Often I am asked by citizen’s why at AiREAS we measure in city quarters instead of dense traffic routes. The answer is that we decided to measure close to where people live in order to link pollution directly to lifestyle and environment rather than just traffic. The traffic part has been analysed often enough. There is no need to keep proving what we know already. Government is beginning to take health seriously but still combats with political and economic stress in defining priorities. Citizens are strong at pinpointing at responsibility of others including their government but often forget their own within a specific culture.

Modern city governments often already started to take on responsibility for health but strand on self inflicted culture. One cannot simply close off roads if this affects access to commercial areas on which taxes and labor depend. Citizens who live near traffic arteries often have cars themselves and think differently when at home and in their car.

Showing citizens AND governments that a healthy city is responsibility of both is AiREAS. In this exercise we show how pollution extends throughout the city often behaving worst within the city quarter than along the mayor traffic arteries. It all depends on the type of activities in the city and the weather.

In every picture you find the city area, the measurement location and the combined results of PM 1, 2.5 and 10.

Woensel:

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Centre:

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