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Air quality by urban design

Nature Geoscience volume 6, page 506 (2013)Cite this article

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Industrialization and rapid urbanization have led to high levels of air pollution in many of China's cities. This can significantly affect both physical and psychological health. Although emissions from industry, vehicles, cooking and heating are the main contributors to metropolitan pollution, the situation is compounded by poor city design1. Densely distributed, tall buildings can block and weaken winds and thus reduce the dispersion of pollutants. We argue for urban planning with careful consideration of building layout to improve pollutant dispersal1,2.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate helpful discussions with Dian Zhou and Yang Chen, and language editing by Chuck Yu. The study is supported by Project No. 2013FY112500, founded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.

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  1. Yunwei Zhang and Zhaolin Gu are in the School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China,

    Yunwei Zhang & Zhaolin Gu

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  1. Yunwei Zhang
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  2. Zhaolin Gu
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Correspondence to Zhaolin Gu.

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Zhang, Y., Gu, Z. Air quality by urban design. Nature Geosci 6, 506 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1869

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