This study of air quality at street level explored how urban design can reduce both the concentration of pollutants and human exposure to them.
Air Quality at Street-Level: Strategies for Urban Design presents a framework that bridges the fields of meteorology, air quality management, and urban design, a framework based on the factors that determine how, when, and where air pollutants are likely to be concentrated or dispersed along the street and which human populations are most sensitive to them.
The report summarizes the factors that influence air quality at street level, identifies potential problem areas, describes urban design strategies to reduce both the level of air pollutants and human exposure to them, and classifies design situations in terms of the opportunities and constraints they pose.
An essay, which has been published in multiple books, presents the findings in abridged form.
The research was supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and by the Boston Redevelopment Authority. I was principal investigator and author of the report.