Riga ran a citizen-science campaign that equipped students and daily commuters with portable air-quality sensors to track localised pollution exposure across the city centre, gathering evidence that revealed clear pollution spikes during rush hour and giving planners a concrete basis for targeted action.

Riga's old town is the city's main tourism draw, and it sits right next to some of the busiest traffic corridors the sensors monitored, meaning many of the same rush-hour exposure spikes affecting commuters also hit visitors walking between hotels, restaurants and heritage sites at the busiest times of day. With this kind of granular, street-level data now in hand, the city is better placed to target interventions, such as traffic restrictions, green corridors or rerouted flows, specifically around the areas tourists actually walk through, turning a citizen-science exercise into a practical tool for making the visitor experience in Riga's most-visited district measurably cleaner.

#CitizenEngagement #AirQuality #ResidentWellbeing