Last March, Plume Labes launched in collaboration with Twitter and marketing and tech agency DigitasLBi a campaign intended to draw attention to London’s air pollution issues by releasing a flock of pollution-monitoring pigeons to map pollution in the city. As the birds flew throughout the city, Londoners could tweet to @PigeonAir to get up-to-the minute information on the air quality in their neighborhood. While the Pigeon Air Patrol was only in the skies for three days, Plume Labs turnt to humans to join the ranks. The main goal was to inspire Londoners to join Plume’s new Air Patrol as beta testers of the air pollution-sensing device. Plume is hoping to create a network of these human sensors that will enable it to crowdsource very detailed and specific readings of air pollution to compliment the data pulled in from monitoring stations and they already use for their app.
The crowdfunding campaign set up to finance the project managed to collect the needed £10,000 in only 21 days. The project, in collaboration with Imperial College London, seeks dozens of Londoners (think cyclists, runners, pram pushers and so on) to test their wearable personal air quality sensors later this year. Problems like air pollution often seem too big to tackle, but sometimes the small scale, creative and pro-active ideas can achieve more than you’d expect.
An augmented reality exhibition along the River Thames transforms London’s public space into a COVID-proof digital museum.
Design studio Superflux has created an installation of how future homes might look like considering the realities of climate change.
The sound of an electric motor and the clink of bottles in a crate are having a comeback with milkmen and milkwomen hopping back on their milk floats across the UK.