Seven-metre-tall towers that suck unhealthy smog from the surrounding environment are up and running in Rotterdam, and soon in China, following a successful Kickstarter crowdfunding initiative.

These Dutch-designed anti-smog towers inhale smog and clean the air down to the smallest of nano-particles. The purified air is then released into the city environment, allowing people to breath clean air in the middle of a city.

It’s the latest project by Studio Roosegaarde and has been more than a year in the making. Supported by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Smog Free Project China Tour will start in September 2016.

Diamonds

A nifty bonus feature of this novel approach to urban air purification is that the towers collect the carbon from the polluted air. That material is then put under high pressure for 30 minutes which transforms the carbon into diamonds.

Roosegaarde uses them to create unique pieces of jewellery which are sold in order to fund more towers.

You can currently admire this project at the exhibition Dream out Loud - Designing for tomorrow's demands that just opened at Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, with 1000m3 of clean air provided by Daan Roosegaarde.