Effect of urban morphology and greening on noise and air pollution - case studies including disease burden estimates

Abstract

Exposure of both noise and air pollution due to road traffic in urban environments has been calculated and evaluated for multiple cases assuming constant total traffic flow. A model study in an urban setting used 31 cases of building morphologies and traffic concentration. An evaluating second set was based on a real case of an arterial road transformed into a boulevard. Besides the effect of building morphology, the effects of driving speed, electric vehicles and urban greening were studied. The levels of noise exposure (Lden and Lnight at housing facades) and air pollution (NO2 and PM10 at sidewalks and yards) were calculated as input to estimating the health impact using DALY (Disability-Adjusted Life Years) per person. Openings in building blocks were shown to impair the noise situation but improve air quality. Nonconflicting positive results were shown for several solutions including densification by complementing the blocks with towers, transitioning to electric vehicles in combination with reduced vehicle speed, and traffic concentration by locating all local traffic to a single, widened road. Urban greening was shown to improve the noise situation whereas air quality varied due to the interaction between wind speed, dispersion, and filtering effect of leaves.