By Javi Creus, Founder and Strategy Director of Ideas for Change

(Originally published in English)

What happens once citizen science projects end? A really tricky question with wider answers. The data collected can be found in open platforms, results are shared across the scientific community and citizens create a closer relationship with science. But, which is really the impact of such projects?

A month ago, we were celebrating the final event of the CitieS-Health project in Rome. It was a special occasion to exchange with policy makers the scope of the experiment and how citizens can take a step forward in an environmental epidemiology study. In particular, communities participated and gathered data on air pollution and health in five pilot sites:

Barcelona: Measuring how air pollution can affect mental health. Participants co-design the study and collect data on their cognitive performance and mental health using NO2 tubes and tests.
Amsterdam: The short-term effects of woodsmoke on respiratory health. Citizens create the study protocol and gather information on the experiment through mobile and stationary measurements in their homes.
Kaunas: How urban design and physical activity affect citizens’ health and well-being. Communities wanted to investigate why neighbors from their district suffer from hypertension more often than in the other ones. To do so sensors-watches help to track their physical activity, walking distance, heart rate and sleep quality, among other measurements.
Lucca: Gather evidence on how pollutants in the Serchio Valley (Tuscany) increase kidney diseases rates. Involving local authorities and citizens with DIY sensors, participants were able to monitor the concentration of respirable and fine particles in the valley.
Ljubljana: Analysing the quality of the living environment (with an emphasis on noise) and living habits affect the mental health and well-being of individuals. The pilot conducted a series of activities to engage citizens and school pupils into the project using sensors, test apps and participatory activities.

After three years of intense work, results were published and disseminated across the scientific and social community. However, let’s analyse the actual impact on the system of each pilot.

A strengthen relationship between citizens and researchers: Barcelona’s case study

The pilot demonstrated that there was a link between air pollution and mental health and that the proximity of blue and green spaces in your daily activity can contribute to palliate this issue. Nevertheless, air pollution in cities is a fact and the study served as another complement to this body of evidence.

However, the experiment made citizens feel more confident to reach out to scientists. Communities realised they can take part in a research study while contributing to improve the quality of their lives by collecting scientific data and collaborating.

Involvement of stakeholders responsible of the issue: Amsterdam’s case study

Once again, the impact here is on the creation of a closer relationship between wood burners, policy makers and citizens. While the prohibition of wood burning has not happened (yet), the issue has achieved a social dimension.

Changing habits to improve quality of life: Kauna’s case study

In this case, the pilot increased people’s awareness to practising physical activity. Citizens who took part in the experience got to know the variables and changed their habits in order to have a healthier daily life.

Raising an issue never been considered before: Lucca’s case study

The Italian pilot showed some evidence on how pollutants from heavy metals are linked to the increase of a kidney malfunction in the Serchio Valley. By the creation of a citizen committee who performed scientific activity, communities participated in an entire process of study and were able to speak with researchers and majors about the issue.

Reaching out authorities to incorporate outcomes: Ljubljana’s case study

Finally, on an individual level the demo-site enabled behavioral changes. Citizens before the project were not aware about the amount of noise in their lives and how it affected them, so they started to avoid it. On the other hand, the direct result of the experiment was the stimulation of conversations with representatives of the local government to take action.

The transformative effect of Citizen Science

As a general conclusion, we can affirm that pilots carried out in the Cities Health project demonstrated the transformative effects of Citizen Science on at least three key dimensions:

Issues: raise, socialize, support

The effect is different according to the issue

Lucca’s pilot was able to raise an issue -soil pollution- that had been overlooked during many years by neighbors and workers of the factory who had been more focused in service provisioning and working conditions up to then.

Amsterdam’s pilot was able to give a social dimension to wood burning which had been considered a personal nuisance among neighbors -such as noise- rather than a general polluting factor.

Barcelona’s pilot tackled air pollution issues which had already been documented at a city level before and had already gained a social dimension, and thus made an incremental gain in social awareness.
2. Participants: organization, personal changes, awareness

Citizen Science as a transformative process for citizens

Participants in the Lucca’s pilot organized themselves as a community with the aim to investigate further and demand action from authorities.

Young participants in the Kaunas pilot changed their exercise habits as a result of learning how their cardiovascular health depended not only on ambiental factors but also on their own behavior.

Ljubljana participants became aware of the effect of ambient conditions on their health and turned into critical observers of their living conditions.
3. Institutional involvement: commitment, interest, acknowledgement

Science transforms societies

Regional authorities in the Lucca pilot committed to action prior to the pilot results, and agreed which actions should be carried out depending on the results of it.

Netherland’s Ministry of Health became interested in the pilot as it supported its own view on how wood burning is not a personal behavior but a social health issue.

Barcelona’s local authorities acknowledged the results of the pilot and added its result to the body of evidence that supports their ongoing action to reduce air pollution in the city and promote active and healthy mobility.

Catch up with the results

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