Introductory lecture: air quality inmegacities

Urbanization is an ongoing global phenomenon as more and more people are movingfrom rural to urban areas for better employment opportunities and a higher standard ofliving, leading to the growth of megacities, broadly defined as urban agglomeration withmore than 10 million inhabitants. Intense activ...

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Main Author: Molina, Luisa Tan
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Format: Article
Published: Faraday Division, Royal Society of Chemistry 2021
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129945
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author Molina, Luisa Tan
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Molina, Luisa Tan
author_sort Molina, Luisa Tan
collection MIT
description Urbanization is an ongoing global phenomenon as more and more people are movingfrom rural to urban areas for better employment opportunities and a higher standard ofliving, leading to the growth of megacities, broadly defined as urban agglomeration withmore than 10 million inhabitants. Intense activities in megacities induce high levels of airpollutants in the atmosphere that harm human health, cause regional haze and aciddeposition, damage crops, influence air quality in regions far from the megacitysources, and contribute to climate change. Since the Great London Smog and thefirstrecognized episode of Los Angeles photochemical smog seventy years ago, substantialprogress has been made in improving the scientific understanding of air pollution and indeveloping emissions reduction technologies. However, much remains to beunderstood about the complex processes of atmospheric oxidation mechanisms; theformation and evolution of secondary particles, especially those containing organicspecies; and the influence of emerging emissions sources and changing climate on airquality and health. While air quality has substantially improved in megacities indeveloped regions and some in the developing regions, many still suffer from severe airpollution. Strong regional and international collaboration in data collection andassessment will be beneficial in strengthening the capacity. This article provides anoverview of the sources of emissions in megacities, atmospheric physicochemicalprocesses, air quality trends and management in a few megacities, and the impacts onhealth and climate. The challenges and opportunities facing megacities due tolockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic is also discussed
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spelling mit-1721.1/1299452022-10-01T18:03:10Z Introductory lecture: air quality inmegacities Molina, Luisa Tan Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Urbanization is an ongoing global phenomenon as more and more people are movingfrom rural to urban areas for better employment opportunities and a higher standard ofliving, leading to the growth of megacities, broadly defined as urban agglomeration withmore than 10 million inhabitants. Intense activities in megacities induce high levels of airpollutants in the atmosphere that harm human health, cause regional haze and aciddeposition, damage crops, influence air quality in regions far from the megacitysources, and contribute to climate change. Since the Great London Smog and thefirstrecognized episode of Los Angeles photochemical smog seventy years ago, substantialprogress has been made in improving the scientific understanding of air pollution and indeveloping emissions reduction technologies. However, much remains to beunderstood about the complex processes of atmospheric oxidation mechanisms; theformation and evolution of secondary particles, especially those containing organicspecies; and the influence of emerging emissions sources and changing climate on airquality and health. While air quality has substantially improved in megacities indeveloped regions and some in the developing regions, many still suffer from severe airpollution. Strong regional and international collaboration in data collection andassessment will be beneficial in strengthening the capacity. This article provides anoverview of the sources of emissions in megacities, atmospheric physicochemicalprocesses, air quality trends and management in a few megacities, and the impacts onhealth and climate. The challenges and opportunities facing megacities due tolockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic is also discussed 2021-02-22T16:23:46Z 2021-02-22T16:23:46Z 2020-10 2020-10 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1359-6640 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129945 Molina, Luisa T. “Introductory lecture: air quality inmegacities.” Faraday discussions of the Chemical Society, 2020 (October 2020) © 2020 The Author Faraday discussions of the Chemical Society Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial 3.0 unported license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ application/pdf Faraday Division, Royal Society of Chemistry Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
spellingShingle Molina, Luisa Tan
Introductory lecture: air quality inmegacities
title Introductory lecture: air quality inmegacities
title_full Introductory lecture: air quality inmegacities
title_fullStr Introductory lecture: air quality inmegacities
title_full_unstemmed Introductory lecture: air quality inmegacities
title_short Introductory lecture: air quality inmegacities
title_sort introductory lecture air quality inmegacities
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129945
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