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Air pollution and congestion charging
October 2002
Two major research projects in Europe may well change the way governments view and respond to city air pollution.
One seeks to map "hot spots" and define how lifestyle can effect an individual's exposure. The other is examining ways to make hot spots less unhealthy and aims to discover the pollution differences between road zones where traffic accelerates and larger areas where traffic is queuing.
The second project centred on London and due to start in November, will also provide new ways to measure the benefits of congestion charging.
The PEOPLE Project:
The first project, funded by the European Union, will monitor 2000 volunteers wearing pollution detectors as they go about their daily routine in ten cities. This, the so-called PEOPLE project (Population Exposure to Air Pollutants in Europe), will cover both road traffic pollution and pollution caused by smoking.
According to EU Research Commissioner, Philippe Busquin, previous research suggests traffic is responsible for between 70% and 80% of a city's pollution problems with Benzene, a carcinogenic substance, being seen as the most serious health hazard.
He says it is known that high exposure is killing thousands of people a year and that in Europe, a recent study showed 40,000 people die each year in France, Austria and Switzerland from the effects of air pollution.
"It is clear therefore, that air pollution has a long-term negative impact on EU citizens' health in general, despite tight EU emission standards," Mr Busquin said.
He said the PEOPLE project will centre on Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Dublin, Krakow, Lisbon, Ljubljana, Madrid, Paris, and Rome, and as well as providing decision makers with a comprehensive snapshot of city pollution, it will also help citizens decide how best to limit their exposure.
The project will assess busy road junctions as well as quiet parks and volunteers will be selected for their use of different modes of transport. Their experience will be compared with control groups including people who stay at home and people who smoke.
The EU hopes to publish the results next February and include city maps showing pollution levels in different urban settings.
The DAPPLE Project:
The four-year so-called DAPPLE Project (Dispersion of Air Pollution and Penetration into the Local Environment) is being lead jointly by the University of Surrey and Imperial College and brings together experts in transport and air dispersion studies. While it will focus on London, the researchers are hoping the results could be applied to any city.
Questions the project seeks to answer include:
- What controls the amount of pollution people are exposed to on urban roads, and in the buildings alongside?
- How large is the area of influence of a zone where traffic accelerates, compared with that of a larger area where traffic is queuing?
- What are the most effective ways of making localised pollution hot spots less unpleasant and unhealthy?
- What kind of decision support tools are needed to assess localised pollution hot spots, and what simplifying assumptions can these make? For example, does most of the pollution reach backstreets by going over buildings, or around them?
- Can the same tools be used for transport-related air quality management as for assessment of the impact of accidental or terrorist release of toxic or flammable gases?
- What about stationary roadside sources such as dry cleaning outlets and small industrial units?
