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Research

This is a live compilation of our participation and results in some research projects we are/have been involved with.

Patí Científic Workshop

Large projects

The projects below have been funded by the European Commission H2020 or HORIZON programmes. You can find more information in the funding page.

  • Making Sense: advances and experiments in participatory sensing. (Grant agreement Nº: 688620). Making Sense explored how open source software, open source hardware, digital maker practices and open design can be effectively used by local communities to fabricate their own sensing tools, make sense of their environments and address pressing environmental problems in air, water, soil and sound pollution.
  • iScape: Improving the Smart Control of Air Pollution in Europe (Grant agreement Nº: 689954). iScape works on integrating and advancing the control of air quality and carbon emissions in European cities in the context of climate change through the development of sustainable and passive air pollution remediation strategies, policy interventions and behavioural change initiatives.
  • GROW Observatory: (Grant agreement Nº: 690199). A citizens' observatory for growers, researchers and decision makers, aiming to build better soil through Citizen Science.
  • MINKE: (Grant agreement Nº: 101008724). Innovative design to monitor and manage data on marine ecosystems. MINKE proposes a new vision in the design of marine monitoring networks using two dimensions of data quality, accuracy and completeness, as the driving components of quality in data acquisition. We have been in charge of making water sensors and provide them as a service.
  • TwinAIR Innovative tools to improve indoor air quality. (Grant agreement Nº: 101057779). An investigation of indoor air quality and how it relates to external factors. With the aim of improving quality of life in the city, the project will introduce innovative tools for identifying and tracing pollutants and pathogens to increase understanding of their effects and assess their impact on health.
  • CitiObs: (Grant agreement Nº: 101086421). Enhancing citizen observatories for sustainable cities. CitiObs is a EU Project aimed at fostering inclusive, diverse, and stable citizen participation in the observation, monitoring, and protection of urban environments. Through the use of low-cost sensor technologies and wearables, CitiObs supports the observation of air quality and other environmental measures, empowering citizens to take an active role in shaping sustainable urban policies.

Check the toolkit section

Some of these projects produced toolkits. Make sure to check the toolkits section.

Local projects or small scale collaborations

Although not European scale projects, the projects below have allowed us to further our connections with scientific research institutions, and have contributed to the development of the Smart Citizen project. We are proud to have worked with:

Publications and references

This bibliography brings together publications that document the Smart Citizen project directly, analyse its use in applied contexts, or situate it within broader discussions on citizen sensing, environmental monitoring, and participatory infrastructures.

Core publications by project contributors

👉 Start here if you want to understand the origins, development, and methodological grounding of Smart Citizen. These publications are authored or co-authored by core project contributors and document the platform’s conceptual, technical, and civic dimensions.

  • Chen, J., González, Ó., O’Connor, D., Tallon, L., & Pilla, F. (2025). Assessment of IoT low-cost sensor networks for long-term outdoor and indoor air quality monitoring: A case study in Dublin. Atmospheric Pollution Research, 16(11), 102651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2025.102651

  • González, Ó., & Peters, R. A. (2025). The network beyond the network: the potential of FabLabs as partners in participatory environmental monitoring efforts. Fab25 Czechia – Bridge the Gap (Fab25), Brno & Prague,Czechia. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16211933

  • González, Ó., Calvo Juárez, M., & Guy, J. (2024). An inquiry into Fab Labs as enablers for environmental protection initiatives. In Fab 24: Fabricating Equity research papers (Fab24, Puebla, Mexico). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13221337

  • Maccani, G., Errandonea, L., Righi, V., Camprodon, G., & Galli, J. (2021). VenicAIRE. Quaderns d’Arquitectura i Urbanisme, 74–81. https://raco.cat/index.php/QuadernsArquitecturaUrbanisme/article/view/392968

  • Mahajan, S., Kumar, P., Camprodon, G., et al. (2020). A citizen science approach for enhancing public understanding of air pollution. Sustainable Cities and Society, 52, 101800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2019.101800

  • Kuula, J., Mäkelä, T., Aurela, M., Teinilä, K., Varjonen, S., González, Ó., & Timonen, H. (2020). Laboratory evaluation of particle-size selectivity of optical low-cost particulate matter sensors. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 13(5), 2413–2423. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2413-2020

  • Camprodon, G., González, Ó., Barberán, V., Pérez, M., Smári, V., de Heras, M. Á., & Bizzotto, A. (2019). Smart Citizen Kit and station: An open environmental monitoring system for citizen participation and scientific experimentation. HardwareX, 6, e00070. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ohx.2019.e00070

  • Woods, M., Balestrini, M., Bejtullahu, S., Bocconi, S., Boerwinkel, G., Boonstra, M., Camprodon, G., Diez, T., … & Seiz, G. (2018). Citizen sensing: A toolkit. https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/148521/

  • Coulson, S., Woods, M., Scott, M., Hemment, D., & Balestrini, M. (2018). Stop the noise!: Enhancing meaningfulness in participatory sensing with community level indicators. In Proceedings of the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS) (pp. 1163–1174). https://doi.org/10.1145/3196709.3196762

  • Balestrini, M., Seiz, G., Peña, L. L., & Camprodon, G. (2017). Onboarding communities to the IoT. In Internet Science: 4th International Conference (INSCI 2017), Thessaloniki, Greece (pp. 19–27). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70284-1_2

  • Balestrini, M., Diez, T., Marshall, P., Gluhak, A., & Rogers, Y. (2015). IoT community technologies: Leaving users to their own devices or orchestration of engagement? EAI Endorsed Transactions on Internet of Things, 1(1), e7. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1474761/

  • Balestrini, M., Diez, T., & Marshall, P. (2014). Beyond boundaries: The home as city infrastructure for smart citizens. In Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing Adjunct Publication. https://doi.org/10.1145/2638728.2641557

  • Diez, T., & Posada, A. (2013). The fab and the smart city: The use of machines and technology for the city production by its citizens. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction (pp. 447–454). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2460625.2460725

Applications and deployments

This section focuses on independent publications that show how Smart Citizen, or closely related sensing approaches, have been used in practice. These examples are useful for readers interested in field deployments, community-facing projects, and applied environmental monitoring in different contexts.

  • Cameli, L., et al. (2025). Integrating environmental sensing into cargo bikes for urban monitoring. Sensors. (Early access / preprint, DOI pending)

  • Tenbeitel, A., Arnold, S., & Rettkowski, J. (2025). SenseBike: A new low-cost mobile-networked sensor system for cyclists to monitor air quality and automatically measure passing distances in urban traffic. Sensors, 25(22), 7099. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25227099

  • Esbrí, L., Llasat-Botija, M., Llasat, M. C., et al. (2025). Implementing citizen science activities for climate action: The I-CHANGE day. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2025.1650360

  • Ramos, G., et al. (2024). Citizen-generated environmental data and urban sensing practices in smart cities. Smart Cities, 4(1), 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4010006

  • Rodríguez-Trejo, A., et al. (2024). Air quality monitoring with low-cost sensors during pyrotechnic events in Querétaro, Mexico. Atmosphere, 15(8), 879. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15080879

  • Sanz-Mas, M., Ubalde-López, M., Borràs, S., et al. (2024). Adapting schools to climate change with green, blue, and grey measures in Barcelona: Study protocol of a mixed-method evaluation. Journal of Urban Health, 101, 141–154. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-023-00814-y

  • Moura, P., Moreno, J. I., López, G., & Álvarez-Campana, M. (2021). IoT platform for energy sustainability in university campuses. Sensors, 21(2), 357. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21020357

  • Gryech, I., et al. (2020). MoreAir: A low-cost urban air pollution monitoring system. Sensors, 20(4), 998. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20040998

  • Ottosen, T.-B., & Kumar, P. (2020). The influence of the vegetation cycle on the mitigation of air pollution by a deciduous roadside hedge. Sustainable Cities and Society, 53, 101919. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2019.101919

  • Álvarez-Campana, M., López, G., Vázquez, E., Villagrá, V. A., & Berrocal, J. (2017). Smart CEI Moncloa: An IoT-based platform for people flow and environmental monitoring on a smart university campus. Sensors, 17(12), 2856. https://doi.org/10.3390/s17122856

  • van den Horn, C., & Boonstra, R. (2014). Smart Citizen Kit Amsterdam: Meten is weten? Waag Society.

Benchmarking, validation, and technical references

This section gathers independent publications that are useful for understanding the performance, limits, and technical context of low-cost environmental sensing. These references are particularly relevant for readers assessing data quality, sensor behaviour, or technical adaptations of the Smart Citizen hardware.