Monitoring the urban environment: developing a mixed (fix and mobile) observatory on the urban quality control

An integrated network of monitoring was developed by the authors from 2002. A wide knowledge of the space and time distribution of the environmental data can be acquired integrating the network of fixed stations (were each environmental parameter is collected) with a number of sensors installed on public transport means (were, at the present time, only some parameters are collected). All citizens of the involved local governments will benefit from an increased awareness of environmental quality and their effects on health. The system could be considered as a decision support system and a tool of knowledge dissemination. The aims of the system is to define a standard protocol for monitoring the environmental quality in urban spaces and to create thematic maps (heat islands, moisture islands, noise maps, comfort level distribution on the territory, identifying of risk areas for health also due to exposure to short or long term electromagnetic fields) A sub-system (only for the climate and air quality) is applicate in the project "towards a better environment: implementation of energy-saving buildings in China" ASIA Pro-Eco. In this paper a description of the system and some results of the monitoring activity are showed