Category: Cities and local authorities

City of London Air Quality Data Visualisation

Aether developed an online, interactive data visualisation for the City of London that could be used by policy makers and the general public to explore data and information on air quality. Topics covered include air pollutant emissions, bus fleet emission control technologies and the health impacts of air pollution.

The challenge

The City of London can experience high levels of air pollution, with nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter being the two pollutants of most concern. The City Corporation, which governs the City of London, is required by statute to measure air pollution and to develop and implement a plan for improvement as health-based pollutant limits are exceeded. In 2001, the whole of the Square Mile was declared an Air Quality Management area for nitrogen dioxide and small particles (PM10).  This project has provided new access to information for the public to improve their understanding of these issues.

 
The solution

The City Corporation was undertaking a review of the City of London Air Quality Strategy and wanted to include static visualisations of air quality data and information. Aether created an online, interactive data visualisation from which screenshots could be taken for the Air Quality Strategy. This approach provided not only the static visualisations but also a tool that could be used for engagement with policy makers and the public. 

 
The result

The visualisation that Aether developed can be found here. This tool allows technical and non-technical users to explore the data and information. It can be used for engagement with the public and to aid evidence-based policy making. This tool can be updated and developed in the future to provide an ongoing aid for visualising complex information and drawing key messages on air pollution trends.

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Kathryn Hampshire

Principal Consultant

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Testimonial

Don't just take our word for it...

“Professional team and very collaborative communication. Effective result in terms of suggestions for improvement in the quality of the inventory and proposals on how to streamline specific topics.”

Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research

“The support provided by Aether for this project was especially remarkable considering the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tools and methods used in order to engage local stakeholders really added value to the capacity building of the national team.”

Shanna Emmanuel, Saint Lucia BUR Project Coordinator

“Engaging Aether to support us to develop the first GHG Inventory System and first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for the United Republic of Tanzania has been a rewarding experience due to their high level of professionalism, creativity, timeliness and value for money. We will definitely consider Aether in our future initiatives.”

Abbas Kitogo, Programme Specialist Energy and Climate Change, UNDP Tanzania

“A heartfelt thank you to all the Aether team for this very comprehensive review – this is certainly turning out to be one of the most beneficial capacity building projects I have ever been involved in.”

Saviour Vassallo, Senior Environment Protection Officer, Malta Resources Authority

“Aether's approach to couple innovative visualisation with high expertise manpower delivered valuable insights for our inventory work.”

Umweltbundesamt (Germany)

“It is always an absolute pleasure working with Aether. I always know what is expected of me. Their work ethic is of a very high standard and projects are always handled in a very professional manner. I have learnt many skills in terms of project management, quality control and workshop training styles from Aether and I hope to carry these principles forward in my own work. I look forward to collaborating with Aether more in the future.”

Luanne Stevens, Gondwana

“Aether delivered training workshops and generated learning materials for our SSN members, providing technical content in a manageable and comprehendible format. We particularly benefitted from their extensive knowledge and ability to interpret the needs of our members into the training materials.”

Jennifer Anderson, Sustainable Scotland Network

“Saint Lucia embraces the professional approach with which this project was undertaken by Aether, particularly their ability to develop mentorship relations with local government experts. This provides a basis for ensuring that the pool of local experts remain engaged and recognized over successive processes.”

Annette Rattigan-Leo, Chief Sustainable Development and Environment Officer

“The professional service provided by your company was of very high quality and completed within agreed timelines.”

Matthew Dudley, UNFCCC Secretariat

“The team at Aether works very professionally and communicates very well which makes working with them a pleasure. Outputs are delivered on time to high quality. The team brings the rigour of technical knowledge and expertise and finds innovative ways of communicating complex messages. I would be happy to recommend the Aether team to organisations working on analysing and presenting emissions information in the public domain.”

Fiona Glover, States of Jersey

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