CIVE 561 Urban Activity Air pollution and Health

Background

Urban air pollution and its impact on public health is a topic that has received much attention. There is ample evidence pointing to the fact that exposure to air emissions is associated with a range of respiratory illness. In urban areas, transportation and buildings are the main contributors to air and greenhouse gas emissions. Increasing awareness of this fact has led to the introduction and tightening of standards governing vehicle emissions, fuel quality, and building design. Nevertheless, changing land-use patterns and travel behaviour have offset some of the benefits of emission control technology. An increasing fraction of populations in metropolitan areas around the world, lives, works, or performs its daily activities in the vicinity of busy roads. There is therefore a need to turn our attention towards understanding the interactions between the daily activities of urban dwellers, the generation and dispersion of traffic emissions in urban environments, and the resulting patterns of urban energy consumption.

Course Content

This is an interdisciplinary course where the challenge of air pollution is introduced with a focus on urban areas. The interdependencies between transportation, air quality, and policy are demonstrated. The City and the behaviour of its inhabitants constitute the context for the following course topics:

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Schedule of Lectures

WEEK 1: COURSE INTRODUCTION

Interaction Between Land-use and Transportation and Impacts on Air Quality
Major Air Pollution Trends in Urban Areas

WEEK 2: UNDERSTANDING THE MAJOR AIR POLLUTANTS (1)

The Atmosphere and its Contaminants
Sources of Air Pollution
Causes, Effects, Control of Major Air Pollutants

WEEK 3: UNDERSTANDING THE MAJOR AIR POLLUTANTS (2)

Generation of NOx and VOC Emissions in Urban Areas
Ozone Chemistry and Trends in Ozone Levels in Urban Areas

WEEK 4: MOTOR VEHICLE EMISSIONS (1)

An Overview of Mobile Sources
Generation of Vehicle Emissions

WEEK 5: MOTOR VEHICLE EMISSIONS (2)

Fuel Quality and Emissions
Emission Testing
Control Approaches

WEEK 6: VEHICLE EMISSIONS MODELLING (1)

Introduction to Emission Modelling at different Scales (macro, meso, and micro)
Introduction and Training on MOVES (Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator)

WEEK 7: AIR POLLUTION AND METEOROLOGY (1)

Atmospheric Stability
Influence of Meteorology in Urban Area

WEEK 8: ATMOSPHERIC DISPERSION (1)

Introduction to air Pollution Dispersion
Dispersion of Point Sources and Gaussian Plume Models

WEEK 9: ATMOSPHERIC DISPERSION (2)

Dispersion of Line Sources using Gaussian Plume Models
Shortcomings of Gaussian Plume Models

WEEK 10: ATMOSPHERIC DISPERSION (3)

Gaussian Puff-Based Models
Introduction to Grid Models, Canyon Models, CFD models

WEEK 11: AIR POLLUTION EXPOSURE AND HEALTH EFFECTS (1)

Air Quality Monitoring Technology
Urban Air Quality Monitoring Networks
Air Quality Indices and Standards

WEEK 12: AIR POLLUTION EXPOSURE AND HEALTH EFFECTS (2)

Exposure Assessment
Health Effects

WEEK 13: FINAL PRESENTATIONS

Course Materials