ClairCity, the largest citizen-led air-quality project ever in Europe, kicked off on May 25th 2016 in Bristol.
A consortium of universities and research institutions, led by Trinomics from The Netherlands, won a €6,7 million EU funded project to actively engage European citizens in 6 countries to research their personal impact on air quality and carbon emissions in their cities. The project will use innovative tools like especially made apps and games to generate citizen-led policies to improve air-related health in our cities.
Thousands of people across Europe will be invited to share their views on how to reduce air pollution and improve public health in six pilot cities. Residents can use digital engagement as well as face-to-face events and workshops to suggest how their home cities should develop in the future. Through working closely with cities, the results will be directly translated into improved city policies.
The four-year ClairCity project, funded through the EU’s Horizon 2020 program, features 16 research partners including the pilot cities of Bristol (UK); Amsterdam (Netherlands); Aveiro region (Portugal); Ljubljana (Slovenia); Sosnowiec (Poland) and the Liguria region (Italy).
European and local authorities are struggling to combat air pollution, a problem responsible for the deaths of more than 400,000 people in Europe every year. Up to a third of Europeans in cities are exposed to pollutant levels exceeding EU air quality standards, with approximately 90 per cent affected according to the World Health Organization’s more stringent guidelines. ClairCity aims to create a major shift in public understanding towards the causes of poor air quality – encouraging a focus on people’s everyday practices like commuting and shopping rather than technology and top-down approaches.
Dr Enda Hayes (UWE, Bristol), Technical Director of CLAiR-City, said: “Air quality management is failing in many cities around the world. This is an exciting and innovative project to try to address one of the key issues – how do you empower citizens to define their own solution?”