Work

Evaluating the impact of evolving green and grey urban infrastructure on local particulate pollution around city square parks

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: The relationship between green and grey urban infrastructure, local meteorological conditions, and traffic-related air pollution is complex and dynamic. This case study examined the effect of evolving morphologies around a city square park in Dublin and explores the twin impacts of local urban development (grey) and maturing parks (green) on particulate matter (PM) pollution. A fixed air quality monitoring campaign and computational fluid dynamic modelling (ENVI-met) were used to assess current (baseline) and future scenarios. The baseline results presented the distribution of PM in the study area, with bimodal (PM 2.5 ) and unimodal (PM 10 ) diurnal profiles. The optimal vegetation height for air quality within the park also differed by wind direction with 21 m vegetation optimal for parallel winds (10.45% reduction) and 7 m vegetation optimal for perpendicular winds (30.36% reduction). Increased building heights led to higher PM 2.5 concentrations on both footpaths ranging from 25.3 to 37.0% under perpendicular winds, whilst increasing the height of leeward buildings increased PM 2.5 concentrations by up to 30.9% under parallel winds. The findings from this study provide evidence of the importance of more in-depth analysis of green and grey urban infrastructure in the urban planning decision-making process to avoid deteriorating air quality conditions around city square parks.

Source: Scientific Reports

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-68252-7

Authors: Meng-Yi Jin, Kiran A Apsunde, Brian Broderick, Zhong-Ren Peng, Hong-Di He, John Gallagher