Daan Roosegaarde’s Smog Free Tower.

The world’s first smog vacuum cleaner. A Systems Engineering Perspective.

Daan Roosegaarde’s Smog Free Tower is an innovative man-made system designed to filter pollutants from the air, providing cleaner air in urban environments. It was created as a service system to address the issue of air quality for residents in smog-affected areas, improving their quality of life and health.

Environment and Stakeholders

Originally installed in Rotterdam, the system’s environment extends to any urban area with air quality concerns. The stakeholders are broader than the local population and tourists: they also include the system’s manufacturer, who is responsible for the design, production, and maintenance of the towers and has a financial stake in the project’s success. Governments and environmental agencies are stakeholders as well, both as clients and regulators. The system’s success impacts these stakeholders differently, from health benefits to economic and regulatory concerns.

Relation to Systems Engineering (SE) Concepts

In relation to SE concepts, the Smog-Free Tower involves rigorous requirements engineering to define its needs, such as the specific pollutant types and quantities it must filter. Design optimization includes the tower’s effectiveness, energy efficiency, aesthetic integration into the urban landscape, and maintenance accessibility. This system exemplifies the environmental engineering approach, with its design focused on reducing environmental impact.

Challenges and Design Optimization

While the Smog Free Tower has been touted for its design and intent, challenges have arisen, such as the actual volume of pollutants captured and the system's scalability to different urban settings. Questions have also arisen about the towers’ long-term sustainability and economic viability. Some articles question whether the towers could be more of a symbolic gesture rather than a scalable solution to air pollution.

Conclusion

The case of the Smog Free Tower illustrates the need for a thorough SE process, which includes not just initial design and implementation but also ongoing evaluation and optimization. Systems engineering principles could have forecasted scalability challenges and prompted a design that would be more adaptable to various urban environments. The principles of SE applied throughout the project life cycle could improve the economic and operational viability of the Smog Free Tower, transforming it from a symbolic piece of environmental art into a truly sustainable solution for urban air pollution.

References:

• Roosegaarde, D. (n.d.). Smog Free Tower. Studio Roosegaarde. Retrieved March 16, 2024, from https://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/smog-free-tower/
• International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). (2015). “Systems Engineering Handbook: A Guide for System Life Cycle Processes and Activities”, version 4.0. INCOSE-TP-2003–002–04.
• Dori, Dov. (2013). “Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK)”, BKCASE Editorial Board.