Mapping for Change is looking for residents or visitors around the Royal Docks, London to participate in a pioneering project about odour pollution in the area. Odour issues are often neglected, despite being the second cause of environmental complaints after noise. Nevertheless, citizens do not necessarily have the means to effectively tackle such issues, as policy regulations can be inefficient.
Mapping for Change is a partner in D-NOSES, a three-year EU funded research project which aims to provide a solution to the issue of odour pollution, from a citizen perspective. As such, project partners in the UK, Europe and further afield are working with affected communities to co-design citizen science projects to map the odour issues and embrace the ‘power of many’ to reliably monitor odour. In tandem, we are working with odour emitting industries, regulators and researchers to explore possible actions to address odour.
As part of D-NOSES, we are embarking on a pilot to engage communities in the Royal Docks to think about odours in their neighbourhood. In effect, we are asking residents to help us build a map of any odours in the area by recording their daily observations and experiences of smell. By coming together to create a bigger picture, we can combine this with other information, such as meteorological data, and then work with the industries and services to explore potential action.
If you are a resident or visitor around the Royal Docks, please contribute to this pioneering project! To record your odour observations please visit the map, register and then start adding your experiences. Although designed to be user-friendly, you can view our mapping user–guide for more information.
We are also holding an Environmental Mapping workshop at the creative hub RAW Labs on Sunday the 23rd of February. You can find a link to this event right there: https://www.facebook.com/events/1458044824375592/. Hopefully, see you there!
