Empower people's perception of air and ability to improve indoor air quality

Abstract

Air pollution is a widely accepted problem in today’s world. Nine out of ten people does not breathe healthy air due to rapid urbanization and human activities that cause increased severe air pollution. Over the years people have had a tendency to comfort themselves with everything they need inside. However, they may not be aware that the amount of dangerous pollutants indoors is often 5 times higher than outside (EPA, 2017). Since we spend 90% of our lifetime indoors, the impact of indoor air pollution (IAP) on our health is relatively high, especially for children. Their bodies and lungs are still developing what makes it very important to breathe safe air. When individuals deal with the risk of being exposed to IAP, they may have various beliefs about the impact it has on their health and the way of keeping indoor air quality (IAQ) levels within an acceptable range. Since people are a valuable asset in buildings, it seems practical to make them able to manage their own air. In the recent years, filtration of air through the use of air cleaners for private use has been an upcoming technological trend. Together with TinyWolf, the startup I am part of, we develop an air purifier to provide various households with clean air where it matters most. For most people air purification introduces new ways of thinking how to improve IAQ. To bridge the research gap of related work in the relationship between IAQ and human behavior, my research aims to understand household members’ perception of air and their related behavior in order to empower and design for their ability to improve the indoor air quality. In order to deal with the complexity of human behavior I used a theory that has found its way from social science into design research. The social practice theory provides a framework to study family and individual life to create an insightful overview of understanding everyday habitual practices that are linked to IAQ. I firstly evaluated the current situation in order to examine the challenges household members face when they want to improve indoor air quality. Findings show the importance of access to information and tools to reduce the exposure to indoor air pollution. Secondly, in the practice-oriented design approach I introduced three households with different versions of TinyWolf’s purifier. The evaluations investigate the influence of the designed products on household members’ perception of the impact of a purifier on the perceived air as well as their ability to adopt the product for use in existing daily practices, in particular the sleeping practice. Findings show that the product alone does not immediately lead to behavior change. It’s meaning and a measure of skill are necessary. Research shows that the empathy between people and product can influence the way they act (Aftab & Rusli, 2007). My project shows a way of how design could be used to empower people’s ability to improve indoor air quality.