The iSCAPE project seeks to reduce the impact of air pollution across Europe through the use of "Passive Control Systems" in urban ecosystems, active intervention in local policy making and promoting changes in citizens’ behaviour and lifestyle.
iSCAPE has set up pilots in Dublin, Bottrop, Guilford, Lazzaretto, Vantaa, Hasselt and Bologna, converting these cities into Living Labs and developing a network of air quality and meteorological sensors (stationary and mobile). In these cities, different initiatives aimed at improving air quality are implemented. This is followed by an evaluation of their expected benefits and an analysis of their impact and at neighborhood and city levels through the measurement of pollutant concentration and exposure levels.
The team then works on developing a standardised model that allow quantifying and comparing these results, in order to assess progress, make predictions and help adapt the project to other cities.
The "Passive Control Systems" involve the use of existing commercial sensors, and the development of low-cost tools (open source and DIY) to help expand the scope of the project, engage citizens and promote the use of alternative solutions for environmental problems.
One of the biggest challenges of the project is that in order to have a large scale impact on air pollution levels in Europe, these measurements need to be scalable. To achieve this, the project engages local governments on issues of climate change, collaborates and disseminates their results to policy makers, the scientific community and other relevant actors and promotes local success stories to push for proven successful solutions.
Website: https://www.iscapeproject.eu
Case study date: June 2018