Abstract
Air pollution is estimated to cause more than 7000 deaths annually in Sweden alone. To reduce the impact of air pollution and to plan and build sustainable cities, it is vital that research is translated into efficient decisions and practice. However, how do civil servants in a municipality access research results? How do they normally find relevant information, and what obstacles are there to accessing and applying research results? As part of the collaborative and transdisciplinary research project Air Pollution Research in Local Environmental Planning (ARIEL), these questions were explored through interviews and seminars with civil servants within the Malmö Municipality Environmental Office. We found that the civil servants generally have proficiency in processing research results, but often do not use such results as part of their everyday decision making and practices. Instead, the data and measurements used are mostly produced case-by-case within the municipal sector itself. Information about best practices is also collected via a number of knowledge access practices, involving the Internet or social networks within other municipalities. Lack of time, paywalls, and the insufficient applicability of research hinder the dissemination of up-to-date results. This slows down the process whereby research, funded by tax-money, can be put to best practice in the effort to create healthy and sustainable cities.
Highlights
Research on air pollution is produced to improve the living conditions of citizens
The qualitative part of the Air Pollution Research in Local Environmental Planning (ARIEL) project presented in this article focused on investigating how municipal civil servants in Malmö municipality engaged in air pollution abatement and connected noise-related issues access research results and other forms of knowledge to solve their respective tasks, in what ways they are processing the information acquired, and what obstacles there are for them to obtain and apply high-quality updated research
How do civil servants working with air pollution and noise abatement in Malmö municipality access, process, and apply research results and other sources of information in their everyday work?
Summary
Research on air pollution is produced to improve the living conditions of citizens. In Sweden, a country with traditionally high set standards for environmental research [1] as well as public health policy, air pollution is estimated to cause more than 7000 premature deaths annually [2]. Exposure to air pollution affects socioeconomically weaker groups more, and can be seen as an issue of environmental inequality [6]. To live up to the UN Sustainability Goals 2030, especially goal 3, good health and wellbeing; goal 10, reduced inequality; goal 11, sustainable cities and communities [7]; and goal 13, climate action, cities need to address air pollution by taking necessary action based on robust research [8]. In Sweden, tax money is used to finance research on how to achieve sustainable
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