• MineCrime is a SaaS platform that uses artificial intelligence to collect and analyse data on crime and urban decay, generating geolocated risk indicators.
• Predictive models help companies, administrations and urban planners make more informed decisions about opening offices, urban interventions and territory management.
• According to founder Giacomo Salvanelli, AI will make urban security increasingly predictive, transforming information into a tool for prevention and planning.

Every city defines itself through its spaces, social dynamics and the visible signals present on its territory: MineCrime translates these into data to help those who design and manage urban areas prevent risks. Understanding where and how crime and urban decay manifest is a complex challenge, often tied to economic, social and spatial factors that are difficult to quantify. The startup founded by Giacomo Salvanelli attempts to do so with a scientific approach, combining online and offline data in a single SaaS platform (software as a service) that generates geolocated risk indicators. The goal is to provide knowledge tools to support urban planning, prevention and security management in a proactive way.

From retail to smart cities: data as a decision-making compass

"With MineCrime we want to shift the perspective: urban security is not just a matter of public order, but of place design, territory management and collective awareness," explains Salvanelli. The platform draws from heterogeneous sources – reports, institutional documents, open data, news and social data – to build models capable of highlighting trends and correlations invisible to the naked eye.

The information produced by MineCrime finds application across a range of fields, from the corporate world to public administration. "Companies use our predictive models to better understand the territories in which they operate and make more informed decisions," says Salvanelli. "A typical case involves opening new retail outlets or branches: thanks to MineCrime's data, it is possible to assess not only the potential profitability of an area, but also the level of risk, urban decay and the perception of safety, thus obtaining a more complete and realistic picture of the context."

A concrete example comes from Sky Italia, which uses the platform to analyse risk and urban decay levels in the areas where it opens offices or organises events. Through an interactive dashboard, the security team can check whether a neighbourhood has recorded recent incidents of theft or vandalism and decide to modify logistics, strengthen surveillance or choose a different location.

In the energy sector, Italgas has adopted MineCrime's algorithm to create an early warning system integrated into its corporate app. Field technicians receive preventive alerts based on updated data on crime and urban decay in their areas of intervention, allowing them to plan movements and shifts with greater safety. The project, called Dynamic Risk Layer, was recognised by Smau for its innovative approach to protecting personnel and infrastructure.

The same approach proves useful for local authorities and those who design urban spaces. "MineCrime helps municipalities and urban planners continuously monitor how risk and decay phenomena are distributed across the territory. Our models make it possible to plan more targeted interventions and anticipate critical issues, supporting smarter and more predictive urban management," explains the founder.

Predictive security and the role of artificial intelligence

At the heart of MineCrime's work is artificial intelligence, employed to transform vast amounts of data into dynamic maps and predictive models. An evolution that, according to Salvanelli, marks a paradigm shift: "In the coming years, artificial intelligence will make urban security increasingly predictive. It will no longer be a matter of reacting to an event, but of anticipating it, through the analysis of territorial and social data. This is precisely the direction in which we are working with MineCrime: transforming information into the capacity for forecasting and prevention."

MineCrime's approach – turning risk and decay data into tools for proactive urban design – is a key methodology of the world's most advanced smart cities. In Singapore, for example, the government uses AI not only for efficiency, but for long-term planning that integrates physical and infrastructural security. The intelligent transport system (ITS) leverages AI to forecast transport demand, optimise vehicle flows and improve road safety, enabling planners to make informed decisions on the development of new infrastructure that maximises both efficiency and safety.

In Copenhagen, Denmark, AI supports strategic planning on liveability and urban resilience. Real-time data analysis helps identify areas at environmental risk and direct regeneration efforts, indirectly improving the perception of safety and quality of life in neighbourhoods. These examples demonstrate that AI is essential for the conscious management of territory, enabling administrations to act on the basis of forecasts to create cities that are more accessible, efficient and, at the same time, safer.