Urban Air Pollution, Urban Heat Island and Human Health: A Review of the Literature
Sustainability
; 14(15):9234, 2022.
Article
in English
| ProQuest Central | ID: covidwho-1994171
ABSTRACT
Many cities of the world suffer from air pollution because of poor planning and design and heavy traffic in rapidly expanding urban environments. These conditions are exacerbated due to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. While there have been studies linking the built environment and air pollution with health, they have ignored the aggravating role of UHI. The past urban planning literature in this field has also ignored the science of materials, vehicles and air pollution, and technological solutions for reducing cumulative health impacts of air pollution and UHI. Air Pollution, built environment and human health are complex discussion factors that involve several different fields. The built environment is linked with human health through opportunities of physical activity and air quality. Recent planning literature focuses on creating compact and walkable urban areas dotted with green infrastructure to promote physical activity and to reduce vehicle emission-related air pollution. Reduced car use leading to reduced air pollution and UHI is implied in the literature. The literature from technology fields speaks to the issue of air pollution directly. Zero emission cars, green infrastructure and building materials that absorb air pollutants and reduce UHI fall within this category. This paper identifies main themes in the two streams of urban air pollution and UHI that impact human health and presents a systematic review of the academic papers, policy documents, reports and features in print media published in the last 10–20 years.
Environmental Studies; urban transport; air pollution; urban heat island; human health; built environment; Physical activity; Urban environments; Automobiles; Urban planning; Construction materials; Pollutants; Scientific papers; Electric vehicles; Vehicle emissions; Infrastructure; Air quality; Outdoor air quality; Urban heat islands; Urban areas; Emissions control; Pollution control; COVID-19; Literature reviews; Environmental health; Building materials; Public health; Traffic planning; Green buildings; United States--US; China
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
ProQuest Central
Language:
English
Journal:
Sustainability
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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