Impact of Population Density on PM 2.5 Concentrations: A Case Study in Shanghai, China

Shuaishuai Han and Bindong Sun
Additional contact information
Shuaishuai Han: The Center for Modern Chinese City Studies, Future City Lab ECNU, School of Urban and Regional Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
Bindong Sun: The Center for Modern Chinese City Studies, Future City Lab ECNU, School of Urban and Regional Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-17

Abstract: We examine the effects of the urban built environment on PM 2.5 (fine particulate matter with diameters equal or smaller than 2.5 μm) concentrations by using an improved region-wide database, a spatial econometric model, and five built environment attributes: Density, design, diversity, distance to transit, and destination accessibility (the 5Ds). Our study uses Shanghai as a relevant case study and focuses on the role of density at the jiedao scale, the smallest administrative unit in China. The results suggest that population density is positively associated with PM 2.5 concentrations, pointing to pollution centralization and congestion effects dominating the mitigating effects of mode-shifting associated with density. Other built environment variables, such as the proportion of road intersections, degree of mixed land use, and density of bus stops, are all positively associated with PM 2.5 concentrations while distance to nearest primary or sub-center is negatively associated. Regional heterogeneity shows that suburban jiedao have lower PM 2.5 concentrations when a subway station is present.

Keywords: mode-shifting effect; congestion effect; pollution centralization effect; spatial lag model; jiedao (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/1968/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/1968/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:7:p:1968-:d:219466

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().