Home Database Research and knowledge projects Improving the Smart Control of Air Pollution in Europe
Website experience degraded
The European Climate and Health Observatory is undergoing reconstruction until June 2024 to improve its performance. We apologise for any possible disturbance to the content and functionality of the platform.
Project

Improving the Smart Control of Air Pollution in Europe (iSCAPE)

Description:

The iSCAPE project aims to integrate and advance the control of air quality and carbon emissions in European cities in the context of climate change through the development of sustainable and passive air pollution remediation strategies, policy interventions and behavioral change initiatives. The project addressed the problem of reducing air pollution at target receptors with an innovative SME-led approach, focusing on the use of 'passive control systems' in urban spaces. 

Improvements in air quality, microclimate and behavioral aspects of city dwellers were achieved by applying real physical interventions on the urban fabric to alter ventilation rates and dispersion patterns in selected cities assessed for future climate change scenarios and representative of different cultural and life styles in Europe. Using the Living Labs approach, the team deployed a network of meteorological and air quality sensors (both fixed and mobile) and assessed through analysis and a series of updated numerical models the expected benefits of interventions on a neighbourhood and city scale for different aspects ranging from pollutant concentration quantification to exposure. iSCAPE encapsulates the concept of "smart cities" by promoting the use of low-cost sensors, involving citizens in the use of alternative solution processes to environmental problems. iSCAPE supported sustainable urban development by promoting the sharing of results with policy makers and planners using local test cases, and providing scientific evidence of ready-to-use solutions that could lead to real-time operational interventions. This integrated approach included the development and evaluation of a framework to change people's mobility behaviour by studying the processes and dynamics that lead to more resilient, healthy and sustainable cities, bringing together the theory of urban planning, public policy, urban and environmental sociology and urban geography.

During the timeframe of the project, several reports and publications have been published, among which (i) an interdisciplinary review on urban trees, air quality, and asthma, (ii) a field investigations for evaluating green infrastructure effects on air quality in open-road conditions, and (iii) a Report on climate change and air quality interactions.

Watch a video on the project.

 

Project information

Lead

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN [IE]

Partners

ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA [IT]

UNIVERSITY OF SURREY [UK]

ILMATIETEEN LAITOS [FI]

UNIVERSITEIT HASSELT [BE]

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT DORTMUND [DE]

JRC -JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE- EUROPEAN COMMISSION [BE]

INSTITUT D'ARQUITECTURA AVANCADA DE CATALUNYA [SP]

T6 ECOSYSTEMS SRL [IT]

NANOAIR SOLUTIONS S.L. [SP]

FUTURE CITIES CATAPULT LIMITED [UK]

DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL [IE]

AGENZIA REGIONALE PER LA PREVENZIONE, L'AMBIENTE E L'ENERGIA DELL'EMILIA-ROMAGNA [IT]

EUROPEAN NETWORK OF LIVING LABS IVZW [BE]

THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD, OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN [IE]

Source of funding

SC5-04-2015 - Improving the air quality and reducing the carbon footprint of European cities

Published in Climate-ADAPT Apr 29 2021   -   Last Modified in Climate-ADAPT Mar 05 2024

Document Actions