The Primequal research program, aimed at studying air quality at the local scale, was initiated in 1995 by the Ministry in charge of the Environment and by ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency). Designed as a multidisciplinary program, it centered chiefly on the physico-chemical and sanitary aspects of air pollution. Human and social sciences, though regularly invited to participate in the program, have remained little involved. To overcome this problem, a special call for research wholly dedicated to the field was set up in 2004. Eight projects, whose results are briefly summarized and discussed in this paper, were funded. For the authors, one of the main findings of this research is the remaining gap, due to poor governance, between the institutional approach to air quality based on monitoring and administrative overseeing and the population's lack of grasp and involvement regarding an issue to which they are, however, highly sensitive and whose sanitary implications they are strongly aware of. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]