Clear Skies

Problem Context

Poor air quality associated with high levels of particulate matter (PM) is one of the five greatest health risks worldwide, alongside high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes and obesity. Also in the Netherlands, acceptable concentration levels as established by the World Health Organisation are still widely exceeded. The problem is complex and the general trust that (local) governments do their very best to improve air quality is low.

Solution

The AI-based system is to support multi-criterion decision making in the complex environment of accessibility, the construction challenge we are facing, the nitrogen deposition issues, the national significance of Schiphol and Tata, etc. Before deciding to implement an emission reduction measure, all these criteria must be taken into account. In our first implementation of our multi-criterion decision support tool, we focus on accessibility (or mobility) and the air pollution from different sources. The AI system is carefully designed so that transparent and understandable data frames are constructed and the contribution from observations can be separated from bottom-up emission estimates.

Results

The results of this project contribute to a multi-decision criterion platform for a variety of stakeholders (residents, government, businesses and knowledge institutes) to facilitate the dialogue on healthy living environment, including policy decisions for emissions. The input of accurate emission estimates are important as the basis for the decision-making tool.

Affiliations

In the project we had a knowledge exchange with colleagues from the ERP Wise Policy Making to discuss their view on multi-criterion decision-making. We organized and facilitated a workshop with participants from the Province Noord-Holland on its applications. We organized a knowledge sharing session with a professor at Leiden University on the theory of multicriterion decision-making.