Fighting Against Mexico City’s Air Pollution with Data

Mexico City has an air pollution problem. In the first five months of 2019 the city has only seen 7 days with clean air. The situation not only adversely affects the city’s image, but the health of all of its 21 million inhabitants — or 16% of the nation’s population.

But in a large city with other pressing issues, how do we form an effective action plan that’s more than a band-aid on the problem?

Thanks to a joint team effort with UC Berkeley and Mexico’s National Institute for Ecology and Climate Change, the teams were able to visualize the impact of proposed transportation policy on air pollution using Waze data. By quantifying the reduction on pollutants from different potential policies, government officials have a better understanding on what policies will have greater impact given their timelines and costs. As a result, officials determined that electrifying their rapid bus system would provide the quickest way to provide relief.

What’s exciting about this method is its potential reproduction to other cities that seek to solve their air pollution problems using their own traffic data.