Online visualization of road dust, from in-situ measurements to public awareness (DUST)

Research Project, 2024 – 2025

Road dust is a large environmental and health problem affecting all densely populated areas in the world. In the past decades, carbon dioxide pollution has dominated the discussion on environmental impact from transportation, due to the ongoing climate crisis. This is of course warranted and not a problem in itself, but at the same time it has arguably suppressed discussions about other sources of pollution affecting the environment and the health of humans, animals and plants around populated areas.

This project aims to address this by creating tools and platforms to increase public awareness of the health impact of road dust, including an online live-stream view on road dust measurements and their impact on environment and health.

By launching this platform, both towards the general public and towards the academic community, we hope to initiate a more informed discussion climate around different sources of pollution connected to human transport activities. The long term goal is to create incentives for commercial and public actors to work harder with technology and policies connected to environment and health. Our strong belief is that an informed general public automatically creates a better society, suppressing unethical inaction by government and commercial actors.