Air Quality Consultants Ltd | Part of Logika Group is delighted to be part of a new European Initiative led by Barcelona Super Computing Centre to help cities reduce pollution and protect public health. The project brings together a consortium of 19 entities from eight countries. The initiative will develop advanced digital twin tools to help reduce air and noise pollution and assess their impact on citizens’ health. Five pilot cities across Europe — Barcelona, Lausanne, Sarajevo, Gävle, and Barakaldo — will serve as testbeds for innovation and evidence-based policymaking.
Funded under the Horizon Europe call “Zero-Pollution Cities,” which contributes to the EU Mission “Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030,” the project takes a holistic approach to support informed policymaking. It improves air pollution and noise monitoring and modelling, while also providing tools to evaluate the health impacts of urban actions in both the short and long term.
To achieve these goals, HARMONIE works across two interconnected environments: real-world pilot studies and advanced digital twin simulations. In its five pilot cities — Barcelona, Lausanne, Sarajevo, Gävle and Barakaldo — the project collects detailed data on air and noise pollution, including emerging indicators such as oxidative potential (OP), as well as citizen mobility patterns, exposure levels and health indicators, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations. AQC is contributing to the work to quantify health impacts attributable to air pollution and noise after policy interventions in case studies and digital twin models.
[Members of staff involved David Birchby, Ryngan Pyper and Clare Beattie]
[The HARMONIE consortium includes 19 partner institutions: the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Universidad de Deusto, Bettair Cities SL, Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), University of Bristol, Factual Consulting SL, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC), Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Unisanté – University of Lausanne, Air Quality Consultants (AQC), the City of Sarajevo, University of Gävle, the Diputació de Barcelona, the Barakaldo Municipality, University of Nova Gorica, University of Basel, and the Lausanne Municipality.]
EU funding acknowledgment
The HARMONIE project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe programme under grant agreement No 101238943. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
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