The US city of Chicago is installing “fitness trackers” on lamp posts and to the sides of buildings in a bid to improve both the health of local people and the city’s infrastructure.

The Array of Things is an urban project, which consists of a network of interactive, sensor boxes, that tracks data about the environment. Dubbed a Fitbit for the city, data can then be used to provide scientists and the public with information about the area.

The boxes - also known as nodes - collect environmental data including air and surface temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, cloud cover, haze, vibrations, and sound and light intensity. They will also track pedestrian and vehicle traffic, plus nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide.

Data can be used for research on air quality and asthma (and other diseases), and can help inform policy on industrial emissions and heavy vehicle traffic in residential neighbourhoods.

There is also potential to combine the air quality data with a person’s personal fitness tracker information to show them how much air pollution they are exposed to in a given day. Or data can be used to suggest the healthiest and unhealthiest running, walking or cycling routes through the city.

Information will be distributed via a number of platforms, including on the University of Chicago website.

Initially, 500 boxes will be installed across Chicago, Illinois. Information from the first sensor boxes will be made public in mid-October.

According to the Array of Things website, the initiative has the potential to allow researchers, policymakers, developers and residents to work together and take specific actions that will make Chicago and other cities healthier, more efficient and more liveable.

As well as providing health benefits the initiative will also help Chicago become a “smart city”, allowing it to operate more efficiently.

The $3.1 million (£2.3m; 2.8m euros) project has been led by researchers from the Urban Centre for Computation and Data, a joint initiative of Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago.