CLAIRO — Urban Forest Living Lab for Cleaner Air

CLAIRO (CLear AIR and Climate Adaptation in Ostrava, UIA03-234) was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Urban Innovative Actions initiative (total budget: approximately 65 million CZK / ~€2.7 million; EU share: 52.7 million CZK / ~€2.2 million). Led by the City of Ostrava with the Technical University of Ostrava (VSB-TU) as scientific partner, the project targeted Ostrava's most air-polluted residential districts — Radvanice (~12,000 m²) and Bartovice (~8,000 m²) — where EU annual-mean limit values for PM10 and PM2.5 had regularly been exceeded. From August 2019, scientists installed a modular network of low-cost optical and electrochemical sensors alongside conventional reference instruments for continuous multi-year air-quality monitoring. In spring 2021, 442 new trees, 1,867 shrubs and 14,700 m² of lawn were planted at both sites. The project developed and published a peer-reviewed methodology specifying tree-species mixes optimised to capture ozone, SO2, NO2, CO and PM10 under Central European pollution conditions, validated against reference instruments (published in MDPI Environments, 2021). Palacký University contributed plant-hormone research to improve tree survival in polluted soils. Over 1,200 residents were surveyed on attitudes to air quality and urban greenery. Following dissemination workshops, the City of Trinec and the City of Orlova adopted the CLAIRO methodology and updated their strategic planning documents accordingly. The scientific monitoring programme runs through 2027.

Read the full analysis: https://clairo.ostrava.cz