Pub Date : 2024-11-22DOI: 10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100181
Xin Wan , Runyang Zhou , Liwen Li , Can Yang , Jingwei Lian , Jiaojiao Zhang , Sian Liu , Wei Xing , Yingdan Yuan
Negative air ions (NAIs) play an important role in human well-being, serving as key indicators of air cleanliness and contributing to both psychological and physiological health. This study aims to investigate the factors influencing NAI concentration in urban and suburban forest parks, enhancing our understanding of the correlation between NAIs and environmental factors. Songjiacheng Urban Forest Park and Runyang Wetland Suburban Forest Park in Yangzhou City were selected as the subjects of this research, and continuous measurements of NAI concentration were conducted over a three-year period. Additionally, seven meteorological factors were monitored. A random forest model was employed to analyze and compare the data from the two forest parks, identifying the environmental factors with significant impacts on NAI concentration. The results indicate that in Songjiacheng Urban Forest Park, NAIs exhibited significant sensitivity to temperature, followed by atmospheric pressure. Conversely, in Runyang Wetland Suburban Forest Park, PM2.5 (particulate matter 2.5) exerted the greatest impact on NAIs, followed by humidity. We conducted a thorough analysis of data to explore the intricate connections between negative air ions and a variety of environmental factors within two urban forest parks. Our findings have significantly broadened our perspective on the characteristics of Negative Air Ions (NAIs) and their management implications within these urban green spaces. This enhanced understanding is pivotal for developing more effective strategies for environmental stewardship and the preservation of these vital urban ecosystems.
{"title":"Relationship between negative air ions and environmental factors in the urban forest parks of Yangzhou in urban and suburban areas","authors":"Xin Wan , Runyang Zhou , Liwen Li , Can Yang , Jingwei Lian , Jiaojiao Zhang , Sian Liu , Wei Xing , Yingdan Yuan","doi":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100181","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100181","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Negative air ions (NAIs) play an important role in human well-being, serving as key indicators of air cleanliness and contributing to both psychological and physiological health. This study aims to investigate the factors influencing NAI concentration in urban and suburban forest parks, enhancing our understanding of the correlation between NAIs and environmental factors. Songjiacheng Urban Forest Park and Runyang Wetland Suburban Forest Park in Yangzhou City were selected as the subjects of this research, and continuous measurements of NAI concentration were conducted over a three-year period. Additionally, seven meteorological factors were monitored. A random forest model was employed to analyze and compare the data from the two forest parks, identifying the environmental factors with significant impacts on NAI concentration. The results indicate that in Songjiacheng Urban Forest Park, NAIs exhibited significant sensitivity to temperature, followed by atmospheric pressure. Conversely, in Runyang Wetland Suburban Forest Park, PM2.5 (particulate matter 2.5) exerted the greatest impact on NAIs, followed by humidity. We conducted a thorough analysis of data to explore the intricate connections between negative air ions and a variety of environmental factors within two urban forest parks. Our findings have significantly broadened our perspective on the characteristics of Negative Air Ions (NAIs) and their management implications within these urban green spaces. This enhanced understanding is pivotal for developing more effective strategies for environmental stewardship and the preservation of these vital urban ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52395,"journal":{"name":"City and Environment Interactions","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100181"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142722282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-20DOI: 10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100180
Joseph Llewellyn, Cecilia Katzeff, Daniel Pargman, Fredrik Johansson
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released design indexes for sustainable neighbourhoods, including self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity. However, they are developed from an urban planning perspective and not researched in relation to: a) the citizen perspective and b) how citizen interactions can contribute to the environment. Therefore, this research tests a novel set of indexes with an underused method of ethnographic video interviews with 14 citizens of a known sustainable neighbourhood in Stockholm, Sweden. A thematic analysis conducted on 28 h of interview data collected over a 4-week period yielded 5 main themes, from outdoor public spaces. Self-sufficiency findings suggest that citizens 1) perceive small scale self-sufficiency to be challenged by large scale structural efficiency and 2) circular actions with food waste to biogas can develop the self-sufficiency index further. Community plot ratio findings suggest that citizens 3) perceive community spaces to be accessible for all but not used by all. Civic generosity findings suggest citizens 4) perceive an imbalance between self-interests of the individual versus collective interests of the community, while 5) experienced citizens feel personally responsible to pioneer civic generosity interactions. UNEP indexes for designing neighbourhoods can define local sustainability, however, our findings support this, only if they can be acted upon by the citizens who live there.
{"title":"Citizen perceptions and interactions towards self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity within sustainable neighbourhoods","authors":"Joseph Llewellyn, Cecilia Katzeff, Daniel Pargman, Fredrik Johansson","doi":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100180","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100180","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released design indexes for sustainable neighbourhoods, including self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity. However, they are developed from an urban planning perspective and not researched in relation to: a) the citizen perspective and b) how citizen interactions can contribute to the environment. Therefore, this research tests a novel set of indexes with an underused method of ethnographic video interviews with 14 citizens of a known sustainable neighbourhood in Stockholm, Sweden. A thematic analysis conducted on 28 h of interview data collected over a 4-week period yielded 5 main themes, from outdoor public spaces. Self-sufficiency findings suggest that citizens 1) perceive small scale self-sufficiency to be challenged by large scale structural efficiency and 2) circular actions with food waste to biogas can develop the self-sufficiency index further. Community plot ratio findings suggest that citizens 3) perceive community spaces to be accessible for all but not used by all. Civic generosity findings suggest citizens 4) perceive an imbalance between self-interests of the individual versus collective interests of the community, while 5) experienced citizens feel personally responsible to pioneer civic generosity interactions. UNEP indexes for designing neighbourhoods can define local sustainability, however, our findings support this, only if they can be acted upon by the citizens who live there.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52395,"journal":{"name":"City and Environment Interactions","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100180"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142705829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The motivation of the present review is to comprehend the interaction between primary and cascading hazards in urban areas, aiming to create a novel holistic approach that improves urban sustainability based on individuals’ preferences for urban ecosystem services (ES) preservation. The objectives are to monitor valuation studies revealing willingness to pay (WTP) for urban challenges, assess non-marketed valuation studies, and examine hazard interactions and their impacts. Using data from Environmental Valuation Reference Inventory and Ecosystem Services Valuation Database, 80 studies on 220 WTP values were analyzed in the period 2000–2023. The findings show a mean WTP (MWTP) of 142€ for heatwave mitigation and 76€ for air pollution. Moreover, in terms of cascading hazards, the highest MWTP was for population density (298€), followed by biodiversity loss (96€), health issues (63€), and lastly by traffic and noise with 42€. Biodiversity loss emerged as the top concern, urging policymakers to enhance urban resilience. The review contributes to the latest literature regarding the MWTP for ES in urban settlements and provides relevant policy implications in order to improve urban resilience, safeguarding both human health and the natural environment.
{"title":"A review of primary and cascading hazards by exploring individuals’ willingness-to-pay for urban sustainability policies","authors":"George Halkos , Panagiotis-Stavros Aslanidis , Conrad Landis , Lydia Papadaki , Phoebe Koundouri","doi":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100178","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100178","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The motivation of the present review is to comprehend the interaction between primary and cascading hazards in urban areas, aiming to create a novel holistic approach that improves urban sustainability based on individuals’ preferences for urban ecosystem services (ES) preservation. The objectives are to monitor valuation studies revealing willingness to pay (WTP) for urban challenges, assess non-marketed valuation studies, and examine hazard interactions and their impacts. Using data from Environmental Valuation Reference Inventory and Ecosystem Services Valuation Database, 80 studies on 220 WTP values were analyzed in the period 2000–2023. The findings show a mean WTP (MWTP) of 142€ for heatwave mitigation and 76€ for air pollution. Moreover, in terms of cascading hazards, the highest MWTP was for population density (298€), followed by biodiversity loss (96€), health issues (63€), and lastly by traffic and noise with 42€. Biodiversity loss emerged as the top concern, urging policymakers to enhance urban resilience. The review contributes to the latest literature regarding the MWTP for ES in urban settlements and provides relevant policy implications in order to improve urban resilience, safeguarding both human health and the natural environment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52395,"journal":{"name":"City and Environment Interactions","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100178"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142657776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-24DOI: 10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100177
Abdulla Almheiri , Jorge F. Montenegro , Ewane Basil Ewane , Midhun Mohan
Climate change hazards continue to pose detrimental impacts on coastal cities in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman) of the Middle East, which undermines their climate resilience. The situation is exacerbated by the rapid urban development in coastal cities in the GCC countries over the past 20 years. This review study examined the climate change hazards that are having negative impacts on the resilience of coastal cities in the GCC countries using a systematic literature review approach. It also explores the urban resilience strategies implemented towards climate change hazards mitigation and adaptation in order to build climate-resilient coastal cities in the GCC countries. A total of 48 peer-reviewed articles were included in the systematic review derived from Scopus, WoS, and Google Scholar, covering the nine coastal cities in the six GCC countries. Most of the studies were focused on the coastal cities of Jeddah (30 %) in Saudi Arabia and Doha (24 %) in Qatar, compared to the other seven coastal cities in the GCC countries. Flooding, rising temperature, sea level rise, dust storms, cyclones, and migration of sand dunes were the six most reported climate change hazards, respectively, posing significant negative impacts on coastal cities and undermining their resilience to current and future climate change impacts. The various urban resilience strategies implemented against climate change hazards were categorised under five resilience dimensions: infrastructure resilience, social resilience, environmental resilience, economic resilience, and governance and policy resilience dimensions. The infrastructure resilience dimension was reported in 50.7 % of the studies, since it is the most implemented, while far less research attention was given to the environmental (14.5 %), government and policy (8.7 %), and economic (2.9 %) resilience dimensions of coastal cities in the GCC countries. The urban resilience strategies for climate mitigation and adaptation were reported to have successfully reduced the vulnerability of coastal cities to climate change hazards over the past decade, by improving their climate resilience. The findings contribute to informing urban planning policy-making focused on coastal environmental management in the coastal cities of the GCC countries that should further enhance the climate resilience of these coastal cities.
{"title":"Climate change hazards and the resilience of coastal cities in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries: A systematic review","authors":"Abdulla Almheiri , Jorge F. Montenegro , Ewane Basil Ewane , Midhun Mohan","doi":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100177","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100177","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Climate change hazards continue to pose detrimental impacts on coastal cities in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman) of the Middle East, which undermines their climate resilience. The situation is exacerbated by the rapid urban development in coastal cities in the GCC countries over the past 20 years. This review study examined the climate change hazards that are having negative impacts on the resilience of coastal cities in the GCC countries using a systematic literature review approach. It also explores the urban resilience strategies implemented towards climate change hazards mitigation and adaptation in order to build climate-resilient coastal cities in the GCC countries. A total of 48 peer-reviewed articles were included in the systematic review derived from Scopus, WoS, and Google Scholar, covering the nine coastal cities in the six GCC countries. Most of the studies were focused on the coastal cities of Jeddah (30 %) in Saudi Arabia and Doha (24 %) in Qatar, compared to the other seven coastal cities in the GCC countries. Flooding, rising temperature, sea level rise, dust storms, cyclones, and migration of sand dunes were the six most reported climate change hazards, respectively, posing significant negative impacts on coastal cities and undermining their resilience to current and future climate change impacts. The various urban resilience strategies implemented against climate change hazards were categorised under five resilience dimensions: infrastructure resilience, social resilience, environmental resilience, economic resilience, and governance and policy resilience dimensions. The infrastructure resilience dimension was reported in 50.7 % of the studies, since it is the most implemented, while far less research attention was given to the environmental (14.5 %), government and policy (8.7 %), and economic (2.9 %) resilience dimensions of coastal cities in the GCC countries. The urban resilience strategies for climate mitigation and adaptation were reported to have successfully reduced the vulnerability of coastal cities to climate change hazards over the past decade, by improving their climate resilience. The findings contribute to informing urban planning policy-making focused on coastal environmental management in the coastal cities of the GCC countries that should further enhance the climate resilience of these coastal cities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52395,"journal":{"name":"City and Environment Interactions","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100177"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142572824","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A prevalent solution to accommodate population growth due to urbanization is densification. However, this often pushes new residential housing closer to roads, increasing exposure to both noise and air pollution. The present study’s aim was to estimate the health impacts of road traffic-related noise and air pollution for a low-income area (Drottninghög) in Helsingborg, Sweden, according to pre-densification (2012) and post-densification (2030) scenarios.
Road traffic noise was simulated at the façade of residential buildings using the Nordic prediction method, and exposure was assessed using SoundPLAN. Exposure-response functions (ERF) from the WHO were utilized for the following health outcomes associated with noise: annoyance, adverse sleep disturbance, ischemic heart disease (IHD) incidence and IHD mortality. Air pollution (nitrogen dioxide, NO2) was assessed using a Gaussian dispersion model (AERMODE). Health outcomes associated with NO2 included natural cause mortality, pediatric asthma, respiratory hospitalizations and low birth weight (LBW). ERFs were derived from meta-analyses. Health impact assessments were then performed for both scenarios.
Densifying Drottninghög according to the municipality’s planned strategy would lead to a 15 % unit increase in the proportion of residents exposed to road traffic noise above the WHO’s health-based guideline value (53 dB(A) Lden). This was estimated to markedly increase the proportion of residents highly annoyed by traffic noise (7.4–13.9 %) as well as those highly sleep disturbed (3.0–4.9 %). IHD incidence and IHD mortality attributed to noise would increase by an estimated 49 % and 44 %, respectively, post-densification. NO2 exposure was estimated to increase slightly (0.7 µg/m3) post-densification, which would contribute to an estimated 4–6 % increase in natural cause mortality, pediatric asthma, respiratory hospitalization and LBW.
Urban planning initiatives need to consider these prevalent urban environmental exposures and integrate a public health perspective into densification strategies. Doing so can create synergies in the built environment that promote healthy, sustainable cities.
{"title":"Health impact assessment of exposure to road traffic noise and air pollution according to pre- and post-densification scenarios in Helsingborg, Sweden","authors":"Erin Flanagan , Kristoffer Mattisson , Anna Oudin , Susanna Gustafsson , Ebba Malmqvist","doi":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100176","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100176","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A prevalent solution to accommodate population growth due to urbanization is densification. However, this often pushes new residential housing closer to roads, increasing exposure to both noise and air pollution. The present study’s aim was to estimate the health impacts of road traffic-related noise and air pollution for a low-income area (Drottninghög) in Helsingborg, Sweden, according to pre-densification (2012) and post-densification (2030) scenarios.</div><div>Road traffic noise was simulated at the façade of residential buildings using the Nordic prediction method, and exposure was assessed using SoundPLAN. Exposure-response functions (ERF) from the WHO were utilized for the following health outcomes associated with noise: annoyance, adverse sleep disturbance, ischemic heart disease (IHD) incidence and IHD mortality. Air pollution (nitrogen dioxide, NO<sub>2</sub>) was assessed using a Gaussian dispersion model (AERMODE). Health outcomes associated with NO<sub>2</sub> included natural cause mortality, pediatric asthma, respiratory hospitalizations and low birth weight (LBW). ERFs were derived from meta-analyses. Health impact assessments were then performed for both scenarios.</div><div>Densifying Drottninghög according to the municipality’s planned strategy would lead to a 15 % unit increase in the proportion of residents exposed to road traffic noise above the WHO’s health-based guideline value (53 dB(A) L<sub>den</sub>). This was estimated to markedly increase the proportion of residents highly annoyed by traffic noise (7.4–13.9 %) as well as those highly sleep disturbed (3.0–4.9 %). IHD incidence and IHD mortality attributed to noise would increase by an estimated 49 % and 44 %, respectively, post-densification. NO<sub>2</sub> exposure was estimated to increase slightly (0.7 µg/m<sup>3</sup>) post-densification, which would contribute to an estimated 4–6 % increase in natural cause mortality, pediatric asthma, respiratory hospitalization and LBW.</div><div>Urban planning initiatives need to consider these prevalent urban environmental exposures and integrate a public health perspective into densification strategies. Doing so can create synergies in the built environment that promote healthy, sustainable cities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52395,"journal":{"name":"City and Environment Interactions","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100176"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142572756","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-16DOI: 10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100175
Myke Koopmans , Jonas Schwaab , Ana M. Vicedo-Cabrera , Edouard L. Davin
About three quarter of Swiss residents live in urban areas, and this proportion is expected to grow in future decades. An increasing number of people will therefore be exposed to urban heat, which can have adverse effects on human wellbeing, productivity and physical health.
We explore the possibility to detect high-risk areas in five Swiss cities with the development of an urban heat-based risk-mapping approach. The included cities are Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich. The analysis is based on a combination of biophysical, including Landsat 8 derived Land Surface Temperature (LST), and socioeconomic data. Additionally, we assess the impact of urban trees on urban heat within the districts of these cities, helping to estimate how risk levels would change under two scenarios: one with increased tree cover (MaxTree) and another with no (NoTree) urban trees.
The assessment on the impact of urban trees on heat showed that the areas with urban trees generally experience cooler temperatures compared to those without, both at the city and district levels. This underscores the positive role of urban trees in mitigating the urban heat effect.
The risk mapping approach revealed a distinct spatial pattern for each city and high risk areas were identified.
Generally, the high-risk areas in the analyzed cities cover the city centers and areas with high vulnerability.
The ‘NoTree’ scenario showed higher risks compared to the baseline situation, illustrating that urban trees currently mitigate heat related risks in Swiss cities. The ‘MaxTree’ scenario results in lower risks, especially in the cities of Lausanne and Bern.
The presented risk mapping approach, including the two idealized scenarios, can be used by policy- and decision-makers (e.g. city planners) can be a tool to determine where urban planning actions are the most urgent and where trees could be most beneficial in terms of adaptation to heat. The approach is easily adaptable and transferable to other cities, since it relies on a clear and simple methodological framework, openly available LST data, and basic socioeconomic variables at district scale that are available for many cities.
{"title":"Mapping heat-related risks in Swiss cities under different urban tree scenarios","authors":"Myke Koopmans , Jonas Schwaab , Ana M. Vicedo-Cabrera , Edouard L. Davin","doi":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100175","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100175","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>About three quarter of Swiss residents live in urban areas, and this proportion is expected to grow in future decades. An increasing number of people will therefore be exposed to urban heat, which can have adverse effects on human wellbeing, productivity and physical health.</div><div>We explore the possibility to detect high-risk areas in five Swiss cities with the development of an urban heat-based risk-mapping approach. The included cities are Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich. The analysis is based on a combination of biophysical, including Landsat 8 derived Land Surface Temperature (LST), and socioeconomic data. Additionally, we assess the impact of urban trees on urban heat within the districts of these cities, helping to estimate how risk levels would change under two scenarios: one with increased tree cover (MaxTree) and another with no (NoTree) urban trees.</div><div>The assessment on the impact of urban trees on heat showed that the areas with urban trees generally experience cooler temperatures compared to those without, both at the city and district levels. This underscores the positive role of urban trees in mitigating the urban heat effect.</div><div>The risk mapping approach revealed a distinct spatial pattern for each city and high risk areas were identified.</div><div>Generally, the high-risk areas in the analyzed cities cover the city centers and areas with high vulnerability.</div><div>The ‘NoTree’ scenario showed higher risks compared to the baseline situation, illustrating that urban trees currently mitigate heat related risks in Swiss cities. The ‘MaxTree’ scenario results in lower risks, especially in the cities of Lausanne and Bern.</div><div>The presented risk mapping approach, including the two idealized scenarios, can be used by policy- and decision-makers (e.g. city planners) can be a tool to determine where urban planning actions are the most urgent and where trees could be most beneficial in terms of adaptation to heat. The approach is easily adaptable and transferable to other cities, since it relies on a clear and simple methodological framework, openly available LST data, and basic socioeconomic variables at district scale that are available for many cities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52395,"journal":{"name":"City and Environment Interactions","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100175"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142528436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is strongly linked with a wide range of diverse health effects making it a substantial global threat and a critical concern for public health. While studies have been conducted on personal exposure (PE) to PM2.5 in specific environments, contributions of different microenvironments and activities to overall daily PE remain unclear. This study evaluates the degree of PE to PM2.5 in five growing cities of Rwanda based on individual’s time-activity patterns and visited microenvironments. A total of 150 participants were recruited to collect real-time personal and ambient PM2.5 measurements during their routine activities in different outdoor and indoor microenvironments for five consecutive days in dry season. Each participant was an employee in one of the six most prevalent urban economic activities found in their city of residence: workshops, flour mill plants, near road activities, garages, markets, kitchens and motorcycle taxi services. The participant’s day was categorized into three most distinct microenvironments grouped under home, work, and other microenvironments (other MEs). PE to PM2.5 assessed for all participants showed significant variability among types of activities and categories of microenvironments (p < 0.05). The work microenvironment experienced the highest daily mean PM2.5 exposures ranging from 12.67 μg/m3 to 192.64 μg/m3, followed by other MEs ranging from 13.25 μg/m3 to 113.58 μg/m3, while the lowest exposures observed at home microenvironment with concentrations ranging from 11.69 μg/m3 to 72.54 μg/m3 among 7 monitored activities in 5 cities. Exposure contributions and personal-ambient differences were dominated by the work microenvironment, with a daily contribution of flour milling activities reaching up to 51.55 %; and some participants were exposed to maximum PM2.5 concentrations up to 22 times higher than ambient levels while in the kitchen activities. This study highlights the significant effects of daily personal activities and visited microenvironments on personal PM2.5 exposure, and the importance of considering a personal lifestyle in understanding the true personal exposure.
{"title":"Assessing the degree of personal exposure to PM2.5 in growing cities of Rwanda based on time-activity patterns and microenvironments","authors":"Abdou Safari Kagabo , Bonfils Safari , Jimmy Gasore , Bethwel Kipkoech Mutai","doi":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100174","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100174","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) is strongly linked with a wide range of diverse health effects making it a substantial global threat and a critical concern for public health. While studies have been conducted on personal exposure (PE) to PM<sub>2.5</sub> in specific environments, contributions of different microenvironments and activities to overall daily PE remain unclear. This study evaluates the degree of PE to PM<sub>2.5</sub> in five growing cities of Rwanda based on individual’s time-activity patterns and visited microenvironments. A total of 150 participants were recruited to collect real-time personal and ambient PM<sub>2.5</sub> measurements during their routine activities in different outdoor and indoor microenvironments for five consecutive days in dry season. Each participant was an employee in one of the six most prevalent urban economic activities found in their city of residence: workshops, flour mill plants, near road activities, garages, markets, kitchens and motorcycle taxi services. The participant’s day was categorized into three most distinct microenvironments grouped under home, work, and other microenvironments (other MEs). PE to PM<sub>2.5</sub> assessed for all participants showed significant variability among types of activities and categories of microenvironments (p < 0.05). The work microenvironment experienced the highest daily mean PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposures ranging from 12.67 μg/m<sup>3</sup> to 192.64 μg/m<sup>3</sup>, followed by other MEs ranging from 13.25 μg/m<sup>3</sup> to 113.58 μg/m<sup>3</sup>, while the lowest exposures observed at home microenvironment with concentrations ranging from 11.69 μg/m<sup>3</sup> to 72.54 μg/m<sup>3</sup> among 7 monitored activities in 5 cities. Exposure contributions and personal-ambient differences were dominated by the work microenvironment, with a daily contribution of flour milling activities reaching up to 51.55 %; and some participants were exposed to maximum PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentrations up to 22 times higher than ambient levels while in the kitchen activities. This study highlights the significant effects of daily personal activities and visited microenvironments on personal PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposure, and the importance of considering a personal lifestyle in understanding the true personal exposure.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52395,"journal":{"name":"City and Environment Interactions","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100174"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142428684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-29DOI: 10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100173
Esther Peerlings , Saša Vranic , Joy Ommer , Milan Kalas , Gert-Jan Steeneveld
Ongoing climate change is increasing summertime temperatures, and frequency and intensity of heatwaves in Europe, which can threaten human health. Relatively little is known about how quickly outdoor heat penetrates into residences during heatwaves. Long-term and systematic networks recording indoor temperatures are challenging to install and maintain, and therefore scarce. We first report on crowdsourced indoor air temperature data in residences in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) during a heatwave event in September 2023. These data complement professional long-term indoor air temperature observations in 92 houses in Amsterdam. Second, we document the lessons learnt in the design and execution of this citizen science activity. 571 indoor temperature records were collected through the citizen science crowdsourcing approach, with a median value of 28.0 °C on the warmest day in the study period, while outdoor mean minimum and maximum temperatures reached 20.6 °C and 31.1 °C respectively. The results indicate that the crowdsourcing approach reports temperatures that are significantly higher than the professional approach, which supports the need for professional indoor networks. Finally, local media attention was critical in reaching a wide audience.
{"title":"Indoor heat in Amsterdam: Comparing observed indoor air temperatures from a professional network and from a citizen science approach","authors":"Esther Peerlings , Saša Vranic , Joy Ommer , Milan Kalas , Gert-Jan Steeneveld","doi":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100173","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100173","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ongoing climate change is increasing summertime temperatures, and frequency and intensity of heatwaves in Europe, which can threaten human health. Relatively little is known about how quickly outdoor heat penetrates into residences during heatwaves. Long-term and systematic networks recording indoor temperatures are challenging to install and maintain, and therefore scarce. We first report on crowdsourced indoor air temperature data in residences in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) during a heatwave event in September 2023. These data complement professional long-term indoor air temperature observations in 92 houses in Amsterdam. Second, we document the lessons learnt in the design and execution of this citizen science activity. 571 indoor temperature records were collected through the citizen science crowdsourcing approach, with a median value of 28.0 °C on the warmest day in the study period, while outdoor mean minimum and maximum temperatures reached 20.6 °C and 31.1 °C respectively. The results indicate that the crowdsourcing approach reports temperatures that are significantly higher than the professional approach, which supports the need for professional indoor networks. Finally, local media attention was critical in reaching a wide audience.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52395,"journal":{"name":"City and Environment Interactions","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100173"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142428672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-24DOI: 10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100172
Saptarshi Mondal, Islam M. Rafizul
The expanding global population, waste output, land scarcity, and environmental deterioration make waste-to-energy (WtE) technology a feasible option for managing MSW. This study explores the economic benefits of WtE in the Rajbandh open dumpsite in Khulna and the potential of generating energy from MSW. The electricity generation potential under alternative scenarios namely scenario 2 (landfill gas to electricity (LFGTE)), scenario 3 (mass-burn incineration), scenario 4 (hybrid LFGTE, mechanical–biological treated (MBT) anaerobic digestion (AD) and incineration), and scenario 5 (hybrid AD and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) incineration) is based on projected waste generation over the next 20 years, taking population growth into account. These four options are compared to Business as Usual (BAU). Scenario 3 has the highest electricity generation capacity at 207799.73 MWh/year, followed by hybrid RDF-incineration/MBT-AD (scenario 5), LFGTE, however, lowest generation at 30683.07 MWh/year. Net Present Value (NPV), Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), and Payback Period define each scenario’s economic feasibility. Due to its greatest NPV of approximately 41.378 million USD, Scenario 3 is the most economically beneficial. Sensitivity analysis has been done selecting some sensitive parameters to evaluate the robustness of the output. Waste reduction model (WARM) estimates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy use for each scenario. However, scenario 3 has the lowest GHG emissions and energy use. In addition to reducing GHG emissions and energy usage, recycling waste increased NPV and economic benefits. This analysis reveals that scenario 3 is the best way to generate power, provide economic benefits, and reduce energy consumption for ecologically friendly waste management in Khulna City.
{"title":"Evaluating energy generation potential from municipal solid waste in an open dumping site of Khulna","authors":"Saptarshi Mondal, Islam M. Rafizul","doi":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100172","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100172","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The expanding global population, waste output, land scarcity, and environmental deterioration make waste-to-energy (WtE) technology a feasible option for managing MSW. This study explores the economic benefits of WtE in the Rajbandh open dumpsite in Khulna and the potential of generating energy from MSW. The electricity generation potential under alternative scenarios namely scenario 2 (landfill gas to electricity (LFGTE)), scenario 3 (mass-burn incineration), scenario 4 (hybrid LFGTE, mechanical–biological treated (MBT) anaerobic digestion (AD) and incineration), and scenario 5 (hybrid AD and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) incineration) is based on projected waste generation over the next 20 years, taking population growth into account. These four options are compared to Business as Usual (BAU). Scenario 3 has the highest electricity generation capacity at 207799.73 MWh/year, followed by hybrid RDF-incineration/MBT-AD (scenario 5), LFGTE, however, lowest generation at 30683.07 MWh/year. Net Present Value (NPV), Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), and Payback Period define each scenario’s economic feasibility. Due to its greatest NPV of approximately 41.378 million USD, Scenario 3 is the most economically beneficial. Sensitivity analysis has been done selecting some sensitive parameters to evaluate the robustness of the output. Waste reduction model (WARM) estimates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy use for each scenario. However, scenario 3 has the lowest GHG emissions and energy use. In addition to reducing GHG emissions and energy usage, recycling waste increased NPV and economic benefits. This analysis reveals that scenario 3 is the best way to generate power, provide economic benefits, and reduce energy consumption for ecologically friendly waste management in Khulna City.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52395,"journal":{"name":"City and Environment Interactions","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100172"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142327265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-24DOI: 10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100171
Beatriz Fernandes Barros , Rubens do Amaral , Maria Thereza Fonseca , Gabriel Pereira dos Santos , Gisela Barcellos de Souza , Staël de Alvarenga Pereira Costa , Maria Rita Scotti
Urban flooding has been considered one of the most severe natural disasters around the world, and urban greenspaces can provide important flood regulation ecosystem services. In Belo Horizonte (Brazil), the woody vegetation, especially the old-growth Ficus trees, appears to protect an urban park against the flooding of the Arrudas river. Thus, we compared the soil water content, soil water-holding capacity, soil aggregation and porosity among a highly permeable urban park planted with herbaceous and woody species, including Ficus, a semi-permeable parking lot with only Ficus and an impermeable site without trees (Disturbed Site-DS). The soil water content and water holding capacity of the urban park did not differ from that of the Ficus site, but it was lower than DS. These results were correlated with soil organic matter (SOM) content, soil aggregation and porosity, suggesting that Ficus trees play an important role in the hydrological cycle. To understand how the Fiscus species provide such soil permeability, we compared the aboveground plant biomass, soil fertility and soil carbon sequestration (total soil carbon, soil organic matter, humic and fulvic acids and soil isotopic δ13 C) in plots with Ficus and without this species within the park as well as in a preserved urban forest and a disturbed square. The outstanding plant biomass produced by Ficus species explained the high soil carbon sequestration, particularly in humic organic matter, favouring soil aggregation, porosity and water retention. Therefore, Ficus species may be considered an exceptional C-sequestering species, contributing for soil stabilization and the hydrological cycle in urban greenspaces.
{"title":"Old-growth Ficus trees provide soil water and carbon storage to urban greenspaces in a Brazilian metropolis","authors":"Beatriz Fernandes Barros , Rubens do Amaral , Maria Thereza Fonseca , Gabriel Pereira dos Santos , Gisela Barcellos de Souza , Staël de Alvarenga Pereira Costa , Maria Rita Scotti","doi":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100171","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cacint.2024.100171","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Urban flooding has been considered one of the most severe natural disasters around the world, and urban greenspaces can provide important flood regulation ecosystem services. In Belo Horizonte (Brazil), the woody vegetation, especially the old-growth <em>Ficus</em> trees, appears to protect an urban park against the flooding of the Arrudas river. Thus, we compared the soil water content, soil water-holding capacity, soil aggregation and porosity among a highly permeable urban park planted with herbaceous and woody species, including <em>Ficus</em>, a semi-permeable parking lot with only <em>Ficus</em> and an impermeable site without trees (Disturbed Site-DS). The soil water content and water holding capacity of the urban park did not differ from that of the <em>Ficus</em> site, but it was lower than DS. These results were correlated with soil organic matter (SOM) content, soil aggregation and porosity, suggesting that <em>Ficus</em> trees play an important role in the hydrological cycle. To understand how the <em>Fiscus</em> species provide such soil permeability, we compared the aboveground plant biomass, soil fertility and soil carbon sequestration (total soil carbon, soil organic matter, humic and fulvic acids and soil isotopic δ13 C) in plots with <em>Ficus</em> and without this species within the park as well as in a preserved urban forest and a disturbed square. The outstanding plant biomass produced by <em>Ficus</em> species explained the high soil carbon sequestration, particularly in humic organic matter, favouring soil aggregation, porosity and water retention. Therefore, <em>Ficus</em> species may be considered an exceptional C-sequestering species, contributing for soil stabilization and the hydrological cycle in urban greenspaces.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52395,"journal":{"name":"City and Environment Interactions","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100171"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142528435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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