The role of everyday mobility in adaptation to air pollution hazard: A mixed-method approach combining big and traditional data

Abstract

The empirical study aims to examine how residents perceive and respond to air pollution in their daily lives, whether they use mobility as an adaptation strategy to avoid or mitigate their exposure, and how socioeconomic and demographic factors modify such responses in mobility. To this end, this study conducts an analysis in the city of Chengdu using a mixed-method approach combining surveys and large-scale mobile phone data. It is found that most at-risk individuals take protective measures, and some choose to change mobility patterns to protect themselves from exposure to air pollution. Regression results suggest that engagement with air quality information and the perceived effectiveness of protective measures are the most important predictors of human mobility changes in response to air pollution. The use of mobility as an adaptation strategy occurs despite the availability of in-situ strategies in general, while low-cost and effective in-situ adaptation choices and high-cost mobility strategies are considered as substitutes. Using changes in origin–destination trips in Sichuan generated from 5,393,739 cellphone users in Chengdu, this study reveals that an increase in the difference of the air quality index at origin versus at destination is associated with more trips from the origin to the destination, and travelers are more sensitive to air quality at origin that drives them to escape from the polluted areas. The findings suggest the (re)production of inequality and marginalization of some population groups in hazard adaptation.