Urban Air Quality

1. PLAN 1900: Sustainable Cities
Week 6: Managing Urban Air Quality
Anuradha Mukherji
Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning

2. AIR POLLUTION
COMPONENTS:
Visible particulates (i.e., ash, smoke, or dust)
Invisible gases and vapors (i.e., fumes, mists, and odors)
POLLUTION POINTS:
- Pollutants generated during the burning of fossil fuels – coal, natural gas,
petroleum – producing energy, combustion of fossil fuels during transport &
agriculture
- Fossil fuels are carbon based and release carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide.
Coal also releases sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides during combustion
- Strong connection between vehicles & urban air pollution – primarily from
motor vehicle exhaust – from automobile, trucks, motorcycles, lawnmowers,
and blowers – due to increasing VMT (vehicle miles travelled)

3. SIX CRITERIA POLLUTANTS
Prevalent pollutants which pose the most common threat to health and
environment – six criteria pollutants
Criteria pollutants because the EPA uses them as basis for setting permissible
levels
1. Ozone: Ground level ozone is the principal component of smog
Breathing problems, reduced lung function, asthma,
stuffy nose, irritated eyes, aging of lung tissue.
This image is attributed to the Pixabay (CC0 Public Domain), http://pixabay.com/en/car-red-air-pollution-160622/

4. SIX CRITERIA POLLUTANTS
2. VOCs: Volatile organic compounds – forms smog.
Burning fuel (gasoline, oil, wood, coal, natural gas),
solvents, paints, glues. Automobile an important source
Can cause cancer
3. NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide; Smog forming chemical
Burning gasoline, natural gas, coal, oil & from automobile
Lung damage, respiratory illness
4. SO2: Sulphur Dioxide
Burning coal and oil & industrial processes (paper, metals)
Breathing problems, permanent damage to lungs
This image is attributed to the Pixabay (CC0 Public Domain), http://pixabay.com/en/car-red-air-pollution-160622/

5. SIX CRITERIA POLLUTANTS
5. CO: Carbon Monoxide
Burning of gasoline, natural gas, coal, oil, etc
Reduces ability of circulatory system to bring oxygen to
body cells and tissues
6. PM-10: Particulate Matter (dust, smoke, soot)
Burning of wood, diesel; industrial plants; agriculture
(plowing, burning of fields)
Lung damage, nose and throat irritation, bronchitis
This image is attributed to the Pixabay (CC0 Public Domain), http://pixabay.com/en/car-red-air-pollution-160622/

6. This image is attributed to Haggstrom, Mikael. “Medical gallery of Mikael Haggstrom 2014”. Wikiversity Journal of Medicine 1(2).

7. AIR POLLUTION FACTS IN UNITED STATES
- Many urban areas classified as non-attainment for at least one criteria
pollutant
- Overall air quality has improved, but 127 million people (47% of US
population) suffer pollution levels higher than the set standards
- About 5.7 million people live in cities that received an F for three key
pollutants – smog, short-term particulate matter (under 24 hours in air), and
long-term particulate matter
This image is attributed to the Pixabay (CC0 Public Domain), http://pixabay.com/en/ecology-factories-industry-158945/

8. GEOGRAPHY OF POLLUTION
Geography of Disparity – households living near heavy traffic or major highway
at higher risk – often minority communities
Physical Geography – Cities in basins and valleys, such as Los Angeles and
Denver – particularly susceptible to production of smog.
Industrial Geography - Cities upwind of major industrial regions across state
borders and those with higher concentrations of fossil-fuel burning industries
(i.e., power plants, smelters, cement, fertilizer) face greater exposure,
This image is attributed to the Pixabay (CC0 Public Domain), http://pixabay.com/en/ecology-factories-industry-158945/

9. AIR POLLUTION – POINT & NON POINT SOURCE
NON-POINT SOURCE: Combustion of fossil fuels for transport & agriculture
This image is attributed to the Pixabay (CC0 Public Domain), http://pixabay.com/en/ecology-factories-industry-158945/
POINT SOURCE: Energy plants, factories, stationary emitters

10. AIR POLLUTION CHALLENGE
- Difficulty of regulating multiple, mobile, & non-point sources
- VMT (vehicle miles travelled) increasing every year
- In 1970 Americans travelled one trillion miles in automobiles, by 2000 they
drove more than three trillion miles
This image is attributed to the Pixabay (CC0 Public Domain), http://pixabay.com/en/ecology-factories-industry-158945/

11. AIR POLLUTION REGULATION
- Criteria pollutants are the most regulated air pollutants following passage of
1970 Clean Air Act
- EPA – the main regulatory body – focused on limiting not outlawing use of
sources
- Early regulation (1970 Clean Air Act) for national air quality standards focused
on point-source pollutants
This image is attributed to the Pixabay (CC0 Public Domain), http://pixabay.com/en/ecology-factories-industry-158945/

12. AIR POLLUTION REGULATION
- Several amendments to the 1970s Clean Air Act (1990 & 1997) focused on
criteria pollutants
- Due to various national emissions control programs, a downward trend in
annual NO2, CO and SO2
- The 1990 amendment established stricter tail pipe emission standards
This image is attributed to Nate Beaty @ 2007 (CC BY NC-SA 2.0)

13. This image is attributed to Lucy Nicholson @ Reuters
CASE OF LOS ANGELES – City Shrouded in Smog
- Greater Los Angeles is the most polluted city, ranked number ONE
- Out of TEN most polluted city-regions, EIGHT are in California, ONE in Texas
(Greater Houston area), and ONE in NC-SC (Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury)
- Children and the elderly are particularly susceptible to air pollution, USC
Children’s Health Study shows increasing frequency of asthma in children,
risk of under-developed lungs, & decreased lung capacity

14. CASE OF CHINA – POINT & NON POINT
SOURCES- Rapid economic development, high rate of urbanization, 10% annual vehicle
increase
- Related rapid energy consumption, reliance on abundant coal
- Mixed source of pollution – coal burning, vehicle emissions, and dust
- Air pollution data highly political, not made public, increasing public demand
for information & environmental reform, role of social media
This image is attributed to Bobak @ 2005 (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Beijing After Rain Beijing On Smoggy Day

15. CONCLUDING NOTES
- Pollution reform a mixed bag in the United States
- Overall, point source pollution has decreased
- Total emissions of six criteria pollutants have also decreased by 67%
between 1989 and 2010
- However, improvement in air pollutants has been offset by increased
populations demanding more energy and increased automobile use
- Environmental Cost: Decrease in environmental quality with health impacts
- Economic Cost: Loss of productivity; Rise in health costs