Introduction

Seeing the air pollution from your own living environment has the most impact. A few Smogware sets have been developed already. Ignited by locals for example as an encouragement to the local governments for their approach to improve the air quality. In the various cities there were cooperation’s with different kind of people who all had their own story, wanted to make new connections, and use the Smogware with different purposes. However all shared a concern for a healthier environment, and a shared positive energy. The list of cities is growing, the network is expanding. Towards a World Table!
Complicated matter

This graph shows the measured amount of particulate matter of the cities for which a tableware has been or will be made. It attempts to contextualise air pollution. As described in the chapter “What“, the project focuses on the coarsest particulate matter, PM10, even though the smaller particles are worse for health, and even though there is much more than just particulate matter in the air, like CO2 or nitrogen.

Places in cities where the air is most polluted are usually along busy traffic arteries. These are the places, in particular those where many people also live, where dust has been harvested and for which data have been consulted. Measured or calculated city averages may be slightly lower. Data can usually be found online or retrieved after a short research.

It remains a complicated matter. Data does not tell everything, it becomes clear every time you visit a city. For example, in Kiel, which is the only one in the list that remains below the advisory standard by the WHO for particulate matter, it appears that there is much more happening than what the statistics show.

Then there are the whims that remain outside the image of the statistics, but that residents certainly have to deal with. How often and for how long peaks of high concentrations are measured cannot be read in averages. In Beijing, for example, it is possible that at one time a concentration of up to 300 µg / m3 PM2.5 is measured, while an hour later the wind may have cleared the air to 50 µg / m3. (And where is it blowing then?)

So much for an introduction to the complexity of the matter.