Helping to guide cities in implementing clean air zones
Our research expertise provided the evidence base for Clean Air Fund's practical guidance on reducing air pollution.
The challenge
The Clean Air Fund’s mission is to tackle air pollution around the world and help build and support a powerful global movement for clean air. One of its aims is for cities globally to adopt high impact air quality policies, including clean air zones (CAZs).
However, the design and implementation of effective CAZs is complex, and many schemes face political and technical obstacles. The Clean Air Fund commissioned Kaleidoscope, in collaboration with Arup and the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), to support cities worldwide in adopting CAZs. This involved developing a guidance document for cities looking to adopt a CAZ, covering practical design and implementation methods, challenges and place-based modifications.
Our approach
Kaleidoscope’s role was to lead the qualitative research to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences, challenges and insights of cities that had implemented, or were considering implementing, a CAZ, as well as to lead on the dissemination and communications of the guidance.
Co-designing and conducting interviews: We co-designed the interview discussion guides and conducted in-depth interviews with policy makers and city officials from approximately 10 cities who were either considering or already implementing A CAZ across both the Global North and Global South. These interviews captured critical insights into the factors of CAZ implementation, including successes, failures and challenges.
Analysing qualitative data and synthesising findings: We rigorously analysed the interview data to identify key enablers, motivations, support required and challenges faced, bringing real-life examples to the guidance document.
Designing the launch webinar: We designed a webinar to launch the report, not only to present the findings of the guidance, but also to foster a community of engaged stakeholders around CAZs, maximising the reach and impact of the guidance.
Developing a communications and engagement plan and shareable assets: We created a comprehensive engagement plan outlining strategies to disseminate and promote the guidance. We also created shareable social media assets to promote both the guidance and the launch webinar for the guidance, as well as a dedicated microsite for all project content, key messages, the shareable assets and event information throughout the duration of the project.
Our impact
Our research provided the real-life evidence base for the guidance, ensuring it is rooted in pragmatic lessons and insights, supporting more and more cities throughout the world on their journey to healthier, more sustainable urban environments.
Our webinar design and communications built momentum and created a lasting community committed to CAZ implementation, enabling long-term success of the work as well as maximum impact of the guidance.
The Clean Air Fund now has an externally focused product that provides practical guidance for cities looking to adopt a CAZ based on multi-city stakeholder engagement and secondary research. It covers practical design and implementation methods, challenges (such as political and public pushback) and place-based modifications.
This has strengthened their approach to support cities globally looking to implement Clean Air Zones, ultimately contributing towards creating a less-polluted world.
