Participatory Patterns in an International Air Quality Monitoring Initiative

Abstract

The issue of sustainability is at the top of the political and societal agenda, being considered of extreme importance and urgency. Human individual action impacts the environment both locally (e.g., local air/water quality, noise disturbance) and globally (e.g., climate change, resource use). Urban environments represent a crucial example, with an increasing realization that the most effective way of producing a change is involving the citizens themselves in monitoring campaigns (a citizen science bottom-up approach). This is possible by developing novel technologies and IT infrastructures enabling large citizen participation. Here, in the wider framework of one of the first such projects, we show results from an international competition where citizens were involved in mobile air pollution monitoring using low cost sensing devices, combined with a web-based game to monitor perceived levels of pollution. Measures of shift in perceptions over the course of the campaign are provided, together with insights into participatory patterns emerging from this study. Interesting effects related to inertia and to direct involvement in measurement activities rather than indirect information exposure are also highlighted, indicating that direct involvement can enhance learning and environmental awareness. In the future, this could result in better adoption of policies towards decreasing pollution.

Environmental Violation Fines Growth in the Northern Region of Santa Catarina State, Brazil

“…In general, this responsibility is provided to the local goverments that should promote frequent monitoring (Simonassi et al, 2010;Pereira & Röring, 2016;Santos et al, 2018). According to Kelly & Fussell (2015) and Sîrbu et al (2015), pollution was considered a major environmental risk factor in the incidence and progression of some diseases. (Brasil, 2008) from 2014 to 2015, and it could be noted a substantial growth on 40% of recorded violations, which can be explained by increaseing in effectiveness in the surveillance of this activity or by developing this type (Brasil, 2008).…”

Give me five! – reasons for two-way communication between experts and citizens in relation to air pollution risk

“…Thirdly, this dialogical approach found in citizen science initiatives, and in citizen participation in a broader sense, raises the levels of awareness of, and engagement in, air pollution reduction of the people involved. For instance, a project involving citizens in air monitoring campaigns in four European cities (Antwerp, Kassel, London, and Turin), concludes that "the most effective way of producing a change is involving the citizens themselves in monitoring campaigns" (Sîrbu et al, 2015). A different example in Kenya, involving women in air pollution measurements and further discussion with experts, also concludes that "participation in conducting and interpreting air quality studies helped residents improve their understanding of air pollution and also helped them develop responses to it" (Ngo et al, 2017, p. 177).…”

Building bridges between experts and the public: a comparison of two-way communication formats for flooding and air pollution risk

“…CC BY 4.0 License. measurements can be very effective in producing a positive change (Sîrbu et al, 2015). When citizen science projects aim at raising awareness, they tend to follow a downstream approach, initiated by the experts.…”