Real-time environmental monitoring platform for wellness and preventive care in a smart and sustainable city with an urban landscape perspective : the case of developing countries

Abstract

Smart and sustainable communities seek to ensure comfortable and sustainable quality of life for community residents, the environment and the landscape. Pollution is a key factor affecting quality of life within a community. This research provides a detailed insight into a successfully developed and deployed framework for an environmental monitoring platform for an urban study to monitor, in real time, the air quality and noise level of two cities of the Dominican Republic—Santo Domingo and Santiago de Los Caballeros. This urban platform is based on a technology range, allowing for the integration of multiple environmental variables related to landscape and providing open data access to urban study and the community. Two case studies are presented: The first highlights how the platform can be used to understand the impact a natural event, for example, how dust landscapes (such as the Sahara) impact a community and the actions that can be taken for wellness and preventive care. The second case focuses on understanding how policies taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 affect the air quality and noise level of the landscape and community. In the second case, the platform can be used to expand the view of decision makers in the urban landscape and communities that are affected.