Clean Air Makes Cities More Liveable — a call for action
Air quality is becoming one of the most important factors that make a modern city worth living in. In a survey published in 2022 by the Financial Times, over 60% of respondents mentioned good air quality as one of the most important factors taken into account when changing their place of residence. At the same time, as many as 99% of large cities struggle with air quality that exceeds World Health Organization standards.
Air quality doesn’t have a designated ‘owner’, resulting in a classic scenario echoing the tragedy of the commons. So how to deal with polluted air? Can they be tamed?
Witnessing the governmental challenges and perhaps, opportunities in the air quality niche, startups are uniquely positioned to usher in innovative and agile solutions. With the application of advanced technologies such as IoT sensors and AI, start-ups can provide solutions that are not only effective in real-time monitoring and managing air quality but can also offer transparency and traceability in data management.
When we were starting Airly, we realised that citizens are no longer passive receivers of information but engaged stakeholders, advocating for their right to breathability and transparency. That’s why our mission for Airly is to provide residents, communities, local governments and scientific experts with the most up-to-date, reliable and hyper-local information about the air they breathe.
We have noticed that the growing level of awareness about pollution and the causes of its formation is not just dry information. The analysis we conducted at Airly in 2022 for the C40 summit in Buenos Aires showed that cities that monitor air quality thanks to a dense network of sensors are able to reduce air pollution more effectively. Since 2019, four cities with a dense air quality monitoring network (Jakarta, Lisbon, London and Warsaw) have improved their overall air quality by 16% Cities without such networks have made very limited progress and achieved a marginal 5% improvement.
But… In a world attuned to immediacy, championing for solutions that bear fruits over decades can be a daunting undertaking. Air quality improvement is a marathon, not a sprint. Strategies need to be devised considering the inherent nature of political cycles and societal expectations, safeguarding initiatives against the vacillations of changing governments and policies. Successful examples include the London Low Emission Zone, which, although met with resistance initially, has catalyzed noticeable improvements in the city’s air quality over the years.
The pursuit of clean air is beyond mere environmental conservation; it is a crucial factor determining the future trajectory of urban living and development. I truly believe that through collaborative actions, embracing innovative solutions from startups, ensuring transparency and trust in data, we can breathe life into our cities, ensuring they remain liveable.
