STADSLAB LUCHTKWALITEIT

2014-2020
Team: Marieke de Keijzer, Eric van Ulden, Leon Richard, Annemarie Piscaer, Kirsten Kentler, Han van Hulzen, Maico der Kinderen, Helmuth Tjemmes, Robbert de Vrieze, Iris de Kievith

Stadslab Luchtkwaliteit is an open city lab addressing the issue of air quality, on a self-organized base by experimenting, connecting, gathering and sharing ideas. It does not have a physical lab space. It works together with professional air-quality institutions such as RIVM and is funded by the ‘Creative Industries Fund NL’ (2015 and 2016), the municipality of Rotterdam, and was part of the CityMaker Movement by the Rotterdam Architecture Institute.

The city lab started in 2014 after an open call for ideas for possible solutions for a better air quality by the municipality of Rotterdam. A group of citizens decided to share ideas and knowledge within the setting of a city lab in order to gain understandings towards the complex issue of air quality. They experiment with spatial installations and measure the possible effects.

In order to share the knowledge and ideas they have been organizing events. For example, a meeting about ‘Measuring Fine Dust’ , or an event about: ‘Fine Dust and the impact on our health’ at Erasmus Academic Hospital Lung Department.

In a co-creation session Stadslab Luchtkwaliteit created ‘Burgerbrief’, a letter to governmental institutions with recommendations to improve air quality in regard of the environmental zone in Rotterdam.

Air Quality is an invisible topic. This makes it difficult to relate to. However with the introduction of the environmental zone in Rotterdam, air quality became an urgent and ‘hot’ topic that has a big impact on people. In order to make the topic more tangible and to start a dialogue they created ‘Luchtloket‘ a mobile ‘counter’ that shares knowledge and gathers input and stories from citizens to transfer this to policymakers.