Making air pollution exposure visible: a museum-based intervention for health literacy
Abstract
Background: Air pollution is a major environmental health risk in Europe, yet individual exposure in everyday urban environments often remains difficult to perceive. This limits risk awareness and the adoption of protective behaviors, particularly for vulnerable groups such as children. To address this gap, an interactive exhibit was developed within a planetary health exhibition to visualize differences in particulate matter exposure along high- and low-traffic routes and to illustrate practical strategies for reducing exposure.
Intervention: The exhibit combines video footage from the perspective of a child in a pram with contextualized data visualizations that compare particulate matter exposure (PM1, PM2.5) along two urban routes to the same destination (low- vs. high-traffic). It aims to make “invisible” environmental risks tangible and personally relevant, linking individual exposure to everyday mobility decisions, including children’s exposure. The exhibit is implemented in a public museum setting and accessible to a broad audience. Visitors spend up to 15 minutes engaging. A mixed-methods evaluation is conducted, combining short pre–post questionnaires (awareness, perceived relevance, behavioral intentions) with brief intercept interviews exploring understanding, emotional responses, and perceived applicability.
Results: Data collection is ongoing. Preliminary findings indicate increased awareness of spatial exposure differences and higher perceived personal relevance after engagement. Qualitative results suggest that the first-person video perspective, particularly from a child’s viewpoint, enhances emotional engagement and supports reflection on vulnerability. Initial observations also indicate a relatively environmentally aware audience. Experience-based, context-specific visualizations can support environmental health literacy in informal settings. Perspective-taking and everyday relevance are key to making risks understandable and actionable.
Key messages: • A museum-based interactive exhibit increases awareness of air pollution exposure and makes otherwise invisible environmental health risks more tangible for visitors.
• First-person video and data visualisation support emotional engagement and reflection on personal and children’s exposure, fostering environmental health literacy.
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BibTeX
@article{kiss2026making,
title = {{Making air pollution exposure visible: a museum-based intervention for health literacy}},
author = {T Kiss and M Déchène and S Brumann and M Weiß and C Helbig},
journal = {The European Journal of Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.1254},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.1254},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Making air pollution exposure visible: a museum-based intervention for health literacy
AU - T Kiss
AU - M Déchène
AU - S Brumann
AU - M Weiß
AU - C Helbig
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - The European Journal of Public Health
DO - 10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.1254
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.1254
AB - Background: Air pollution is a major environmental health risk in Europe, yet individual exposure in everyday urban environments often remains difficult to perceive. This limits risk awareness and the adoption of protective behaviors, particularly for vulnerable groups such as children. To address this gap, an interactive exhibit was developed within a planetary health exhibition to visualize differences in particulate matter exposure along high- and low-traffic routes and to illustrate practical strategies for reducing exposure. Intervention: The exhibit combines video footage from the perspective of a child in a pram with contextualized data visualizations that compare particulate matter exposure (PM1, PM2.5) along two urban routes to the same destination (low- vs. high-traffic). It aims to make “invisible” environmental risks tangible and personally relevant, linking individual exposure to everyday mobility decisions, including children’s exposure. The exhibit is implemented in a public museum setting and accessible to a broad audience. Visitors spend up to 15 minutes engaging. A mixed-methods evaluation is conducted, combining short pre–post questionnaires (awareness, perceived relevance, behavioral intentions) with brief intercept interviews exploring understanding, emotional responses, and perceived applicability. Results: Data collection is ongoing. Preliminary findings indicate increased awareness of spatial exposure differences and higher perceived personal relevance after engagement. Qualitative results suggest that the first-person video perspective, particularly from a child’s viewpoint, enhances emotional engagement and supports reflection on vulnerability. Initial observations also indicate a relatively environmentally aware audience. Experience-based, context-specific visualizations can support environmental health literacy in informal settings. Perspective-taking and everyday relevance are key to making risks understandable and actionable. Key messages: • A museum-based interactive exhibit increases awareness of air pollution exposure and makes otherwise invisible environmental health risks more tangible for visitors. • First-person video and data visualisation support emotional engagement and reflection on personal and children’s exposure, fostering environmental health literacy.
SN - 1101-1262
SN - 1464-360X
ER -