Abstract

In this chapter, we explore the potential of community-led air quality monitoring. Community-led air quality monitoring differs from top-down monitoring in many aspects: it is focused on community needs and interests and a local problem and, therefore, has a limited geographical coverage as well as limited temporal coverage. However, localised air quality monitoring can potentially increase the spatial and temporal resolution of air quality information if there is a suitable information-sharing mechanism in place: information from multiple community-led activities can be shared at the city scale and used to augment official information. At the core of the chapter, we provide a detailed experiential description of the process of urban air quality practice, from which we draw our conclusion. We suggest that accessible and reliable community-led air quality monitoring can contribute to the understanding of local environmental issues and improve the dialogue between local authorities and communities about the impacts of air pollution on health and urban and transport planning. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

Air pollution in one of the main problems that big cities have nowadays. Traffic congestion, heaters, industrial activities, among others produce large quantities of Particulate Matter (PM) that have harmful effects on citizens’ health. This paper presents the design, development and initial validation of a wearable device for the detection of PM concentration, with communication capacity via WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy and an end user interface. The results are promising due to the high accuracy of measurements collected by the developed device. This solution is a step forward in empowering citizens to prevent being exposed to high levels of air pollution and is the beginning of what could be a macro-network of air quality sensors within a Smart City. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

The Land Use, Air Quality, and Transportation Integrated Modeling Environment (LATIME) represents an integrated approach to computer modeling and simulation of land use allocation, travel demand, and mobile source emissions for the Albuquerque, New Mexico, area. This environment provides predictive capability combined with a graphical and geographical interface. The graphical interface shows the causal relationships between data and policy scenarios and supports alternative model formulations. Scenarios are launched from within a Geographic Information System (GIS), and data produced by each model component at each time step within a simulation is stored in the GIS. A menu-driven query system is utilized to review link-based results and regional and area-wide results. These results can also be compared across time or between alternative land use scenarios. Using this environment, policies can be developed and implemented based on comparative analysis, rather than on single-step future projections. 16 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs. Document type: Report