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Anticipating airpocalypse : Air quality apps and implicit modes of anticipatory practices

Graminius, Carin LU and Haider, Jutta (2025) In Futures 173.
Abstract
Air quality apps are designed to observe air quality and inform publics about it, but also to elicit actions based on anticipated scenarios. As such, they may be seen as anticipatory technologies, cultivating environmental understandings and orienting users toward a specific future. This paper explores the anticipatory assemblages of these apps as well as users’ interactions with these apps and their implicit anticipatory practices. We argue that the assemblage of human and non-human actors that constitutes air quality apps presents air pollution as divorced from human action. Furthermore, proposed actions against air pollution accounted for in air quality apps may not be attuned to the diverse contexts of the users, such as less affluent... (More)
Air quality apps are designed to observe air quality and inform publics about it, but also to elicit actions based on anticipated scenarios. As such, they may be seen as anticipatory technologies, cultivating environmental understandings and orienting users toward a specific future. This paper explores the anticipatory assemblages of these apps as well as users’ interactions with these apps and their implicit anticipatory practices. We argue that the assemblage of human and non-human actors that constitutes air quality apps presents air pollution as divorced from human action. Furthermore, proposed actions against air pollution accounted for in air quality apps may not be attuned to the diverse contexts of the users, such as less affluent actors. Moreover, apps have world-making powers, as users follow the advice and actions the apps provide, implicitly contributing to the vision of the future the apps present. The field of future studies thereby has a role to play in emphasizing implicit modes of anticipatory practices and their embeddedness in everyday items and actions. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
Anticipatory assemblages, Air quality apps, Implicit anticipatory practices, Air pollution
in
Futures
volume
173
article number
103652
pages
12 pages
publisher
Elsevier
ISSN
0016-3287
DOI
10.1016/j.futures.2025.103652
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8f95dac1-20f6-4663-a6d9-fb1a025ed917
date added to LUP
2025-07-14 10:19:13
date last changed
2025-07-16 10:00:33
@article{8f95dac1-20f6-4663-a6d9-fb1a025ed917,
  abstract     = {{Air quality apps are designed to observe air quality and inform publics about it, but also to elicit actions based on anticipated scenarios. As such, they may be seen as anticipatory technologies, cultivating environmental understandings and orienting users toward a specific future. This paper explores the anticipatory assemblages of these apps as well as users’ interactions with these apps and their implicit anticipatory practices. We argue that the assemblage of human and non-human actors that constitutes air quality apps presents air pollution as divorced from human action. Furthermore, proposed actions against air pollution accounted for in air quality apps may not be attuned to the diverse contexts of the users, such as less affluent actors. Moreover, apps have world-making powers, as users follow the advice and actions the apps provide, implicitly contributing to the vision of the future the apps present. The field of future studies thereby has a role to play in emphasizing implicit modes of anticipatory practices and their embeddedness in everyday items and actions.}},
  author       = {{Graminius, Carin and Haider, Jutta}},
  issn         = {{0016-3287}},
  keywords     = {{Anticipatory assemblages; Air quality apps; Implicit anticipatory practices; Air pollution}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Futures}},
  title        = {{Anticipating airpocalypse : Air quality apps and implicit modes of anticipatory practices}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2025.103652}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.futures.2025.103652}},
  volume       = {{173}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}