Evaluating the Influence of Urban Blocks on Air Pollution Concentration Levels: The Case Study of Golden Lane Estate in London

Mehrdad Borna (), Giulia Turci, Marco Marchetti and Rosa Schiano-Phan
Additional contact information
Mehrdad Borna: School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, London NW1 5LS, UK
Giulia Turci: Architecture Department, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Marco Marchetti: Architecture Department, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Rosa Schiano-Phan: School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, London NW1 5LS, UK

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-28

Abstract: Numerous studies have examined the impact of urban form on microclimate and thermal comfort at street level. However, the relationship between air pollution concentration and urban form, particularly vegetation and building arrangement, is less considered among planners and designers, and not many case study examples are available in the literature. To address this gap, this paper provides additional evidence and a case study example, illustrating the impact of the built environment on air pollution in urban areas. The Golden Lane Estate, a residential development that has valuable and repeatable urban design and architectural features and is located near a highly congested and polluted area in central London, was selected as the study site. The analysis involved a combination of fieldwork spot measurements and computational modelling (ENVI-met), considering physical features of urban blocks, levels of air pollution, and meteorological parameters (using data from local meteorological stations). The site modelling simulated current conditions and a condition without vegetation to better understand the impact of vegetation on pollutant concentration. The results indicate that urban form and vegetation arrangements significantly affect wind speed and direction, exacerbating air pollution within street canyons of varying aspect ratios. Such findings contribute to the expanding field of hyperlocal scale measurement and underscore the need for guidelines regarding the optimal placement, scale, type, and distribution of vegetation within street canyons.

Keywords: air pollution; vegetation; urban microclimate; monitoring; modelling; urban form; ENVI-met; particulate matter (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/696/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/696/ (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:16:y:2024:i:2:p:696-:d:1318281

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 ().