Devising a Responsible Framework for Air Quality Sensor Placement

Ahstract-A major challenge faced when developing smart, sustainable urban environments is the reduction of air pollutants that adversely impact citizens' health. The UK has implemented strategies such as clean air zones (CAZs) coupled with the use of sensor technologies to monitor the changes in these pollutant concentrations while simultaneously reducing them over time. Consequently, this poses important concerns: how much consideration has been given to the positioning of these sensors, and are the citizens the focal point of this decision-making process? In this paper, we seek to address these concerns by introducing a framework which responsibly positions air pollution sensors based on three conjoined tenets: 1) sensors should equitably cover areas of varying deprivations faced by citizens, 2) sensors should cover areas that have dense concentrations of specified parameters of interest which directly impact its citizens' health, behavioural practices and other factors, and 3) sensor coverage should be maximised across the expanse of the city. After laying the foundation of our algorithm, we then demonstrate that sensors can be positioned in a responsible manner that upholds the aforementioned objectives using geospatial data for the city of Hull, one of the most deprived areas of England,