If people want to continue to live in cities, adequate air quality must be ensured. Cars, trucks and other machinery can release mercury, carbon monoxide, carcinogens, and other substances that degrade the air. Weather conditions such as high humidity, dustiness from wind; construction and manufacturing can also do this. Conversely, air quality can be enhanced when people use active transportation or public transit. Having more greenery can also clean the air, especially large mature trees. Sensors and indicators should be placed around the city to show air quality. High air quality could be a standard that neighbourhoods and entire cities can aspire to and could be rewarded. Low air quality could be used to hinder certain behaviours. As an example of an application of this technology is if an intersection has very low air quality because of traffic congestion perhaps an indicator could go off and this could increase the toll on that road, which would help control traffic.
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