Commissioner of Public Works Erin Chute Gallentine is pleased to announce that the Town of Brookline has partnered with Northeastern University’s Intelligent Solutions to Urban Pollution for Equity and Resilience (iSUPER) to take part in an air quality testing study to deploy cost-effective, climate-smart technology aimed at trying to understand and model air pollution.
The multi-year project will provide opportunities to learn from and leverage data, particularly related to transportation and transit systems, open space, and a diverse range of neighborhood densities and types. The Town also sees potential for the installation of sensor networks as a tool to better understand existing conditions and to identify and evaluate possible opportunities to mitigate air pollution in the future.
iSUPER, one of Northeastern University’s newest Impact Engines, will install a suite of air quality sensors in Brookline this summer that are focused on understanding air quality conditions and changes over time in several types of areas, including parks, heavily trafficked transportation routes, and key pedestrian-used roads.
The sensors will remain in Brookline for several years to track changes over time and will help Northeastern create models to best track air quality with the smallest number of sensors possible, which will help work toward providing affordable recommendations for towns nationwide.
In addition, a lab-in-a-van will be used to make research-grade measurements around streets and neighborhoods to complement stationary sensors to map the air pollution and greenhouse gas distribution in Brookline.
iSUPER and its diverse team of researchers and partners build digital, cost-effective, climate-smart infrastructure to create real-time hyperlocal air pollution measurement data and model predictions for cities and towns. These data and tools position towns and cities to take actionable metric-driven steps to reduce air pollution, improve health, and continuously work toward greater equity.
To learn more about Northeastern University’s iSUPER and its work pairing low-cost, adaptable sensing technologies with pollution prediction models, please visit here. The Town and Northeastern are partnering with the Brookline GreenSpace Alliance to share information with the public as the project moves forward.
Residents are also encouraged to meet the team of iSUPER researchers at Spring Fest on Saturday May 20, 2023, from 11:00 – 02:00 p.m., at Allerton Overlook in Olmsted Park, 203 Pond Avenue, Brookline, MA 02445.
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