Inspiration

In 2020, nineteen volunteers committed themselves to monthly measurements of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) with Palmes tubes. In this way we learn more about air quality in more remote places and on the edges of the Netherlands, where few official measurements are taken.

Clean Air Arnhem is a project of the municipality of Arnhem. The project is being carried out by Natuur en Milieu Gelderland and Luchtwachters Arnhem. The project consists of setting up a citizen monitoring network for particulate matter, workshops on how best to light a wood stove, and a newsletter to inform people about all activities.

Sensor.community is one of the largest and fastest growing citizen science communities. Before November 2019, Sensor.Community was known as Luftdaten. This international platform shows all kinds of measurements, for example particulate matter, noise and temperature. You can also find data from different communities.

RIVM, in collaboration with the Safety Regions, will investigate the options offered by sensors in the event of fire or other incidents in which a lot of smoke is released.

The Smart City sensoring project of the municipality of Alkmaar has a Lora network available to everyone. Residents who want to measure in their own living environment can use this network to jointly devise, build and implement their ideas. They receive help from the Junior IOT foundation.

On May 17, 2019, 30 cyclists literally kicked off to measure the air quality on their bicycles. A measuring box with a sensor on each bicycle maps their route and measures the air quality along the way. In this project, RIVM indicates the real-time collected data. It is difficult to measure air quality accurately with small sensors. That is why RIVM ensures continuous calibration of the sensors, so that the quality and reliability of the data is as good as possible.

There is a lot of intensive livestock farming in the rural municipality of Venray. Residents and a number of farmers joined forces to measure fine dust, nitrogen dioxide and ammonia in the vicinity of the stables. What's special about this project? All those involved (including the “polluters”) are collaborating, under the guidance of the RIVM.

The DEVA (Dynamic Exposure Visualisation App) allows you to explore air quality and traffic congestion in your area in various ways.

On 18 June 2026 a broad group of policymakers, researchers, and cities gathered in Brussels for the closing conference of the European LIFE CityTRAQ project. After four years of collaboration, research, and pilot projects on urban air quality, it was time to take stock and look ahead.

In January 2025, De Krekel primary school in Ghent welcomed a special new ‘pupil’: a robot at the school gate. QBOT was no ordinary robot, but a smart way to make children aware of air quality and sustainable mobility. The initiative is part of the LIFE CityTRAQ project, in which the City of Ghent is collaborating with VMM and IMEC.

How clean is the air we breathe every day? That's a question the partners in the LIFE CityTRAQ project are trying to answer. Using advanced air quality sensors, we measure what's normally invisible. Through a carefully designed approach, rigorous testing, and close collaboration with local authorities, we turn data into insights and make the invisible visible.

The Municipality of Utrecht will ban the burning of wood in the home from 2030. From 2025, it will be forbidden to make a campfire outdoors or burn wood in a fire basket, for example. In this way, the municipality hopes to improve the air quality in the city.

With the help of the European project COMPAIR, residents of the Vogelkeswijk in the city of Sint-Niklaas have been given a say in the evaluation of temporary traffic measures based on sensor data and by means of data cafés. This was prior to the development of garden streets in their neighbourhood.

Members of the Hovese environmental council went out with particulate matter sensors in the first months of 2024 to map local sources of air pollution. Much more than traffic, wood smoke stood out as a local source.

Within the LIFE CityTRAQ project, we are working together on a future with clean air. The goal is clear: better air quality for our cities. For example, the city of Ghent will check the impact on the air quality of a school street o as well as evaluate the district mobility plans.

Within the LIFE CityTRAQ project, we are working together on a future with clean air. The goal is clear: better air quality for our cities. For example, the city of Ghent will check the impact on the air quality of a school street o as well as evaluate the district mobility plans.

The City of Bruges is committed to the further development of a sustainable measuring network throughout the city. Through traffic counts with smart cameras at a number of mobility hubs, the City monitors the various modes of transport and links these to air quality measurements (fine dust, nitrogen dioxide, ozone). We then simulate the effect of various measures that improve air quality on the mobility network. In this way, the impact of the modal shift, one-way traffic or a school street can be examined. Using these tools, the city will draw up a substantiated air quality action plan with concrete actions to improve local air quality in the coming years.

Within the LIFE CityTRAQ project, we are working together towards a future with cleaner air. The goal is clear: better air quality for our cities. With six dedicated partners on board, we bring together traffic counts and air quality measurements to not only detect and measure air pollution, but also to understand the effects of our mobility choices.

Since 2021, the VMM has been participating in the European Horizon 2020 project COMPAIR. This project develops technology tailored to citizens and local policymakers and experiments with them to increase the impact of measures and behavioral change. The VMM plays a crucial role in technological development and the development of a more effective air policy based on the data obtained. In addition, the VMM stimulates the involvement of citizens and monitors behavioral changes.

On this dashboard we display the journeys recorded via the DEVA, in combination with air quality data measured with mobile sensors or calculated via a model

North of Eindhoven, several citizen movements are enthusiastically mapping air pollution. They assemble sensors themselves and work well with the municipal authorities. Piet van Schijndel from Meierijstad and Peter van Heerebeek from Best talk about their joint mission to put air quality on the local agenda for citizens and government.

It's nice to light a BBQ in the summer, but what effect does this have on air quality and health?

Citizen sensors fill in the blind spots on the particulate matter map during a massive forest fire

A lesson package for pupils in the 5th and 6th grades or pupils in groups 6, 7 and 8 about air quality.

Are citizen initiatives only about air pollution in the city? No, that is a real misunderstanding. MySense, a collaboration between several local measurement projects, investigates the air quality in agricultural areas. The arrival of a large-scale chicken farm, among other things, is causing the residents a lot of headaches, and stinking sheets as well. This is what inspirer Teus Hagen, internet pioneer and passionate citizen scientist, says.

It's nice to light a fire basket, but what effect does this have on air quality and health?