Title: “Recognizing environmental stressors with the help of wearables”
Abstract
Urban areas are hotspots of environmental stressors such as noise, air pollution and heat to which city dwellers, pedestrians and cyclists are
exposed. We demonstrate the potential of mobile sensor (wearable) recordings to identify pollution hotspots and respond with adaptation
measures. To this end, we discuss the results of previous research projects on the development and application of wearable sensors. Possible
adaptation measures include changes in personal mobility behavior and the official introduction of traffic restrictions in residential areas of cities. This presentation will discuss practical approaches in selected cities. One of these activities is the choice of movement routes of commuters in
Chennai and the combination of wearable exposure measurements with walking interviews. Another example is closely related to the Superblocks
initiative, which aims to implement traffic calming in a heavily polluted residential quarter in Leipzig.
About the Speaker
Dr. Uwe Schlink is a Senior Researcher at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany, and Professor at University of Leipzig, Institute of Meteorology. He is heading the Research Group on “Urban climate and personal exposure” in the Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology at UFZ. His research areas include urban climate research, adaptation strategies, urban air quality, personal exposure, environmental health effects, and vulnerability with extreme environmental situations in urban areas, statistical modelling and Bayesian inference. He has published more than 60 articles in peer-reviewed international journals. He is an adjunct faculty at the Dept. of Civil Engineering of the IITM in Chennai and a fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies at Durham University, UK.
