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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Air".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 February 2024) | Viewed by 12146

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Prof. Dr. Paulo Hilário Nascimento Saldiva

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Guest Editor

Departamento de Patologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 01246-903, Brazil
Interests: aerosol; air pollution; cities and health; respiratory physiopathology; medical anthropology

Prof. Dr. Maria De Fátima Andrade

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Guest Editor

Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 01246-903, Brazil
Interests: atmospheric chemistry; photochemical models; atmospheric aerosols; air quality models and receivers

Dr. Mariana Veras

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Guest Editor

Laboratory of Environmental and Experimental Pathology LIM05, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Cerqueira Cesar 01246-903, Brazil
Interests: air pollution; environmental pathology; toxicology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With rapid economic development, population growth, and increased mobility, the problem of air pollution in cities is becoming increasingly serious, significantly impacting people's quality of life and the sustainable development of cities. Urbanization and rapid industrialization have benefited mankind and made the life of humans easier and comfortable. However, both urbanization and industrialization also pose harm to mankind, the top of which is air pollution.

Urban air pollution refers to the air pollution in and around cities. Denser populations experience more urban air pollution. Air pollution affects human health as well as the climate of an area. According to World Health Organization (WHO) 4.2 million deaths every year occur as a result of exposure to ambient (outdoor) air pollution. Although there are some natural sources of urban air pollution, most of the sources are anthropogenic and largely depend on the activities of people.

Natural sources of urban air pollution include volcanic eruptions, thunders, dust from the earth’s surface and naturally occurring particulate matter. Nevertheless, major factors that contribute to urban air pollution are anthropogenic activities, including transportation, domestic use of fossil fuels, industrialization, power generation, combustion and agriculture and beauty products.

The Special Issue aims to collect high-standard original empirical studies and review papers, which explore variety and relevance of recent developments and research in the field of related reduction of air pollutants in urban areas. Potential topics include but are not limited to the followings:

Occurrence and fate of air pollutants
Monitoring and detection of air pollutants
Risk assessment in terms of environment and human health
Socioeconomic vulnerability and adverse health effects of air pollutants
Economic benefits of air pollution control in the urban scenario.

Prof. Dr. Paulo Hilário Nascimento Saldiva
Prof. Dr. Maria De Fátima Andrade
Dr. Mariana Veras
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

air pollution
cities and health
respiratory physiopathology
medical anthropology

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 2782 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Gentrification and Air Quality in a Large Urban County in the United States

by Hollis Hutchings, Qiong Zhang, Sue Grady, Lainie Mabe and Ikenna C. Okereke

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(6), 4762; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20064762 - 8 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1533

Abstract

Introduction: Increases in industrialization and manufacturing have led to worsening pollution in some components of air quality. In addition, gentrification is occurring in large cities throughout the world. As these socioeconomic and demographic changes occur, there have been no studies examining the association of gentrification with air quality. To investigate this association, we studied the trends of gentrification, changes in racial distribution and changes in air quality in each zip code of a large urban county over a 40-year period. Methods: We conducted a retrospective longitudinal study over 40 years in Wayne County, Michigan using socioeconomic and demographic data from the National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) and air quality data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To assess gentrification, longitudinal analyses were performed to examine median household income, percentage with a college education, median housing value, median gross rent and employment level. The racial distribution was evaluated in each zip code during the time period. Gentrification was studied in relation to air quality using nonparametric 2-sample Wilcon–Mann–Whitney tests and Binomial Generalized Linear Regression models. Results: Although air quality improved overall over the 40-year period, there was a lesser rate of improvement in gentrified areas. Furthermore, gentrification was strongly associated with racial distribution. The most substantial gentrification occurred from 2010 to 2020, in which a specific cluster of adjacent zip codes in downtown Detroit experienced intense gentrification and a drop in the percentage of African-American residents. Conclusions: Gentrified areas seem to have a less pronounced improvement in air quality over time. This reduction in air quality improvement is likely associated with demolitions and the construction of new buildings, such as sporting arenas and accompanying traffic density. Gentrification is also strongly associated with an increase in non-minority residents in an area. Although previous definitions of gentrification in the literature have not included racial distribution, we suggest that future definitions should include this metric given the strong association. Minority residents who are displaced as a result of gentrification do not experience the improvements in housing quality, accessibility to healthy foods and other associations of gentrification. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution in Urban Areas)

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23 pages, 27800 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Examining the Effects of Socioeconomic Development on Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) in China’s Cities Based on Spatial Autocorrelation Analysis and MGWR Model

by Yanzhao Wang and Jianfei Cao

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(4), 2814; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20042814 - 5 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1759

Abstract

Understanding the characteristics of PM2.5 and its socioeconomic factors is crucial for managing air pollution. Research on the socioeconomic influences of PM2.5 has yielded several results. However, the spatial heterogeneity of the effect of various socioeconomic factors on PM2.5 at different scales has yet to be studied. This paper collated PM2.5 data for 359 cities in China from 2005 to 2020, as well as socioeconomic data: GDP per capita (GDPP), secondary industry proportion (SIP), number of industrial enterprise units above the scale (NOIE), general public budget revenue as a proportion of GDP (PBR), and population density (PD). The spatial autocorrelation and multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) model was used to analyze the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of PM2.5 and explore the impact of different scales of economic factors. Results show that the overall economic level was developing well, with a spatial distribution trend of high in the east and low in the west. With a large positive spatial correlation and a highly concentrated clustering pattern, the PM2.5 concentration declined in 2020. Secondly, the OLS model’s statistical results were skewed and unable to shed light on the association between economic factors and PM2.5. Predictions from the GWR and MGWR models may be more precise than those from the OLS model. The scales of the effect were produced by the MGWR model’s variable bandwidth and regression coefficient. In particular, the MGWR model’s regression coefficient and variable bandwidth allowed it to account for the scale influence of economic factors; it had the highest adjusted R² values, smallest AICc values, and residual sums of squares. Lastly, the PBR had a clear negative impact on PM2.5, whereas the negative impact of GDPP was weak and positively correlated in some western regions, such as Gansu and Qinghai provinces. The SIP, NOIE, and PD were positively correlated with PM2.5 in most regions. Our findings can serve as a theoretical foundation for researching the associations between PM2.5 and socioeconomic variables, and for encouraging the coequal growth of the economy and the environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution in Urban Areas)

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30 pages, 5416 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Potentially Harmful Elements Associated with Dust of Mosques: Pollution Status, Sources, and Human Health Risks

by Bassam Tawabini, Mubarak Al-Enazi, Mansour A. Alghamdi, Ashraf Farahat, Ahsan M. Shemsi, Marwan Y. Al Sharif and Mamdouh I. Khoder

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 2687; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032687 - 2 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1758

Abstract

Potentially harmful elements (PHEs) associated with dust generated from anthropogenic sources can be transported into mosques and deposited on the filters of the air-conditioners (AC); thereby, children and adults are exposed to such PHEs while visiting mosques. Data dealing with the assessment of PHEs pollution and its human health risk in mosques dust in Saudi Arabia are scarce. Therefore, this work aims to examine the levels and pollution status of PHEs in AC filter dust (ACFD) of mosques and their associated human health risk in three Saudi cities: Jubail, Jeddah, and Dammam metropolitan. A similar concentration pattern of PHEs is observed in three cities’ mosques with noticeably higher concentrations than both global crustal and local background values for Zn, Cu, Pb, As, and Cd only. Except for Fe, Al, and Mn, the highest PHEs concentrations were found in Jeddah (1407 mg/kg), followed by Dammam (1239 mg/kg) and Jubail (1103 mg/kg). High PHEs’ concentrations were also recorded in mosques located near workshops and suburban areas compared to urban areas. Based on the spatial pattern, enrichment factor, geo-accumulation index, pollution load index, and ecological risk values, Jubail, Jeddah, and Dammam have shown moderate pollution levels of Cd, As, Pb, and Zn. On the other hand, Cu. Zn, Cu, Cr, Pb, Ni, As, and Cd had degrees of enrichment levels that varied from significantly enriched to extremely highly enriched in the ACFD of the three cities. Heavy pollution is found in Jubail, which posed a higher potential ecological risk than in Jeddah and Dammam. Cd presents the highest ecological risk factors (ER) in the three cities. Carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks for children and adults follow the order: Jeddah > Dammam > Jubail, and the ingestion pathway was the main route for exposure. Carcinogenic and con-carcinogenic risks in the mosques of the various studied cities were generally within the acceptable range. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution in Urban Areas)

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17 pages, 783 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does Smart City Construction Reduce Haze Pollution?

by Li Wang, Qian Xie, Fei Xue and Zongxin Li

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(24), 16421; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416421 - 7 Dec 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1378

Abstract

Smart city construction plays an important role in environmental governance and public health. Based on the panel data of 216 prefecture-level cities across China during the period 2009–2018, this study uses the multi-time difference-in-differences method to evaluate the haze reduction effect of smart city construction. The estimated results demonstrate that the construction of smart cities can reduce haze pollution in pilot cities significantly. The main conduction mechanisms are the technical effects and the environmental regulatory effects that promote the reduction of corporate emissions. The heterogeneity analyses show that the haze reduction effect of smart city construction is more evident in southern cities, inland cities and resource-efficient cities. In addition, the benefit analyses show that smart cities can reduce the carbon emission intensity and promote economic growth. These results provide empirical support for accelerating the construction of a new type of smart city and building a new type of people-oriented urbanization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution in Urban Areas)

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14 pages, 2370 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Innovative Method for BTEX Emission Inventory and Development of Mitigation Measures in Developing Countries—A Case Study: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

by Quoc Bang Ho, Hoang Ngoc Khue Vu, Thoai Tam Nguyen and Thi Thao Nguyen Huynh

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(23), 16156; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316156 - 2 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1368

Abstract

Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) are carcinogenic pollutants. However, the average concentration in 1 h of some pollutants belonging to BTEX, such as benzene, in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is higher than the national standard QCVN 06:2009/BTNMT by about ten times. This research is the first to calculate the emission of BTEX for developing countries on a city scale. This paper developed a method to calculate cold emission factors based on hot emission factors for BTEX. Five spreadsheets developed and calculated these cold emission factors for five vehicle categories. A comprehensive emission inventory (EI) for BTEX was conducted in HCMC to determine the cause of BTEX pollution. An innovative methodology with bottom-up and top-down combination was applied to conduct BTEX EI, in which the EMISENS model was utilized to generate the EI for road traffic sources, and the emission factors method was utilized for other emission sources. Among emission reasons, motorcycles contribute the highest to HCMC air pollution, responsible for 93%, 90%, 98.9%, and 91.5% of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene, respectively. Cars contributed 5%, 6%, 0.8%, and 6.5% of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene, respectively. For LDVs, the emission from benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene accounted for 1%, 2%, 0.2%, and 1.9%. The major reasons for point sources were metal production, which had 1%, 2%, and 0.1% for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes emissions. The area source had a minority emission of total BTEX in Ho Chi Minh City. Our findings can be used to invest in the most significant sources to reduce BTEX in HCMC. Our approach can be applied in similar urban areas in BTEX EI. This research also developed nine measures to reduce BTEX in HCMC for human health protection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution in Urban Areas)

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Review

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16 pages, 1510 KiB

Open AccessReview

Deleterious Effect of Air Pollution on Human Microbial Community and Bacterial Flora: A Short Review

by Nishant Gupta, Virendra Kumar Yadav, Amel Gacem, M. Al-Dossari, Krishna Kumar Yadav, N. S. Abd El-Gawaad, Nidhal Ben Khedher, Nisha Choudhary, Pankaj Kumar and Simona Cavalu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(23), 15494; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315494 - 22 Nov 2022

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3576

Abstract

A balanced microbiota composition is requisite for normal physiological functions of the human body. However, several environmental factors such as air pollutants may perturb the human microbiota composition. It is noticeable that currently around 99% of the world’s population is breathing polluted air. Air pollution’s debilitating health impacts have been studied scrupulously, including in the human gut microbiota. Nevertheless, air pollution’s impact on other microbiotas of the human body is less understood so far. In the present review, the authors have summarized and discussed recent studies’ outcomes related to air pollution-driven microbiotas’ dysbiosis (including oral, nasal, respiratory, gut, skin, and thyroid microbiotas) and its potential multi-organ health risks. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution in Urban Areas)

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