Participatory Action for Citizens' Engagement to Develop a Pro-Environmental Research Application

TL;DR

This paper describes the participatory development of a gamified, culturally rooted mobile application that engages residents in monitoring air quality and promoting pro-environmental behaviors to combat smog in Poland.

Contribution

It introduces a novel participatory design process for creating a culturally tailored, sensor-integrated app that encourages environmental awareness and behavioral change.

Findings

Developed a sensor-based, gamified app rooted in local culture

Collected air quality data from Europe's densest sensor network

Aims to validate behavioral impact of the app on residents' habits

Abstract

To understand and begin to address the challenge of air pollution in Europe we conducted participatory research, art and design activities with the residents of one of the areas most affected by smog in Poland. The participatory research events, described in detail in this article, centered around the theme of ecology and served to design an application that would allow us to conduct field research on pro-environmental behaviours at a larger scale. As a result we developed a research application, rooted in local culture and history and place attachment, which makes use of gamification techniques. The application gathers air quality data from the densest network of air pollution sensors in Europe, thereby aligning the visible signs of pollution in the app with the local sensor data. At the same time it reinforces the users' pro-environmental habits and exposes them to educational messages about air quality and the environment. The data gathered with this application will validate the efficacy of this kind of an intervention in addressing residents' smog-causing behaviours.