Non-profit Miljøpunkt Amager (MPA) is the first sub grantee to finalise its project under the ICLEI Action Fund. Named Thrive Zone Amager (TZA), the project had the total duration of 1 year, running from November 2020 to November 2021. Bringing together experts from Gehl Architects, Studio Profondo, Danish Technological Institute, Urban Digital, and Backscatter, TZA aimed at creating and testing models to assess air pollution impacts on citizens' habits in defined areas.
Based on data from multiple sources, such as City Infrastructure, Google Air View and the Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE), the project relied on urban mobility, air quality and demographic data to design and install three pilots from August to September 2021:
The Thrive Zone Amager combined data collected by local citizens carrying sensors with Google’s AirView air measurements. Local citizens from Amager were given sensors to measure the air quality in their local environment. The approach underscores the insight of local differences in pollution levels and raise citizens' awareness on air quality and air pollution.
The choice of location to implement the pilots was based on the results of extensive data collection in the period from February to June 2021. The data was collected via Facebook, Instagram, Google Maps Api, Pop-up events, Workshops, and surveys carried out with the population of the districts Islands Brygge and Ørestad. Almost 800 citizens participated in the data collection.In addition to contributing demographic data that facilitated project implementation, involving the community in the creation process was important to raise awareness of the topic.
The analysis process followed a technical approach. Sensors placed outside the installations capture the concentration of ultrafine particles and 2.5-micrometre matter particles (PM 2.5) in the air, while internal sensors calculate the indoor air. In addition, local citizens from Amager were given sensors to measure the air quality in their local environment while walking around.
After the first month of data collection, the results showed significant reductions in air pollutants across the board.
“Seeing this significant reduction in a new wall with so many hollows between the plants, where the air had these areas of free passage, is quite surprising. And the progression from thin to thick [wall] is also interesting. If we have an even thicker wall, we can expect even higher positive impacts.”
Rasmus Reeh, independent consultant at TZA
“We are very pleased with the great interest of the community in our project. In all, nearly 1,000 citizens participated in our surveys, workshops and events, sharing their routines and problems with air quality. We are very proud."
Dorte Grastrup-Hansen, Miljøpunkt Amager Director
“Managing air pollution in cities needs an integrated vision to protect human health and improve public spaces. Working with cities, civil society and local partners is critical, but data on air quality, population movement, car pollution and other components of daily life are also needed.”
The ICLEI Action Fund European Secretariat
Miljøpunkt Amager (MPA) is a non-profit organisation whose work revolves around sustainability projects in Amager, a district of Copenhagen. MPA has since the beginning in 2003 conducted numerous sustainability workshops to educate the community on environmental practices, and collaborate with the local organisations, companies to promote a sustainable development at a local scale.
MPA's proposal was selected to the ICLEI Action Fund due to its strong data-driven component, the close involvement of the Municipality of Copenhagen, and its innovative approach to combine environmental quality (air pollution) management and urban design of public space to reduce exposure to air pollution.
