Urban Form, Air Quality, and Cardiorespiratory Mortality: A Path Analysis

Chaosu Li, Yan Song, Li Tian and Wei Ouyang
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Chaosu Li: Faculty of Innovation and Design, City University of Macau, Macau, China
Yan Song: Department of City Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Li Tian: School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Wei Ouyang: School of Public Administration, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: With the unprecedented urbanization during the past three decades, air quality in many Chinese cities has been a serious issue which poses great challenges for urban sustainability. This study examines the health consequences of development patterns in China by establishing the linkage between urban form, air pollution level, and cardiorespiratory mortality rate. We assembled a dataset by compiling a series of variables from multiple sources, including China’s Disease Surveillance Points (DSP) system, which forms a nationally representative sample of mortality for the year 2005, Chinese census, satellite imagery, and the Chinese National Land Use Database. After controlling for local climate, demography, socioeconomics, and other pollution factors, this study finds that urban form elements (e.g., urban density, fragmentation level, forest/green space ratio) have significant influences on PM 2.5 (atmospheric particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers) concentration, thus influencing the incidence of cardiorespiratory mortality at the county level. These results may help explain how the type and pattern of development shape public health by influencing air quality and form an evidence-based land use policy to improve environmental quality and public health.

Keywords: environmental health; PM 2.5; urban form; cardiorespiratory mortality; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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