, as well as the attribution of representation to auditory information. The investigation of representation is intimately related to the person and emotions, as well as the spatial and auditory aspects of the environment. Emotion is a way of understanding the listeners, their experiences, and the environment. The research described in this paper aimed to identify and investigate the representation of the soundscape through emotional response. The research took place in the city of Limassol, Cyprus. The participants consisted of four groups of 10-15 persons each. A mixed methodological approach was followed – both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. For the geolocation of the emotional responses that arise as a result of the representation of the urban soundscape in question, a mobile app was developed for the mediated experience; it runs on on Android, it is titled Locomotion, and it provides participants with the ability to indicate their emotional state based on the dimensions of Russell’s (2003) circumplex model of affect. The emotion-related information provided by the participants is overlaid on a map of the city, so that the emotional significance of various units of the urban environment is readily visible.

A new approach in the refurbishment of the office buildings – from standard to alternative nearly zero energy buildings

ABSTRACT The government of Cyprus has developed packages addressing the energy performance of non-residential buildings, in order to achieve the national energy reduction objectives. Currently, Decree 366/2014 is in force, defining the requirements for a building to qualify as a nearly Zero Energy Building (nΖΕΒ). However, this falls short of addressing sufficiently the high cooling energy demand of buildings in Cyprus. This paper examines the energy and economic viability of various refurbishment scenarios by considering a public office building in the city of Limassol as a case study. The energy performance of the building was analysed first for its current state and also according to nZEB standards. In addition, a set of supplementary measures was examined, to develop a cost-effective alternative nZEB energy refurbishment model. Based on the results, the existing legislation, defining an nZEB is reconsidered prompting a proactive discussion towards the improvement of the current energy regulating Directives.

A Study of the Interaction of Human Smart Characteristics with Demographic Dynamics and Built Environment: The Case of Limassol, Cyprus

The smart city notion provides an integrated and systematic answer to challenges facing cities today. Smart city policy makers and technology vendors are increasingly stating their interest in human-centered smart cities. On the other hand, in many studies smart city policies bring forward a one-size-fits-all type of recommendation for all areas in question instead of location-specific ones. Based on the above considerations, this paper illustrates that smart citizen characteristics, alongside local urban challenges, are paving the way towards more effective efforts in smart city policy decision making. Our main presumption is that the development level of human-centered indicators of smart cities varies locally. The scientific objective of this paper is to find a simple, understandable link between human smart characteristics and local determinants in Limassol city, Cyprus. The data set consists of seven indicators defined as human smart characteristics and seven which determine local urban challenges consisting of demographic dynamics and built infrastructure attributes based on housing. Correlations of the 14 above indicators are examined in entirety and separately, as the study area was divided into three spatial sub-groups (high, moderate, and low coverage areas) depending on dispersed urbanization, as the main challenge of the study area. The data were obtained mainly from the most recent population census in 2011 and categorized in sub-groups by triggering CLC 2012. Analyzing the statistics using principal component analysis (PCA), we identify significant relationships between human smart city characteristics, demographic dynamics and built infrastructure attributes which can be used in local policy decision making. Spatial variations based on the dispersed urbanization are also observed regarding the above-mentioned relationships.

Assessing quality of life in patients with heart failure in Cyprus

Background Heart failure is a chronic disease with a serious impact on patients' quality of life which is influenced by several factors. Aims The purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality of life of patients with heart failure in the city of Limassol in Cyprus. Methods The proposed study is characteristically descriptive quantitative research. The sample includes 99 patients with heart failure in Limassol Hospital, using the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire in the Greek Language. The data were collected from October 2017 to November 2017. Findings Our sample consisted of 99 individuals from the Limassol district, 40 (40.4%) were females and the average age of the patients was 68.5±14 years. Patients with heart failure who had a primary education averaged 9.69 points on the quality of life scale. This is lower than patients with higher education (b=9.69 P=0.057), lower physical health by 7.35 points (b=7.35 P=0.008) and lower by 2.26 Social health units (b=2.26 P=0.030). Conclusion Patients with heart failure experience many and complex problems. Through this research, it appears that different dimensions of quality of life are affected, such as physical, social and emotional health. The older the age of the patient, the lower levels of education and the sex of the patient have an impact on the quality of life of patients with heart failure.

A Human Centric Approach on the Analysis of the Smart City Concept: the case study of the Limassol city in Cyprus

Abstract. The impact of medium-sized southern European cities challenges on the “smartness” of the city is a quite interesting case that is not quite analyzed yet. Our scientific objective is to find a simple understandable model linking human smart characteristics to a group of socio-demographic and urban environment indices, applied to the case of Limassol Urban Complex, the southernmost European city, with a total population of 208 980. The data set of the analysis contains 25 variables in 3 thematic domains using as spatial analysis level, the 126 postal code areas of the most urbanized part of the city. The study results obtained through multivariate statistical analysis and thematic cartography using GIS technology. The results reveal that the human smart characteristics consist of the use of high-speed internet and broad band telephony, recycling activities, employment in creative industry, high educational attainment and open-mindedness (i.e. participation in EU elections), are significantly correlated with demographic dynamics and built infrastructure characteristics. Creativity and open-mindedness tend to appear in most densely urban areas, mostly occupied by indigenous inhabitants. Recycling and technology oriented smart characteristics are mostly correlated with no-native residents, and high educational attainment. In the outskirts of the city of Limassol the developing dynamics are almost the same with a greater blend between native and non-native inhabitants.

Semiotic Landscape in Cyprus

The scope of this article is the semiotic study of the verbal, visual and spatial discourses as they are depicted on commercial signs in the city of Limassol, Cyprus that use modified verbal signs and verbo-cultural palimpsests for the purpose of commercial communication. It is widely believed that the marketplace of every city constitutes an aggregation of signs that form the image of the city. The contribution of this study lies in the fact that it focuses on the verbo-cultural palimpsests used on private signs, a special type of communication that scholars who study commercial communication have not yet paid much attention to.

The framework of urban exposome: Application of the exposome concept in urban health studies

Horizontal challenges, such as climate change or the growing populations, and their manifestations require the development of multidisciplinary research synergies in urban health that could benefit from concepts, such as the human exposome. Cities are composed of interconnected systems which are influenced, by global trends, national policies and local complexities. In this context, the exposome concept could be expanded having the city setting in its core, providing the conceptual framework for the new generation of urban studies. The objectives of this work were to define the urban exposome and outline its utility.The urban exposome can be defined as the continuous spatiotemporal surveillance/monitoring of quantitative and qualitative indicators associated with the urban external and internal domains that shape up the quality of life and the health of urban populations, using small city areas, i.e. neighborhoods, quarters, or smaller administrative districts, as the point of reference. Research should focus on the urban exposome's measurable units at different levels, i.e. the individuals, small, within-city areas and the populations. The urban exposome framework applied in the city of Limassol, Cyprus combines three elements: (i) a mixed-methods study on stakeholders' opinions about quality of life in the city; (ii) a systematic assessment of secondary data from the cancer and death registries, including city infrastructure data; and (iii) a population health and biomonitoring survey. Continuous assessment of environmental and health indicators that are routinely collected, and the incorporation of primary data from population studies, will allow for the timely identification of within-city health and environmental disparities to inform policy making and public health interventions. The urban exposome could facilitate evidence-based public health response, offering researchers, policy-makers, and citizens effective tools to address the societal needs of large urban centers.