Designing Citizen Science tools towards increased awareness and participatory policy making for air quality: The Case of COMPAIR

Despite the concept of citizen science being around for a few decades, it is still considered a non-traditional data source, especially in policy circles. Further efforts are needed to build its acceptability by decision makers at various levels of governance. Determined to make this happen, the COMPAIR project sets out to deploy advanced quality assurance measures in the form of distant calibration to make citizen science data policy-ready. Additionally, the project will engage the entire urban value chain in pollution monitoring and analysis, with a special focus on people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Local stakeholders will get access to comprehensive, accurate and easily accessible information on air pollution via three purpose-built digital tools: the Policy Monitoring Dashboard, the Dynamic Exposure Visualisation App, and the CO2 Calculator and Simulator. By leveraging data-driven insights from these tools, members of the quadruple helix community will be able to co-create appropriate measures and strategies to set smart cities on a more carbon-neutral footing and reduce air pollution to levels that are considered safe for all.