Abstract
Recent episodes of high air pollution concentration levels in many Polish cities indicate the urgent need for policy change and for the integration of various aspects of urban development into a common platform for local air quality management. In this article, the focus was placed on the prospects of improving urban air quality through proper design and protection of vegetation systems within local spatial planning strategies. Recent studies regarding the mitigation of air pollution by urban greenery due to deposition and aerodynamic effects were reviewed, with special attention given to the design guidelines resulting from these studies and their applicability in the process of urban planning. The conclusions drawn from the review were used to conduct three case studies: in Gdańsk, Warsaw, and Poznań, Poland. The existing local urban planning regulations for the management of urban greenery were critically evaluated in relation to the findings of the review. The results indicate that the current knowledge regarding the improvement of urban air quality by vegetation is not applied in the process of urban planning to a sufficient degree. Some recommendations for alternative provisions were discussed.
Highlights
Over one half of the world’s population are living in urban areas and in the European Union, the urban population ratio is expected to reach almost 0.75 [1,2]
The effect of urban vegetation on air pollution removal was found to be negligible in northern European climatic conditions [21].in another case, it was observed that only O3 concentration levels were lower in tree-covered habitats than in open habitats, while there was no significant difference for NO2 and SO2 and total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) concentration levels were higher in tree-covered habitats, which may be partly explained by pollution trapping by the tree canopy [22]
Numerical air quality models Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations with established, previously validated models or models validated against data from previous studies or existing databases CFD simulations and on-site air quality measurements, or measurements of pollution deposition on plant samples using laboratory techniques or wind tunnel experiments CFD simulations coupled with photochemical equations for NOX, and O3 transport Coupled CFD-Lagrangian stochastic model (CFD-LSM) simulations Parallelized Large-Eddy Simulation Model (PALM) with embedded Lagrangian stochastic particle model (LPM) simulations
Summary
Over one half of the world’s population are living in urban areas and in the European Union, the urban population ratio is expected to reach almost 0.75 [1,2]. The current body of knowledge on the impact of the urban structure on air flow and pollution dispersion is still not sufficiently applied in urban planning and decision-making [7,8]. This pertains to the development of the urban vegetation system. Modelling and experimental results may differ between various studies They might still provide some useful insights. They might still provide some useful insights for the process of urban planning [13].
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