Over the past three years, five partners from Flanders and the Netherlands have been working on solutions to improve air quality, both indoors and outdoors, ‘Project Pure Air’. Local experiments were carried out in Antwerp and The Hague to map and where possible avoid the influence of the outdoor air on the indoor air. In Antwerp this happened in five schools and in The Hague with local residents.

For example, the Royal Lyceum Antwerp is setting up an outdoor classroom on the playground. Primary school De Wereldreizen exchanged the bus trips for the scooter. Primary school De Kleine Stad visualized the healthiest cycling route to and from school and in kindergarten and primary school. Among other things, the Xaverius College conducted a test into concentration among students in well and poorly ventilated classrooms.

“We must dare to teach the importance of healthy air at an early age,” says Antwerp environmental alderman Tom Meeuws (Vooruit). “Every young person has to come and be penetrated, which is why experiments are so important.”

According to Katris Smet of the Flemish (VMM), it soon became apparent within the project that there was a need for a simple website that bundles all information about comparing and approving measurements, instruments, inspiring examples and measures related to air quality. svw