Vehicular Traffic in Urban Areas: Health Burden and Influence of Sustainable Urban Planning and Mobility
Vehicular traffic is one of the major sources of air pollution in European cities. This work aims to understand which characteristics of the urban environment could influence mobility-related air pollution, quantify the health impacts of exposure to traffic-derived PM<sub>2.5</sub> and N...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Atmosphere |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/13/4/598 |
| _version_ | 1797436965383045120 |
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| author | Cristina Reche Aurelio Tobias Mar Viana |
| author_facet | Cristina Reche Aurelio Tobias Mar Viana |
| author_sort | Cristina Reche |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Vehicular traffic is one of the major sources of air pollution in European cities. This work aims to understand which characteristics of the urban environment could influence mobility-related air pollution, quantify the health impacts of exposure to traffic-derived PM<sub>2.5</sub> and NO<sub>2</sub> concentrations, and assess the potential health benefits expected from traffic interventions. The health benefits modeled are intended to provide a set of comparable data to support decision-makers and encourage informed decision-making to design healthier cities. Targeting a large geographical coverage, 12 European cities from 9 countries were comparatively assessed in terms of mean daily traffic volume/area, the number of public transport stops/area, and the percentage of green and outdoor leisure areas, among other urban indicators. This was implemented using an open-source data mining tool, which was seen as a useful engine to identify potential strategies to improve air quality. The comparison of urban indicators in the selected cities evidenced two trends: (a) cities with the most heterogeneous distribution of public transport stops, as an indicator of poor accessibility, are also those with the lowest proportion of km dedicated to cycleways and footways, highlighting the need in these cities for more sustainable mobility management; and (b) the percentage of green and outdoor leisure areas may influence the share of journeys by bicycle, pointing out that promoting the perception of green routes is relevant to enhance the potential of active transport modes. Socioeconomic factors can be key determinants of the urban indicators and would need further consideration. For the health impact assessment (HIA), two baseline scenarios were evaluated and compared. One is based on mean annual traffic contributions to PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentrations in each target city (ranging between 1.9 and 13 µg/m<sup>3</sup>), obtained from the literature, and the second is grounded on mean annual NO<sub>2</sub> concentrations at all available traffic and urban background stations within each city (17.2–83.5 µg/m<sup>3</sup>), obtained from the European Environment Agency database. The intervention scenarios modeled were designed based on traffic mitigation strategies in the literature, and set to ranges of 6–50% in traffic-derived PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentrations and of 4–12.5% in NO<sub>2</sub> concentrations. These scenarios could result in only a 1.7% (0.6–4%) reduction in premature mortality due to exposure to traffic-derived PM<sub>2.5</sub>, and 1.0% (0.4–2%) due to exposure to NO<sub>2</sub>, as the mean for all the cities. This suggests that more ambitious pollution abatement strategies should be targeted. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:10:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8f93162512c1415892b67e8afd68f08a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4433 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:10:12Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atmosphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-8f93162512c1415892b67e8afd68f08a2023-12-01T00:47:15ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332022-04-0113459810.3390/atmos13040598Vehicular Traffic in Urban Areas: Health Burden and Influence of Sustainable Urban Planning and MobilityCristina Reche0Aurelio Tobias1Mar Viana2Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA)-CSIC, 08034 Barcelona, SpainInstitute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA)-CSIC, 08034 Barcelona, SpainInstitute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA)-CSIC, 08034 Barcelona, SpainVehicular traffic is one of the major sources of air pollution in European cities. This work aims to understand which characteristics of the urban environment could influence mobility-related air pollution, quantify the health impacts of exposure to traffic-derived PM<sub>2.5</sub> and NO<sub>2</sub> concentrations, and assess the potential health benefits expected from traffic interventions. The health benefits modeled are intended to provide a set of comparable data to support decision-makers and encourage informed decision-making to design healthier cities. Targeting a large geographical coverage, 12 European cities from 9 countries were comparatively assessed in terms of mean daily traffic volume/area, the number of public transport stops/area, and the percentage of green and outdoor leisure areas, among other urban indicators. This was implemented using an open-source data mining tool, which was seen as a useful engine to identify potential strategies to improve air quality. The comparison of urban indicators in the selected cities evidenced two trends: (a) cities with the most heterogeneous distribution of public transport stops, as an indicator of poor accessibility, are also those with the lowest proportion of km dedicated to cycleways and footways, highlighting the need in these cities for more sustainable mobility management; and (b) the percentage of green and outdoor leisure areas may influence the share of journeys by bicycle, pointing out that promoting the perception of green routes is relevant to enhance the potential of active transport modes. Socioeconomic factors can be key determinants of the urban indicators and would need further consideration. For the health impact assessment (HIA), two baseline scenarios were evaluated and compared. One is based on mean annual traffic contributions to PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentrations in each target city (ranging between 1.9 and 13 µg/m<sup>3</sup>), obtained from the literature, and the second is grounded on mean annual NO<sub>2</sub> concentrations at all available traffic and urban background stations within each city (17.2–83.5 µg/m<sup>3</sup>), obtained from the European Environment Agency database. The intervention scenarios modeled were designed based on traffic mitigation strategies in the literature, and set to ranges of 6–50% in traffic-derived PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentrations and of 4–12.5% in NO<sub>2</sub> concentrations. These scenarios could result in only a 1.7% (0.6–4%) reduction in premature mortality due to exposure to traffic-derived PM<sub>2.5</sub>, and 1.0% (0.4–2%) due to exposure to NO<sub>2</sub>, as the mean for all the cities. This suggests that more ambitious pollution abatement strategies should be targeted.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/13/4/598health benefitsburden of diseasemitigation strategiessource apportionmentmodal splitlow emission zones |
| spellingShingle | Cristina Reche Aurelio Tobias Mar Viana Vehicular Traffic in Urban Areas: Health Burden and Influence of Sustainable Urban Planning and Mobility Atmosphere health benefits burden of disease mitigation strategies source apportionment modal split low emission zones |
| title | Vehicular Traffic in Urban Areas: Health Burden and Influence of Sustainable Urban Planning and Mobility |
| title_full | Vehicular Traffic in Urban Areas: Health Burden and Influence of Sustainable Urban Planning and Mobility |
| title_fullStr | Vehicular Traffic in Urban Areas: Health Burden and Influence of Sustainable Urban Planning and Mobility |
| title_full_unstemmed | Vehicular Traffic in Urban Areas: Health Burden and Influence of Sustainable Urban Planning and Mobility |
| title_short | Vehicular Traffic in Urban Areas: Health Burden and Influence of Sustainable Urban Planning and Mobility |
| title_sort | vehicular traffic in urban areas health burden and influence of sustainable urban planning and mobility |
| topic | health benefits burden of disease mitigation strategies source apportionment modal split low emission zones |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/13/4/598 |
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