Design

Could an 'Electronic Vacuum Cleaner' Suck Up Beijing's Smog?

A Dutch designer's innovative proposal for the pollution-ridden city.
Daan Roosegaarde/Dezeen

Beijing is no stranger to manipulating the skies. To keep an open-air stadium dry for the 2008 Summer Olympics' opening ceremonies, Chinese meteorologists developed a technique to reduce the size of raindrops, delaying precipitation until storm clouds pass.

Five years later, could a man-made "vacuum cleaner" for smog be the next step?