AIR AND NOISE POLLUTION MITIGATION THROUGH INTEGRATED, SOCIETY-CENTRED ACTIONS

forthcoming

Air and noise pollution regularly exceed recommended limits in Europe, with significant public health burdens, particularly for the vulnerable. Reducing pollution not only benefits population health but can have co-benefits for reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change. Urban pollution is a complex challenge requiring integrative solutions that combine comparative evidence of the impact of measures on pollution reduction and health, with an understanding of their social and economic, and systemic implications. Ambitious change will require that solutions and actions across multiple scales (city/citizens). ATMOPOLIS addresses the combined effects of air and noise pollution in European cities, identifying optimal solutions and supporting top-down (city/region) and bottom-up (community/people) action to achieve aligned pollution and climate mitigation goals. The project will: 1)Assess time-integrated monitored air and noise pollution exposure for specific individual groups, linked to their perceptions, culture, and behavior through personal narratives. 2)Model high-resolution population air pollution and carbon emissions (EU Mission and Green City Accord cities) and derive novel metrics of population noise pollution from community data and models (ATMOPOLIS partner cities) under existing and mitigation scenarios. 3)Evaluate health and wellbeing impacts of exposure under these scenarios, including for vulnerable groups, and identify the social determinants that increase risk. 4)Develop an evidence-driven integrated decision-making tool that identifies optimal cost-effective top-down policy actions by cities; and use persuasive design approaches to leverage emerging digital pollution platforms to support bottom-up change and empowerment. 5)Using system dynamics models and the integrated tool as a framework, co-create with cities informed policy pathways to meet zero pollution and carbon neutrality goals and improve population health and wellbeing for all.