September sees two air quality-related days being held: the UN International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on Saturday 7 September and World Car Free Day on Sunday 22 September.
Hot on the heels of July’s Clean Air Day the prevalence of focussed events like these point to the widespread recognition, domestically and internationally, that air pollution is a major environmental risk to health and that elevated levels or long-term exposure to air pollution or both can lead to serious conditions affecting humans. In a nutshell, poor air quality seriously affects peoples’ lives.
As well as setting out what we are doing to improve air quality in London Heritage Quarter and how you can help in our Clear Air Day article (here if you missed it) we recently commissioned FM Conway via Westminster City Council to test several local lamp columns for us. The aim is to determine where we could install solar-powered air quality monitors that record levels of PM (Particulate Matter) 2.5 and Nitrogen Dioxide, two pollutants that are of most concern. The nodes will be supplied by the Breathe London network that is run by the Environmental Research Group at Imperial College London.
Once set up, air quality data will be posted on the Breathe London website and Westminster City Council’s air quality web page. It’ll provide us and our partners with live (and over time historical) data to support more proposals for improving street layouts, help us determine the impact of our freight and placemaking projects, and raise awareness of the importance of improving air quality in central London.
In the meantime, we encourage you to visit both of this month’s event pages and decide how you can get involved. And if you do end up swapping your car for a spacehopper, we’d love to receive a photo for our social channels. Follow us on Instagram, X and LinkedIn.
