Urban Match 🏙️

HackSLU 2026 Project

Urban Match is a personalized city-planning platform designed to help people discover opportunities, housing, and lifestyle experiences in St. Louis.

Instead of guessing whether a city fits your life, Urban Match helps users plan their future based on their income, goals, and interests.

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🚨 Problem

St. Louis is experiencing population decline.

Many people avoid moving to the city because:

• They believe there is nothing to do
• It is difficult to find jobs and opportunities
• Housing options feel unclear or disconnected
• There is no central platform to plan life in the city

As a result, people leave or never consider St. Louis in the first place.

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💡 Solution

Urban Match acts as a life-planning engine for cities.

Users input:

• Expected salary
• Monthly debt
• Housing budget
• Family size
• Interests (nightlife, food, sports, etc.)

Urban Match then generates:

• 🏠 Housing options
• 💼 Job opportunities
• 🌆 Hidden gems and activities

Finally, it provides a personalized recommendation showing how well St. Louis fits the user’s lifestyle.

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🧠 Core Idea

"What if you could simulate your life in a city before moving there?"

Urban Match helps users answer:

• Can I afford to live here?
• What will my lifestyle look like?
• What opportunities exist nearby?
• Is this city a good fit for me?

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🧩 Features

🔐 Authentication

• Firebase Authentication (email/password)
• User login and signup
• Persistent user sessions

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👤 User Profile

Users provide:

• Expected salary
• Monthly debt
• Housing budget
• Family size
• Interests

These inputs drive all recommendations.

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🌆 Hidden Gems Engine

• Uses Google Places API
• Finds:
  • Restaurants
  • Nightlife
  • Parks & recreation
  • Shopping

Custom filtering:

• Removes chain businesses
• Filters for high rating + moderate reviews
• Surfaces true “hidden gems”

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🏠 Housing Data

• Uses Realty Base API (RapidAPI)
• Returns rental listings based on location

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💼 Jobs (Planned / Integrated)

• Uses external job APIs (e.g., Adzuna)
• Matches jobs based on user location and preferences

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🧮 Life Fit Engine (Core Feature)

Combines:

• Salary
• Rent
• Debt
• Lifestyle preferences

To produce:

• Cost-of-living insights
• Recommendations
• City fit score

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📊 Dashboard

Single-page experience showing:

• Housing options
• Jobs
• Hidden gems
• Personalized recommendation

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Frontend

• Next.js (React)
• TypeScript
• Tailwind CSS
• Firebase Auth

Backend

• Flask (Python)
• FastAPI (for some endpoints)
• Spring Boot (Java service)

APIs

• Google Maps Places API
• Realty Base (RapidAPI)
• Adzuna (planned)

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Realty Base API (housing)

Job APIs (employment)