Quality In Urban Areas Research Articles

Public spaces in Bangkok and the factors affecting the good public space quality in urban areas

Public spaces are an important component of the urban area used to support public activities. The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of public spaces where subdivided into districts of Bangkok city area. A methodology is carry out preliminary site surveying in a 31 public parks based on four main good public space indicators, which including accessibility, imageability, usability and sociability. In this study, the Z-score or standard score is defined as a statistical measurement of the associate of site characteristics score, has been apply to determine quality of public spaces. The results reveal that the all of public spaces are outstanding scores in terms of imageability and usability, and their Z-score values are consistently coherent, especially the high-quality public spaces located in the inner zone of Bangkok. While accessibility and sociability factors are poor quality, their values show on some public spaces that mostly located in the middle and in the outer zones of Bangkok. These results can be helpful to given a priority when managing city facilities in the Bangkok’s urban space and maintaining or improving its public space value.

Ecological risk assessment and source apportionment of heavy metal contamination in urban soils in Shiraz, Southwest Iran

Soil quality in urban areas is deteriorating globally due to diverse anthropogenic activities. This study assessed urban soils from Shiraz (SW Iran), a city with heterogeneous industrial activity and anthropogenic emissions. The objectives of this study were to (1) determine soil properties and concentrations of cobalt, chromium, iron and nickel and (2) assess the geoaccumulation index (Igeo), enrichment factor and pollution indices of the studied metals and their adverse impacts on environmental quality and human health. A total of 143 soil samples (0–20-cm depth) were collected from the study area, and multivariate analysis, including spatial mapping, was performed. The average concentrations of chromium and nickel exceeded the limits for residential/parkland/industrial soils according to Canadian guidelines, whereas the average cobalt concentration was less than that specified by Swedish and Canadian guidelines. A multivariate analysis (cluster analysis, Pearson correlation and principal component analysis) confirmed that the heavy metals had the same origin and that anthropogenic activities had a significant effect on the heavy metal contamination of the soil. Furthermore, the contamination factor and enrichment factor indicated that the soil samples were moderately to highly contaminated by nickel, chromium and cobalt, whereas Igeo indicated very high contamination in all soil samples tested. The potential ecological risk index and modified potential ecological risk index also indicated moderate to high ecological risk from the heavy metals in the urban soil samples.

Aggregation of Thai arborist judgments on urban tree hazard inventories used to determine tree health at single-tree level

Tree risk assessment has evolved greatly in recent years, from ground-based visual hazard inspection methods. In this paper, we focus on Thai arborist judgment aggregations on the common optimization of urban tree hazard inventories by using the visual tree assessment (VTA) method to develop qualitative risk assessments for tree risk mitigation. The aim of this study was to develop a tree hazard inventory identifies at single-tree level based on 35 parameters with interviewing arborist experts. And then to assess parameters that are relevant to the VTA method, content validity analysis used as the basis for screening the optimal tree inventories. The results showed that VTA inventories as having 11 parameters and the definition was clarified on tree health assessment at single-tree level. Understanding the tree inventories and tree hazard level can promote management decisions that will improve public health and environmental quality in urban areas of Thailand.

Response of major air pollutants to COVID-19 lockdowns in China

COVID-19 suddenly struck Wuhan at the end of 2019 and soon spread to the whole country and the rest of world in 2020. To mitigate the pandemic, China authority has taken unprecedentedly strict measures across the country. That provides a precious window to study how the air quality response to quick decline of anthropogenic emissions in terms of national scale, which would be critical basis to make atmospheric governance policies in the future. In this work, we utilized observations from both remote sensing and in-situ measurements to investigate impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on different air pollutions in different regions of China. It is witnessed that the PM2.5 concentrations exhibited distinct trends in different regions, despite of plunges of NO2 concentrations over the whole country. The steady HCHO concentration in urban area provides sufficient fuels for generations of tropospheric O3, leading to high concentrations of O3, especially when there is not enough NO to consume O3 via the titration effect. Moreover, the SO2 concentration kept steady at a low level regardless of cities. As a conclusion, the COVID-19 lockdown indeed helped reduce NO2 concentration. However, the atmospheric quality in urban areas of China has not improved overall due to lockdown measures. It underscores the significance of comprehensive control of atmospheric pollutants in cleaning air. Reducing VOCs (volatile organic compounds) concentrations in urban areas would be a critical mission for better air quality in the future.

Air Quality Monitoring System in Urban Areas

This study aims to investigate the use of technology to monitor air quality in urban areas. The method used is descriptive research using the data obtained from the application provided to monitor the air quality of urban areas. The results of this study indicate that there are many applications to monitor air quality in major cities in the world. Air quality monitoring systems can produce information on which cities have the best, sufficient, and worst air quality. Also, the applications show air quality information in real-time. The disadvantages are that complete and accessible information is only from big cities.

Prediction of Air Quality in Urban Area, Chennai

Prediction of Air Quality in Urban Area, Chennai

Observed and Potential Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Environment.

Various environmental factors influence the outbreak and spread of epidemic or even pandemic events which, in turn, may cause feedbacks on the environment. The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic on 13 March 2020 and its rapid onset, spatial extent and complex consequences make it a once-in-a-century global disaster. Most countries responded by social distancing measures and severely diminished economic and other activities. Consequently, by the end of April 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to numerous environmental impacts, both positive such as enhanced air and water quality in urban areas, and negative, such as shoreline pollution due to the disposal of sanitary consumables. This study presents an early overview of the observed and potential impacts of the COVID-19 on the environment. We argue that the effects of COVID-19 are determined mainly by anthropogenic factors which are becoming obvious as human activity diminishes across the planet, and the impacts on cities and public health will be continued in the coming years.

Optimization Technique for Pseudorange Multipath Mitigation Using Different Signal Selection Methods

Abstract Nowadays, the use of multi-Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) has improved positioning accuracy in autonomous driving, navigation and tracking systems utilized by general users. However, signal quality in urban areas is degraded by poor satellite geometry and severe multipath errors, which may disturb up to a hundred-meter-ranging error as a consequence. In this study, the performance of several satellite selection methods in multipath mitigation was evaluated, based on the concept that better quality signals and more accurate solutions will be obtained, the more multipath signals can be excluded. Three methods were performed and compared: 1) azimuth-dependent elevation mask based on fisheye image technique, 2) receiver autonomous integrity monitoring (RAIM), and 3) signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) mask in the SPP method. To examine the effect of the satellite selection methods on multipath error, the static test (single-point positioning (SPP) in real-time 1 Hz test) was performed in a multipath environment. The preliminary results showed a possible impact on improving the horizontal positioning accuracy of SPP. Among the three techniques assessed in this study, the results indicated that the SNR mask set at 36 dB-Hz in every elevation showed the most promising result. The SNR mask method could improve positioning accuracy by up to 46.80% compared to the SPP method.

Kebijakan Sosial Di Perkotaan Sebagai Sebuah Kajian Implementatif

Human being cannot separate by a social problem. There is social problem on rural and urban area. But, more problems arise in urban than rural area. Base of it, the Urban Management have implementing as a management process to make an ideal city system as like as something was expected. The focus of urban management is closely connecting with the needs of the physical aspects, social and economic aspect of communities. The pattern of its management is highly related to the level of complexity of urban problems which related to a number of factors and challenges, such as population, high level on urbanization, Poverty increasing/minimally of employment opportunities, increasing of social inequality/economic inequality, declining of environmental quality in urban area, and ability human resources lim- itation, institutionally and fundrising for develop and to maintain the urban infrastructure. So- cial policy basically is a combination of two activities, discovering) and finding a solution for social problem (Bessant, et al 2009:3). In this case, integrated social policies in the academic scientific activities such as research using to find social issue such as poverty, that research will using to policy formulating. But sometime, government showed opposite. That was a break- through made with the means to anticipated a number of potential act which any time become to threaten. It includes several stages, as like as movement, awareness of unity among them, make an organization, tightened them line, all of that using to fight against an intervention of the officer. There are two Factors that influence to the existence of street vendors in the city of Denpasar. First aspects including problem through regulation, facilities and infrastructure, also human resources management. Another aspects is socio-cultural and economical factors

Climate justice: air quality and transitions from solid fuel heating

Of all the European Union’s member states, Poland has the most acute ambient air pollution problem. An urgent transition from solid-fuel heating (<em>e.g.</em> coal and wood) in the housing sector is required to improve air quality in the country. National regulations still allow the sale of solid fuels for heating, but some municipalities impose local resolutions with binding deadlines for solid-fuel bans. A real-world study covering 422 apartments in heritage tenements in Wrocław is presented. A link between domestic solid-fuel usage and tenure type is identified: solid fuels prevail in social housing. The transition to other forms of heating will adversely affect the inhabitants already vulnerable to fuel poverty. Solid fuel proves to be the least preferred heating option and is linked to substandard living conditions. Fuel poverty vulnerability for low-income households is established based on cost analysis for different heating options, thermal retrofit strategies, internal temperatures and apartment sizes. The results indicate that climate injustice is likely to occur for the poorest inhabitants due to their inability to afford increased costs. Policy implications to address this injustice are needed to ensure the transition from solid-fuel heating will avoid new vulnerabilities. <em><strong>Policy relevance</strong></em><br />Domestic solid-fuel combustion for heating purposes is linked to poor air quality in urban areas in Poland. Heritage tenements are the most technically deprived building stock and their inhabitants are already vulnerable to fuel poverty. To improve air quality and respond to climate change, solid fuels need to be substituted with less polluting but more expensive heating options. Potential climate injustice (harm) is likely to occur if the poorest inhabitants cannot afford to heat their homes due to a ban on solid fuels. The change of heating needs to be combined with additional support (thermal retrofit and appropriate pricing of alternative fuels). Air quality-driven polices focused on solid-fuel eradication should not ignore fuel poverty already experienced mainly by social housing residents using expensive electric heating on a standard tariff. Fuel poverty has a gender aspect related to the gender pay gap that needs addressing.

Exploring the Spatial and Temporal Relationship between Air Quality and Urban Land-Use Patterns Based on an Integrated Method

The deterioration of air quality in urban areas is often closely related to urbanization, as this has led to a significant increase in energy consumption and the massive emission of air pollutants, thereby exacerbating the current state of air pollution. However, the relationship between urban development and air quality is complex, thus making it difficult to be analyzed using traditional methods. In this paper, a framework integrating spatial analysis and statistical methods (based on 170 regression models) is developed to explore the spatial and temporal relationship between urban land use patterns and air quality, aiming to provide solid information for mitigation planning. The thresholds for the influence of urban patterns are examined using different buffer zones. In addition, the differences in the effects of various types of land use pattern on air quality were also explored. The results show that there were significant differences between 1999 and 2013 with regards to the correlations between land use patterns and air pollutant concentrations. Among all land uses, forest, water and built-up areas were proved to influence concentrations the most. It is suggested that the developed framework should be applied further in the real-world mitigation planning decision-making process

Characterization and comparison of microbial communities in sequential sedimentation-biofiltration systems for removal of nutrients in urban rivers

The present study described the nutrient removal efficiency of two multi-zone biofilters with different working time, eight vs two years, focusing in metabolic and genetic characteristics of microbial communities. They are known as sequential sedimentation-biofiltration systems (SSBSs) for the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds in urban rivers. Nutrient removal performances for both SSBSs were up to 55% for N-NO2, 46% for N-NO3 and 96% of TP, however, an increase of N-NH4 in the outflow was observed for the eight-year SSBS (Sok-SSBS). Analysis of microbial communities in sediments showed similar metabolic activity for all zones in both SSBSs, suggesting no significant difference according to the working time, but the lowest metabolic activity was observed for geochemical zones, which contained a limestone barrier for the removal of phosphorus. The quantity of key functional genes, involved in nitrogen transformation cycle, showed that denitrifying bacteria (up to 1.16 × 108 copies of nosZ gene g−1) were more abundant than nitrifying bacteria (up to 5.68 × 105 copies of amoA gene g−1) in SSBSs sediments. Maximum abundances of both gene copy numbers were observed in the denitrifying zone presented only in the two-year SSBS (Str-SSBS). The above results suggested that both SSBSs could be recommended as a useful solution to improve water quality in urban areas. However, the implementation of the denitrifying zone, containing brown coal, significantly increased the abundances of denitrifying and nitrifying bacterial communities. In consequence, the efficiency of N-NH4 removal in Str-SSBS could be enhanced compared to Sok-SSBS. Furthermore, microbial metabolic activity in geochemical zones could be strengthened with the application of biopolymers carrying additional carbon substrates, in order to promote biofilm formation in the limestone barrier.

Innovative low-cost air quality stations as a supporting means for road traffic regulations in urban areas

Air pollution is currently one of main issues affecting urbanized areas worldwide. Industrial activities, road traffic and heating systems are main emission sources significantly increasing the levels of atmospheric pollutants as particulate matter, ozone, and nitrogen oxides. Local administrations monitor these harmful gases by means of reference monitoring stations provided by regional/national environmental protection agencies. These stations, however, have limitations due to the little presence over the whole municipality, low time-frequency, and high costs. In this framework, CNR-IBE, University of Florence – Department of Agriculture, food, environment, and forestry (DAGRI), Tuscany Region Environmental Protection Agency (ARPAT) and epidemiologists of the Pisa University agreed an initiative to create an environmental “living lab” aimed at assessing the impacts due to anthropogenic activities on air quality and thus on population exposure. Two study areas located in the Tuscany region (Italy) were chosen: the rural town of Capannori, and the city of Florence. The town of Capannori was selected since it lies within a critical area both affected by a variety of emission sources and winter weather conditions unfavourable to pollutant dispersion. The city of Florence was chosen for assessing air quality in urban areas following a possible traffic reduction due to creation of new urban tramway lines. The air quality analysis was carried out by means of a monitoring network comprising innovative low-cost stations (named AIRQino). PM concentrations were mainly considered for providing indicative air quality measurements. The preliminary results indicated that: i) low-cost stations, after calibration and validation against more than one-year observations from a reference air quality station, confirmed their reliability in measuring air quality data; ii) AIRQino data can supplement air quality information from reference stations and may be used to help traffic regulation actions at urban scale.

Air Quality Prediction u sing A rtificial Intelligence

Due to the critical impacts of air pollution, prediction and monitoring of air quality in urban areas are essential tasks. However, because of the dynamic nature and high Spatio-temporal variability, the prediction of the air pollutant concentrations is a complex Spatio-temporal problem. The data is collected in specific area such as climate condition and vehicular pollutant occurring in the peak hours. the predication process is used to compare the algorithm artificial neural network and support vector machine process. This paper presents a survey on Air quality prediction using artificial intelligence

Comparative Life-Cycle Assessment of Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage Integrated with in Situ Bioremediation of Chlorinated Volatile Organic Compounds.

Due to the increasing need for sustainable energy and environmental quality in urban areas, the combination of aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) and in situ bioremediation (ISB) has drawn much attention as it can deliver an integrated contribution to fulfill both demands. Yet, little is known about the overall environmental impacts of ATES-ISB. Hence, we applied a life-cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental performance of ATES-ISB, which is also compared with the conventional heating and cooling system plus ISB alone (CHC + ISB). Energy supply via electricity is revealed as the primary cause of the environmental impacts, contributing 61.26% impacts of ATES-ISB and 72.91% impacts of CHC + ISB. Specifically, electricity is responsible for over 95% of water use, global warming potential, acidification potential, and respiratory inorganics, whereas the production of the biological medium for bioremediation causes more than 85% of the eco- and human toxicity impacts in both cases. The overall environmental impact of ATES-ISB is two times smaller than that of CHC + ISB. Sensitivity analysis confirms the importance of electricity consumption and electron donor production to the environmental impacts in both energy supply and bioremediation. Thus, future studies and practical applications seeking possible optimization of the environmental performances of ATES-ISB are recommended to focus more on these two essential elements, e.g., electricity and electron donor, and their related parameters. With the comprehensive LCA, insight is obtained for better characterizing the crucial factors as well as the relevant direction for future optimization research of the ATES-ISB system.

Expansion of Impervious Surfaces and Their Driving Forces in Highly Urbanized Cities in Kyrgyzstan.

The expansion of urban areas due to population increase and economic expansion creates demand and depletes natural resources, thereby causing land use changes in the main cities. This study focuses on land cover datasets to characterize impervious surface (urban area) expansion in select cities from 1993 to 2017, using supervised classification maximum likelihood techniques and by quantifying impervious surfaces. The results indicate an increasing trend in the impervious surface area by 35% in Bishkek, 75% in Osh, and 15% in Jalal-Abad. The overall accuracy (OA) for the image classification of two different datasets for the three cities was between 82% and 93%, and the kappa coefficients (KCs) were approximately 77% and 91%. The Landsat images with other supplementary data showed positive urban growth in all of the cities. The GDP, industrial growth, and urban population growth were driving factors of impervious surface sprawl in these cities from 1993 to 2017.Landscape Expansion Index (LEI) results also provided good evidence for the change of impervious surfaces during the study period. The results emphasize the idea of applying future planning and sustainable urban development procedures for sustainable use of natural resources and their management, which will increase life quality in urban areas and environments.

Real-Time Evaluation of Air and Water Quality in Urban Areas

Real-Time Evaluation of Air and Water Quality in Urban Areas

Impacts of Desert Dust Outbreaks on Air Quality in Urban Areas

Air pollution has many adverse effects on health and is associated with an increased risk of mortality. Desert dust outbreaks contribute directly to air pollution by increasing particulate matter concentrations. We investigated the influence of desert dust outbreaks on air quality in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a city located in the dust export pathway off the west coast of North Africa, using air-quality observations from a six-year period (2012–2017). During winter intense dust outbreaks PM 10 mean (24-h) concentrations increased from 14 μ g m − 3 to 98 μ g m − 3 , on average, and PM 2 . 5 mean (24-h) concentrations increased from 6 μ g m − 3 to 32 μ g m − 3 . Increases were less during summer outbreaks, with a tripling of PM 10 and PM 2 . 5 daily mean concentrations. We found that desert dust outbreaks reduced the height of the marine boundary layer in our study area by &gt;45%, on average, in summer and by ∼25%, on average, in winter. This thinning of the marine boundary layer was associated with an increase of local anthropogenic pollution during dust outbreaks. NO 2 and NO mean concentrations more than doubled and even larger relative increases in black carbon were observed during the more intense summer dust outbreaks; increases also occurred during the winter outbreaks but were less than in summer. This has public health implications; local anthropogenic emissions need to be reduced even further in areas that are impacted by desert dust outbreaks to reduce adverse health effects.

Water Pollution Index: Measurement of Shallow Well Water Quality in Urban Areas

Determination of water quality status based on the pollution index method. Water said to polluted if it cannot use according to its standard designation. The purpose of this research is to identify and find out the level of pollution contained in shallow well water used by communities in urban areas. Water quality index measurements using the Storet Method. This study uses ten samples with techniques Purposive random sampling with well water sources used by people in Makassar, especially in Untia Sub-District, Makassar, South Sulawesi. The number of samples used was 15 water samples taken each week with a total of 10 shallow well water sample points. The parameters measured in the study are Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Total Coliforms, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). The results of the study showed that the condition of shallow well water quality classified in category D, which heavily polluted which means it not recommended to use before filtering. The increase in parameters that have exceeded the maximum quality standard comes from natural sources and high domestic waste from community activities. Water pollution is a condition in which a water reservoir changes due to human activity — the change caused by the entry of substances that should not be in the water.

Comparison of three prediction strategies within PM2.5 and PM10 monitoring networks

An air pollution monitoring network is a primary tool for measuring, managing and assessing air quality in urban areas. But plenty of equipment in monitoring network inevitably result in financial costs. With this consideration, this study aims to explore some strategies for prediction instead of measurement. To do so, the relationships within PM2.5 and PM10 monitoring networks are first explored respectively. Then the relationship between PM2.5 with PM10 monitoring networks is also investigated. Based on these identified relationships, three prediction strategies are proposed and PM2.5 concentration is selected for predictions. The results verified that PM2.5 concentration can be well estimated under these strategies, in particular the local strategy based on the local pollutants and mixed strategy based on the local and surrounding pollutants. That means, without measurement, the pollution levels of some pollutants can be successfully determined through prediction. These findings provide a possibility to estimate the missing or unmonitored values in term of the available data at surrounding stations.