Journalism
Twan Huys did in my opinion in the last College Tour with Daan Roosegaarde a proper journalism job to confront his guest with opinions of respected experts who question how he wants to deal with his fame. Best television I have seen lately. Daan is clearly lifted on the horse by certain media [DWDD, Zomergasten] and supported by the disruptive community, and he simply has to deal professionally with that position. Otherwise his pride becomes before his fall.
Not the person
The critique should not be focused on the person, everyone has the right to be as one sees oneself, be it arrogant, narcissistic, aimable, self-satisfied or the ideal son. The unconvenience is that Daan is seen by many of his followers as a kind of bringer of salvation, while he has seemingly no problem being addressed like that. Yet this is irrelevant in the discussion. What matters is content, what matters are the scientific facts.
Neither the technology
The technology that is used by the popular artist is not subject to debate either, these techniques do work properly, albeit on a smaller scale. And that is exactly the problem with these technologies that Roosegaarde has chosen to apply, these technologies simply can not be scaled up like that. Induction works properly in intimate distances for low energy apparatuses like cellphones, toothbrushes and atmospheric lighting, but effectively not on the grand scale of highways. Similarly softly glowing light embedded in the pavement for bicycle paths can not replace safe lighting. It may indeed lead you the way, but de facto alienates you from the surrounding context. And ionisation works properly in controlled environments but certainly is underperforming when it comes to windy open air spaces.
But the Smog Free illusion
Placing a Smog Free Tower outdoor and claiming that it cleans polluted air of a neighbourhood is comparable to placing your fireplace outside and claim that you are heating up the neighbourhood. It simply doesn’t effectively, and similarly the Smog Free Tower certainly does not clean up a neighbourhood, nor does it clean up properly the indicated ground surface area of some 100m2. I would need verified scientific proof, I would need monitoring the immediate environment of the Smog Free Tower as to get my proof of the pudding, it needs to be verified before making such claim. By stating that it does clean the environment Roosegaarde ignores the huge column of air above which is constantly being mixed up with the lower parts. Even if one would rule that unconvenient reality out, then even a moderate wind would blow every bit of cleansed air away. Air is a gaseous material and want to reach its equilibrium according to the laws of nature. This ionisation technology is proven to work in controlled environments, in closed or semi-closed spaces, and the essence of an outdoor space is that it is not a controlled environment. Therefore Roosegaarde’s tower most likely is a falsification, and therewith creating a counterproductive illusion. What it does is creating an illusion, in which well-meant sweetness people are obviously tempted to believe in, because it would be so nice if it would be true, it feels so good to believe in it. But indeed the followers of Daan Roosegaarde and Daan himself seem very complacent, being very pleased with themselves, drunk on goodness. They must feel they have all the good intentions with the future of the earth, yet in fact they are instrumental in distracting the discussion from real solutions, regrettably the followers of bringers of salvation rather believe in such sweet miracles.