Reading Borough Council wanted to go beyond just measuring air quality. They recognised the significance of helping their residents, and especially children, understand more about the air they breathe and the resulting impacts from making positive changes to how they travel, play, and learn.
Backed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (DEFRA's) Air Quality Grant Scheme, the Council launched Clean Air Living Matters (CALM): Exploring Reading—a two-year programme running from 2023 to 2025. We joined the Council, the University of Reading, and Design Nature to combine technical expertise, academic insight, and creative educational design and turn monitoring data into something students could see, engage with, question, and act on.
Our team shaped the air quality strategy and helped to design the engagement approach. We deployed more than 120 low-cost AirGradient and ATMO sensors, mixing ambient, indoor and portable units so students could compare readings. We also supported assemblies, interactive workshops, and laboratory sessions. Students from University of Reading helped deliver activities and gather community insight.
CALM’s total community reach was between 26,000 and 33,000 people. Around 9,000 students took part, joining workshops and activities, and 82 percent said the sessions improved their understanding of air pollution. Conversations at school gates and community events, as well as physical and online air quality content engaged up to 24,000 adults, with parents reporting less car idling and more walking and cycling.
A lasting legacy has been created through teacher training, curriculum integration, action‑planning activities, and openly available teacher resources. Continued impact goes beyond the lifetime of the programme with insights shaping Reading's Air Quality Action Plan and a new hyper-local particulate matter monitoring project.
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