D-NOSES Project
| Subject: International Cooperation
European project to combat odour pollution
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) is participating in the D-NOSES Project (Distributed Network for Odour Sensing, Empowerment and Sustainability, dnoses.eu), which is addressing the issue of odour pollution in the middle-term through citizen participation mechanisms by emphasising participation strategies and the co-creation of case-by-case methods and solutions, that is, by using "citizen science".
This European project is being financed via the H2020 programme and has a budget of 3.16M euros. Fourteen institutions from nine different countries are participating in it (Spain, United Kingdom, Austria, Greece, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Chile). The AMB will coordinate the project in the pilot case in Barcelona's Fòrum district, working to involve several agents (public administrations, residents and other institutions) and striving to facilitate access to information. The facilities of the infrastructures owned by the AMB will be opened when needed.
The Fòrum district is among the 10 pilot cases
The main objective of the D-NOSES Project is to develop a methodology which encompasses the following four basic areas: public administrations, citizens, industry and academic experts, in order to address odour pollution through participation and co-creation strategies.
In order to reach the objectives, D-NOSES seeks to get different groups involved in awareness of odour pollution, to provide accessible information through the creation of an International Odour Observatory, and validate a replicable methodology through 10 case studies in order to standardise methodologies and to provide strategic lines for the governance of odour pollution.
The Project plans to implement the methodology in ten pilot cases, of which the Fòrum district (Barcelona) has been chosen as the pioneering pilot, the reason why the AMB has taken an interest in tracking its development and results.
The Fòrum district is a complex zone in terms of sources of emissions, with different easily recognisable and distinguishableodours. The coexistence of different activities (residential, industrial, commercial, services, entertainment, etc.), a high concentration of urban service infrastructures (for different activities and with different owners) and the diversity of the social fabric composition make the Fòrum district an ideal setting to implement the D-NOSES Project.
Citizen participation and co-creation
The project seeks to get citizens involved to create a network of odour sensors: the citizens themselves (through their own olfactory perceptions). Via an application (odourcollect.eu), the data will be collected. After it is processed, meteorological data and dispersion models will be applied to identify the origin of the odours perceived by citizens through retro-trajectories.
The project also entails a variety of activities and workshops to encourage participation both in the design and data compilation and analysis phases and in the proposal of solutions, as well as odour training for the citizens involved.
The AMB also believes that the D-NOSES Project could facilitate greater public administration-citizen interaction. It can also provide useful elements for assessing the results of the different structural actions aimed at lowering the impact of odourous emissions, which can be implemented in the infrastructures owned by the AMB in the near future.