First Steps in Urban Air Quality
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Compiles the basics built environment professionals need to know about urban air quality and how design of our urban infrastructure – including green infrastructure – determines where air pollution is produced, and how it disperses.
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What are the basics that built environment practitioners need to know about urban air quality? Air pollution is the biggest environmental risk to health. Globally, nine out of ten people live in a city that does not comply with the World Health Organisation's air quality standards. Within the UK, poor outdoor air quality is linked to 50,000 deaths each year. The most vulnerable are children, the elderly, or those with pre-existing medical conditions. The design of our urban infrastructure – including Green Infrastructure (GI) such as trees, parks, and green walls – determines where air pollution is produced, and how it disperses. This guide offers a clear summary of the latest evidence on these impacts and provide some clear pointers regarding how built environment professionals can take meaningful action to reduce urban air pollution through good urban design.
To produce this guide, TDAG is proud to have worked with a strong set of academic partners including: the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research and the School of Geography, Earth, and Environmental Science of the University of Birmingham, and Lancaster Environment Centre of Lancaster University. |
