Press release: Eindhoven’s unique citizen’s way to address air pollution and human health

Eindhoven August 14th and 15th

http://www.nieuwsbank.nl/en/2013/08/14/J001.htm

These days world’s first ever multidisciplinary worldwide organisation without budget, personnel or buildings, dedicated solely to creating healthy cities, AiREAS, will install world’s most advanced low cost, real time, intelligent air quality measurement system across the Dutch city of Eindhoven.

35 Airboxes in a network will deliver real time air quality information into a cross reference database. Unique about this is not just the technology used or the desire of this city to do something about the world’s most alarming problem, air pollution. It is the way AiREAS has come about, works and takes integral responsibility for human health, something none of the individual partners can do by themselves. AiREAS is unprecedented, developing itself as a true contribution for sustainable progressive democracies and well worthy to be made know to the world now. Let us sum up some of the uniqueness of AiREAS:

1. The high tech installation of a fine maze intelligent measurement system (ILM) in Eindhoven is the first accomplishment of AiREAS as a cooperative venture initiated by citizens and involving the complete set of institutional members from the key operational disciplines in a modern society, such as the local government, technological innovators, local city quarter citizens for social innovation and scientific research specialists and universities to prevent the cooperation to try to invent the wheel again and provide true progress.

2. The data obtained through the ILM network will be used for multiple purposes. Ideally instant feedback is given to the local city’s citizens and enterprises for immediate air quality and health improvement actions. AIREAS is going to experiment with communication in different ways, with different content presentations, using scientific insight on human perception to see what results into best health support effects among the local population.

3. The detailed data about air particles, measuring PM 10, 2,5 and (ultra) fine dust as well as NOx and Ozone, is being instantly cross referenced with information from different sources and content, such as historic health data, traffic information, etc. Scientific specialists define research objectives including the specific contribution of their studies to the healthiest city objective. They also help define and optimize the ILM infrastructure, modulation patterns and measurement locations to ensure the effectiveness of data collection using present day knowledge.

4. Local citizen’s participate in AiREAS in order to be able to take entrepreneurial action in their private and professional life’s and take their own responsibilities in their neighborhoods. Or directly negotiate health related infrastructure priorities with the local government. The fact that government participates directly in AiREAS too makes human result driven interaction and decision making direct and instantaneous. Local citizen’s complaints to government officials about air pollution went down by 100% since the announcement of AiREAS.

5. The local government participates among other reasons to back up costly infrastructure decisions with heath indicators as well as the measurement of the results of policy decisions according to norms and objectives of the establishment.

6. Local and multinational technological enterprises bring in their technologies and innovative ideas together. They each add a fragment to solutions that are assembled to contribute to the healthy city objectives. These contributions, when they indeed provide integral health improvement results, receive the AiREAS case reference and living lab proof of concept. These companies can expand their contribution on a world wide basis with these references. Expansion occurs through traditional sales channels of all international participants contributing in this way to a healthier world. Another option is to help establish Local AiREAS ventures elsewhere in the world by taking  Eindhoven as an example.

7. Eindhoven has become a true purposes driven living lab with enthusiasm of all involved.

8. Organisations and entire regions are invited to come to Eindhoven to get acquainted with AiREAS, consider accepting the invitation to participate in the venture through their own talented inclusion, or undertake steps to create a Local AiREAS of their own with the help of AiREAS.

9. Even though AiREAS itself has purely a complex human value objective, without relating directly to economics, the individual partners represent their own self interest which can be expressed in many ways. They translate the values obtained to their own (economic) goals. In a way AiREAS feeds a new health driven economy based on addressing human values world wide.

10. AiREAS is a new citizen’s way of taking responsibility for complex key sustainable human values. It is called Sustainocracy, an evolutionary step in our democracies. It refers to the acceptance that some key issues, such as human health, security, wellness, applied knowledge, environmental conditions and self sufficiency are no political or economized options nor democratic choice that can be delegated. They are common self aware responsibilities of any person, organization and community.

11. AiREAS was initiated in 2011 by two local citizens of Eindhoven, Jean-Paul Close (definer and initiator of Sustainocracy) and Marco van Lochem (specialist in transforming idealism into practical reality through projects). They invited the local population and cooperative members to its sustainocratic mission, asking for the multidisciplinary commitment covering the entire society, expressing the results in technological, social and organisational innovations, regional sustainable progress and measurable human values.

12. AiREAS has no personnel or buildings of its own and works entirely with the combined result driven resources of its partners. The two initiating citizen’s are not on the pay roll either to ensure their independence and impartiality. Both are just as result driven as the rest of the cooperation.

13. AiREAS has no initial budget. It starts with the healthy city objective and all the necessary partners to make it happen. When priorities are discussed and projects defined also the issue of investment is raised, related to reciprocity. Every member than contributes according to its own means and expectations. Money is only part of all the means that can be invested to support the venture.

14. The partners in AiREAS represent the four operational pillars of a modern (sustainocratic) democratic society and economy: the local government (territory), technological innovators (tools), scientists (knowledge) and the local citizens (culture).

15. The inner cooperative values of AiREAS are: the commitment to the higher cause of AiREAS through membership, mutual respect and integrity, equality and trust. The membership is free of charge, not free from responsibility.

16. Any region or city in the world can now create a Local AiREAS with the assistance of AiREAS. AiREAS offers the experience, structure and objective with certain key partners already involved. All that is needed is a commitment from the local government, a local independent “sustainocrat” and the willingness to allow the region to developed itself through value drive public participation and cooperation.

Note: On September 20th Jean-Paul Close hosts an international seminar in Eindhoven to explain Sustainocracy. 

The Local AiREAS Eindhoven consists of:

* Government: The local city council and the province of Noord Brabant.

* Innovative business enterprises: ECN, Imtech and Philips. Also many local small and medium sized businesses participate.

* Scientific and educational institutions: IRAS (Utrecht University with expertise on respiratory and lung research), ITC (Twente University with expertise on modulation and measurement infrastructures, space observation around climate and allergies), Academic Medical Center (Amsterdam University adding heart and vascular medical expertise and research). Various other universities and disciplines are already participating awaiting their own institutional authorization for formal membership.

* The local citizens of Eindhoven.

“The world upside down” a city official said when the two initiating locals citizens walked into the city hall two years ago. They had invited the local government to take co responsibility with them for a healthy city. “Unprecedented!” and “My first time in 25 years of executive work” top R&D executives of participating leading multinationals said. They referred to the way the top of local governance, acknowledged scientific experts and high tech industrial multinationals were challenged by these two citizens to take responsibility together, and accepted, for one of the most serious problems of the last century, air pollution and human health. As a result the citizens of Eindhoven soon receive their own high level real time data on air pollution as a very first step in co-creating the healthiest city of the world. For AiREAS this is just a start. The healthy city is the goal and so is the challenge to show the rest of the world how it can be done, helping other cities to do the same.

Note for the journalist and editors:

AiREAS website:  http://www.aireas.com

More information on Sustainocracy and AiREAS as citizen’s challenge: Jean-Paul Close T:+31 654326615      E: jpclose@aireas.com

More information about the ILM measurement infrastructure: Marco van Lochem T:31 655712874 E: mvanlochem@aireas.com

More information about the measurement technologies used in the ILM: René Otjes (ECN)

More information about the database management system: Carl Wolff  (Imtech)

More information on the government implications and commitment to the venture:

City of Eindhoven – Hans Verhoeven

Province Noord Brabant – Edwin Weijtmans

More information on the various scientific cross referenced research programs and participating universities: Marco van Lochem and Jean-Paul Close (contact details above)

More information on citizen’s program: Jean-Paul Close