iSCAPE

The project

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 behavioural change initiatives. It will tackle 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, micro-climate and behavioural aspects of urban dwellers will be achieved by applying real-world physical interventions on the urban tissue to alter ventilation rates and dispersion patterns in the selected cities assessed for future climate change scenarios and representative of different cultural and life styles in Europe.

iSCAPE encapsulates the concept of “smart cities” by promoting the use of low-cost sensors, engaging citizens in the use of alternative solution processes to environmental problems. iSCAPE will support sustainable urban development by promoting the sharing of results with policy-makers and planners using local test-cases, and providing scientific evidence ready-to-use solutions potentially leading to real-time operational interventions. This integrated approach will include the development and assessment of a framework aimed at changing the mobility behaviour of people by studying processes and dynamics that lead to more resilient, healthy, and sustainable cities, by bringing together theory from urban planning, public policy, urban and environmental sociology and urban geography.

Our Contribution

Fab Lab Barcelona provided expert Citizen Science advice around the implementation of low-cost sensors, through its very own Smart Citizen Kit. Through the project, the team developed the now commercially available Smart Citizen Kit 2.1 and the Smart Citizen Station, alongside a new set of specific software tools that dramatically improve the quality of the collected air pollution data through machine learning. The Citizen Science approach includes people in the scientific research process: for example, working alongside the researchers in finding solutions to problems, methodologies and conclusions.

Who is it for?

iSCAPE is for any citizen driven to make a change in their community in order to reduce pollutants in urban areas.

Urban Planners / City Makers
Interested in using the Citizen Science approach in developing infrastructural solutions and behaviour change in cities to address the issue of air pollution.

Citizens
Interested in participating in policy making and behaviour changes, to become decision-makers in building urban environments.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 689954.