A review of strategies for mitigating roadside air pollution in urban street canyons.

Huang, Y; Lei, C; Liu, C-H; Perez, P; Forehead, H; Kong, S; Zhou, JL

A review of strategies for mitigating roadside air pollution in urban street canyons.

Huang, Y

Lei, C Liu, C-H Perez, P Forehead, H Kong, S Zhou, JL

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Publisher:: Elsevier BV
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987), 2021, 280, pp. 116971
Issue Date:: 2021-03-20

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Huang, Y https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9800-8788
dc.contributor.author	Lei, C
dc.contributor.author	Liu, C-H
dc.contributor.author	Perez, P
dc.contributor.author	Forehead, H
dc.contributor.author	Kong, S
dc.contributor.author	Zhou, JL
dc.date.accessioned	2021-04-26T01:20:06Z
dc.date.available	2021-03-16
dc.date.available	2021-04-26T01:20:06Z
dc.date.issued	2021-03-20
dc.identifier.citation	Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987), 2021, 280, pp. 116971
dc.identifier.issn	0269-7491
dc.identifier.issn	1873-6424
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/148358
dc.description.abstract	Urban street canyons formed by high-rise buildings restrict the dispersion of vehicle emissions, which pose severe health risks to the public by aggravating roadside air quality. However, this issue is often overlooked in city planning. This paper reviews the mechanisms controlling vehicle emission dispersion in urban street canyons and the strategies for managing roadside air pollution. Studies have shown that air pollution hotspots are not all attributed to heavy traffic and proper urban design can mitigate air pollution. The key factors include traffic conditions, canyon geometry, weather conditions and chemical reactions. Two categories of mitigation strategies are identified, namely traffic interventions and city planning. Popular traffic interventions for street canyons include low emission zones and congestion charges which can moderately improve roadside air quality. In comparison, city planning in terms of building geometry can significantly promote pollutant dispersion in street canyons. General design guidelines, such as lower canyon aspect ratio, alignment between streets and prevailing winds, non-uniform building heights and ground-level building porosity, may be encompassed in new development. Concurrently, in-street barriers are widely applicable to rectify the poor roadside air quality in existing street canyons. They are broadly classified into porous (e.g. trees and hedges) and solid (e.g. kerbside parked cars, noise fences and viaducts) barriers that utilize their aerodynamic advantages to ease roadside air pollution. Post-evaluations are needed to review these strategies by real-world field experiments and more detailed modelling in the practical perspective.
dc.format	Print-Electronic
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	Elsevier BV
dc.relation.ispartof	Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116971
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess
dc.subject.classification	Environmental Sciences
dc.title	A review of strategies for mitigating roadside air pollution in urban street canyons.
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	280
utslib.location.activity	England
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CTWW - Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater Treatment
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
utslib.copyright.embargo	2023-03-20T00:00:00+1000Z
dc.date.updated	2021-04-26T01:19:56Z
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	280

Abstract:

Urban street canyons formed by high-rise buildings restrict the dispersion of vehicle emissions, which pose severe health risks to the public by aggravating roadside air quality. However, this issue is often overlooked in city planning. This paper reviews the mechanisms controlling vehicle emission dispersion in urban street canyons and the strategies for managing roadside air pollution. Studies have shown that air pollution hotspots are not all attributed to heavy traffic and proper urban design can mitigate air pollution. The key factors include traffic conditions, canyon geometry, weather conditions and chemical reactions. Two categories of mitigation strategies are identified, namely traffic interventions and city planning. Popular traffic interventions for street canyons include low emission zones and congestion charges which can moderately improve roadside air quality. In comparison, city planning in terms of building geometry can significantly promote pollutant dispersion in street canyons. General design guidelines, such as lower canyon aspect ratio, alignment between streets and prevailing winds, non-uniform building heights and ground-level building porosity, may be encompassed in new development. Concurrently, in-street barriers are widely applicable to rectify the poor roadside air quality in existing street canyons. They are broadly classified into porous (e.g. trees and hedges) and solid (e.g. kerbside parked cars, noise fences and viaducts) barriers that utilize their aerodynamic advantages to ease roadside air pollution. Post-evaluations are needed to review these strategies by real-world field experiments and more detailed modelling in the practical perspective.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/148358