This contributed volume is primarily intended for graduate and professional audiences. The book provides a basic understanding of urban air quality issues, root causes for local and urban air pollution, monitoring and modelling techniques, assessment, and control options to manage air quality at local and urban scale. The book also offers useful information on indoor air quality and smart sensors, which are gaining much importance in current times.
The world's cities are choking on pollution from traffic and industry. With the health of over 1.6 billion people under threat, poor urban air quality is fast becoming one of them most pressing environmental problems of our times. Smog Alert examines the causes and scale of urban air pollution, identifying who is most at risk, and what particular health risks various pollutants pose. It then considers an effective framework for air quality management, so that national and city authorities can consider what pollution control polices and measures are needed to deliver healthy urban air quality, and to sustain it in the future. Having established the background and framework, the book examines the existing and alternative measures to monitor and combat the declining air quality. It assesses smog alert systems; the potential for cleaner car and fuel technology; sustainable traffic management and public transport policies; and methods of controlling both industrial and residential emissions. Detailed case studies illustrate the severity and breadth of the problem - from the first serious photochemical smogs in Los Angeles to the dire warning offered by Mexico City; and from London (the city which coined the word 'smog') to Athens' pollution phenomenon, the 'nefos'. Drawing on the lessons learned from past experience, Smog Alert provides a comprehensive analysis of how health air quality may yet be achieved in the world's cities.
Air pollution has become part of the daily existence of many people who work, live and use the streets in Asian cities. Each day millions of city dwellers breathe air polluted with concentrations of chemicals, smoke and particles that dramatically exceed World Health Organization guideline values. Deteriorating air quality has resulted in significant impacts on human health and environment in Asia. This book provides a comprehensive and comparative assessment of the current status and challenges in urban air pollution management in 20 cities in the Asian region. It examines the effects on human health and the environment and future implications for planning, transport and energy sectors. National and local governments have begun to develop air quality management strategies to address the deterioration in urban air quality; however, the scope and effectiveness of such strategies vary widely. This book benchmarks these air quality management strategies, examines successes and failures in these cities and presents strategies for improving air quality management in cities across Asia and the rest of our rapidly urbanizing world. Information on air quality in Asia is clearly presented with easy-to-read city profiles, tables and graphs. This is an essential resource for all those concerned with urban air quality management, not just in Asia but in cities across our rapidly urbanizing world. Cities covered Bangkok, Beijing, Busan, Colombo, Dhaka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Metro Manila, Mumbai, New Delhi, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Surabaya, Taipei and Tokyo
World Bank Technical Paper No. 381.Swelling urban populations and increased concentration of industry and automotive traffic in Asia?s cities has resulted in severe air pollution. The goal of the Urban Air Quality Management Strategy is to assist in designing and implementing policies and monitoring and managing tools to improve air quality in the major Asian metropolitan areas. This report focuses on the development of an air quality management system for Greater Mumbai (Bombay), India. Measures to reduce air pollution in this area focus on a traffic and action plan for air pollution abatement that takes into account the economic costs and benefits of abatement measures.
The world's cities are choking on pollution from traffic and industry. With the health of over 1.6 billion people under threat, poor urban air quality is fast becoming one of them most pressing environmental problems of our times. Smog Alert examines the causes and scale of urban air pollution, identifying who is most at risk, and what particular health risks various pollutants pose. It then considers an effective framework for air quality management, so that national and city authorities can consider what pollution control polices and measures are needed to deliver healthy urban air quality, and to sustain it in the future. Having established the background and framework, the book examines the existing and alternative measures to monitor and combat the declining air quality. It assesses smog alert systems; the potential for cleaner car and fuel technology; sustainable traffic management and public transport policies; and methods of controlling both industrial and residential emissions. Detailed case studies illustrate the severity and breadth of the problem - from the first serious photochemical smogs in Los Angeles to the dire warning offered by Mexico City; and from London (the city which coined the word 'smog') to Athens' pollution phenomenon, the 'nefos'. Drawing on the lessons learned from past experience, Smog Alert provides a comprehensive analysis of how health air quality may yet be achieved in the world's cities.
Managing the nation's air quality is a complex undertaking, involving tens of thousands of people in regulating thousands of pollution sources. The authors identify what has worked and what has not, and they offer wide-ranging recommendations for setting future priorities, making difficult choices, and increasing innovation. This new book explores how to better integrate scientific advances and new technologies into the air quality management system. The volume reviews the three-decade history of governmental efforts toward cleaner air, discussing how air quality standards are set and results measured, the design and implementation of control strategies, regulatory processes and procedures, special issues with mobile pollution sources, and more. The book looks at efforts to spur social and behavioral changes that affect air quality, the effectiveness of market-based instruments for air quality regulation, and many other aspects of the issue. Rich in technical detail, this book will be of interest to all those engaged in air quality management: scientists, engineers, industrial managers, law makers, regulators, health officials, clean-air advocates, and concerned citizens.
This book details the context within which policy decisions and objectives for the property tax system are made in the transitional economies of Central and Eastern Europe. It shows how these policy decisions evolve as a part of the transitional reforms still in process. This book offers the chance to review the experiences of transitional countries in initiating and implementing fiscal instruments during a decade of enormous transformations. The research for the case studies, included in this book, was sponsored by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Multidisciplinary treatment of the urgent issues surrounding urban pollution worldwide Written by some of the top experts on the subject in the world, this book presents the diverse, complex and current themes of the urban pollution debate across the built environment, urban development and management continuum. It uniquely combines the science of urban pollution with associated policy that seeks to control it, and includes a comprehensive collection of international case studies showing the status of the problem worldwide. Urban Pollution: Science and Management is a multifaceted collection of chapters that address the contemporary concomitant issues of increasing urban living and associated issues with contamination by offering solutions specifically for the built environment. It covers: the impacts of urban pollution; historical urban pollution; evolution of air quality policy and management in urban areas; ground gases in urban environments; bioaccessibility of trace elements in urban environments; urban wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal; living green roofs; light pollution; river ecology; greywater recycling and reuse; containment of pollution from urban waste disposal sites; bioremediation in urban pollution mitigation; air quality monitoring; urban pollution in China and India; urban planning in sub–Saharan Africa and more. Deals with both the science and the relevant policy and management issues Examines the main sources of urban pollution Covers both first-world and developing world urban pollution issues Integrates the latest scientific research with practical case studies Deals with both legacy and emerging pollutants and their effects The integration of physical and environmental sciences, combined with social, economic and political sciences and the use of case studies makes Urban Pollution: Science and Management an incredibly useful resource for policy experts, scientists, engineers and those interested in the subject.
World Bank Technical Paper No. 378. In the cities of Nepal's Kathmandu Valley, the main contributor of air pollution comes from the transport sector, followed by power plants, industrial units, and burning of garbage. Fuel quality and engine conditions significantly influence the level of air pollution. In response to this growing problem, the Urban Environment Management Committee was launched to assist local institutions in developing action plans that would be an integral part of their air quality management system. This report focuses on the development of the air quality management system and concludes with an action plan for air pollution abatement that takes into account the economic costs and benefits of abatement measures for the Kathmandu Valley.
