New project set to put citizens at the heart of clean-air monitoring
Press Release -
VISIONAIR — Virtual Integration for Sustainable and Innovative Observation of Urban Air Quality — brings together 20 partners from 13 countries to give European cities a clearer, real-time picture of the air their citizens breathe. The consortium, coordinated by VITO, a leading Belgian research and technology organisation, launched the four-year Horizon Europe project on 8–9 September 2026 in Brussels.
A four-year project has been launched to build an integrated monitoring and modelling framework for producing harmonised, near real-time, city-scale maps of air quality. To do this, it will draw on the fusion of satellite observation, calibrated low-cost sensors and citizen-science data. Artificial intelligence will drive the modelling and data fusion, quantifying people’s exposure with fine spatial detail.
Around 91% of people in urban areas breathe polluted air, according to the World Health Organization, and by 2050 more than 70% of the world’s population is expected to live in cities. The European Union has responded: its revised Ambient Air Quality Directive brings limit values closer to WHO recommendations and reinforces the Zero Pollution Action Plan.
Yet despite this progress, current monitoring frameworks remain fragmented. National networks provide accuracy but limited spatial coverage; satellite and remote-sensing platforms need to be fused with surface data to capture real exposure; and low-cost sensors and citizen-science initiatives offer high-resolution information but face calibration, bias and interoperability issues. VISIONAIR sets out to close these gaps.
The project’s approach will be tested in four pilot cities, Ljubljana, Piraeus, Novi Sad and Vilnius, where citizens, researchers and authorities will work side by side to map pollution street by street and shape responses together.
“At ICONS, we will engage with citizens across Europe to help them better grasp why better air quality data matters to their daily lives. Indeed, citizens are at the heart of VISIONAIR and will be a force multiplier. We will also seek to ensure that the project’s methods and findings get to those who need them and who can adopt them, such as town councils, researchers and policy makers”, said Ilaria Bonetti, Project Management Officer, ICONS
Contacts:
Project coordinator:
Milica Velimirovic, VITO
milica.velimirovic@vito.be
Communication Managers:
Ilaria Bonetti, Project Management Officer, ICONS, ilaria.bonetti@icons.it
Leonardo Improta, Communication Officer, ICONS, leonardo.improta@icons.it
