Sunset on the Thames. Photograph by Lucas Peng

Health effects of air pollution

Air quality updates in community spaces

We’re funding the development of the UK’s first solar-powered, outdoor air quality display unit. Co-designed with communities in Lambeth and Southwark, it will make valuable information accessible to people whose health is most affected by air pollution.

Key info:

Partners: Imperial College London, The Social Innovation Partnership (TSIP), Kasia Molga
Amount: £232,000
Duration: Up to 30 months
Programme: Health effects of air pollution

What are we doing together?

The quality of the air we breathe in urban areas varies from day to day. On days when air pollution levels are at their worst, the effects on health can be devastating. We want to find out if making real-time information on air quality available to communities in public spaces will raise awareness and help people to reduce their exposure on days when air pollution levels are particularly high.

We’re funding Imperial College London and social enterprise TSIP to work with residents in Lambeth and Southwark to co-design and create the UK’s first co-designed, solar-powered, outdoor air quality display unit. The display pod will use Imperial’s real-time model to share localised air quality information in public spaces.

As part of the partnership, scientists from the university have collaborated with Kasia Molga, a digital artist and designer, to produce the display unit. The Social Innovation Partnership (TSIP) have worked with residents to understand their perceptions of air quality and what features they’d like to see on the displays. TSIP have also gathered suggestions for the best places to locate the displays. These insights have informed the final prototype, and 20 devices have been installed across South London. Digital storytellers On Our Radar have followed the project to produce a film and capture the voices of those involved.

Photograph of Awair display prototype - air quality in the community

TSIP will also gather feedback from workshop attendees and the wider community. This follow-up activity will help us to learn if and how attitudes to air pollution have changed.

Aim of the partnership

We are funding this project to understand whether there is demand for visible air quality information in local community spaces. We also want to find out if access to this information increases people’s awareness of air pollution or helps them to reduce their exposure to it.

Public displays have the potential to reach a far wider demographic of residents than existing alternatives. Apps and online air quality monitoring platforms are only available to those with the technology and the motivation needed to sign up. We hope involving local people in decisions on the design and placement of the displays will mean they have a better understanding of air pollution affects health.

At the end of the project, the partners will produce and share an insights report. If the pilot is successful, we will explore the potential to scale this approach up across Lambeth and Southwark and beyond.

Connection to our strategy

Air pollution affects everyone’s health, but disproportionately affects some people more than others. Our Health effects of air pollution programme addresses poor air quality as an issue of social justice, and a cause of consequence of inequality.

This partnership will help us to engage with people whose voice is not currently being heard in the clean air debate. It will test whether making air quality information easily understandable, accessible and visible in the places where people spend their time can improve health, particularly among minoritised communities. It could also help us to get more people, from a wider range of communities, supporting government action on air pollution.