New York City's new mobile air quality monitoring solution is a good start, but is not thoughtful enough

March 02, 2020 | Case Study

Air pollution in urban areas is already a headache for local governments, as it is challenging to monitor and manage. Cities are using professional air quality (AQ) stations that are installed at preselected locations to help their residents become aware of the level of air pollution. However, the data from the preselected monitoring locations are biased, as AQ can be vastly different block by block. Complicated city plans and a large number of high-rises further impact the credibility of the AQ stations. To better study and help residents know the AQ in New York City, the city government decided to adopt MIT's mobile AQ sensor solutions to monitor the AQ.