Exhausted by pollution? — How to improve air quality in cities (part 2)
Building healthier cities
(by Gyorgyi Galik, with contributions from Jonathan Broderick)
A future city designed to tackle air pollution would have less road space and parking for cars, more provision for cyclists and pedestrians, cleaner and more efficient public transit, and stricter regulations for delivery vehicles and taxi fleets. Companies also have a role to play in improving air quality. By adapting flexible working hours and encouraging their employees to work from home, they could reduce vehicle emissions and limit exposure to pollution during rush hour. Achieving these changes will rely on committed political leadership and greater transparency about who is responsible for air pollution. Those who pollute the most should be incentivised to either change their practices or face much higher costs.
Shift in approach to urban design and planning
Architecture and urban design should also support a shift towards zero-emission lifestyles. For example, new buildings should have less parking and better access to public transit. In London, for example, according to London parking standards, “all developments in areas of good public transport accessibility (in all parts of London) should aim for significantly less than 1 space per unit” [1]. The current London Plan on parking (Policy 6.13) also states [2]:
The London Mayor wishes to see an appropriate balance between promoting new development and preventing excessive car parking provision that can undermine cycling, walking and public transport use.
Streets, in general, should give greater priority to walking, cycling than driving. We all know that building more road capacity induces travel demand but this gets periodically “forgotten” by governments and especially by politicians.
Reduce the impact of businesses, and redesign the way freight and logistics operate
Businesses and companies — like everyone else — have a crucial role in improving air quality. They should encourage people to work more from home and offer flexible working hours to reduce the number of trips to and from work and ease the burden on public transport, especially in the morning peak. Changing company regulations and even the nature of work, therefore, would greatly reduce air pollution.
Businesses should also consider the impact of their delivery vehicles on air quality. A 2011 study by Transport for London [3] found that 39 percent of delivery vans in the city operate less than a quarter full. Logistics can be made cleaner by encouraging a shift towards low-or zero-emissions delivery vehicles, such as electric vans or cargo bikes. They can be made more efficient by consolidating deliveries to ensure that delivery vehicles operate at much higher capacities.
We have a reasonably good understanding of how people move in urban areas but not as much of how stuff travels. This means a complete redesign on freight — beyond even the focus on last-mile deliveries. We need to change the way that freight companies relate to cities, to see themselves as part of the city [4].
Air pollution from motor vehicles is the perfect example of a negative externality when a person’s actions cause costs or harm to others. Despite a wide array of car and fuel taxes, the costs to individuals of the air pollution that affects an area is not compensated by the users of motorised transport.
Build on data analytics and modeling
The social, environmental and economic impacts of congestion and air pollution are significant for cities across the world. The loss of productivity due to congestion in urban areas is striking e.g. up to 15% of GDP in Beijing [5], 3.4 % in Buenos Aires and 2.6% in Mexico City [6]. Digital capabilities may increase understanding of these factors but how could data analytics be used in a more imaginative and radical way to generate insights and intelligence that may provide value and benefit for current and future transport systems and air quality management? Stakeholders in the logistics/transport/mapping/routing sector should be actively encouraged to share mobility data on all levels. This might promote greener and more efficient journeys.
Demand stronger environmental regulation and political leadership
In multiple case studies strong political leadership or top-down regulation brought about faster, more positive and impactful change in individuals’ behaviours, by changing the context within which they live. In New York City, for example, the tenure of transport commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan was marked by significant changes to the city’s streets and public spaces [7]. As Ariel Schwartz (2016) describes “the city built 60 pedestrian plazas, nearly 400 miles of bike lanes, a bus rapid transit system, and the country’s largest bike-share program” [8]. There are many other examples from Colombia, Norway, the US to Denmark as well.
Copenhagen has been systematically prioritising walking and cycling by introducing wider, safer and separated cycle lanes and safer intersections [9].
Vehicles turning right and hitting bikes was the most common form of accident for cyclists, so Copenhageners now have increased safety around the city.
Denmark also introduced stronger environmental regulations to reduce pollution from residential wood burning and emissions from shipping. As the Danish Ministry of the Environment and Food explains “international regulations require ships in the North Sea and Baltic Sea to run on clean fuels that have a lower sulphur content” [10]. They further describe that stopping ships from “ignoring the rules and continuing to use illicit fuels”, they have intensified their ship pollution control with an ‘artificial nose’ called the Sniffer. Fitted to the Great Belt Bridge, the nose can detect the type of fuel a ship is burning as it sails into the harbour. Since the system was introduced in 2015 the content of sulphur in the air over Denmark has decreased by up to 60%.
Highlighting the importance of political leadership, London’s efforts to reduce air pollution have fluctuated over the past two decades based on the interests of the current mayor. Under Ken Livingstone, initiatives included the London congestion charge, the creation of the London Climate Change Agency, the London Energy Partnership and the founding of the (now known) C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. Conversely, during the mayorship of Boris Johnson, initiatives to improve air quality received less support and air pollution worsened. Sadiq Khan’s mayoral programme has made air quality back a priority for Londoners yet again. His Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) — which will be in place in central London from 8 April 2019 — will require most vehicles on London’s roads to meet new, tighter exhaust emission standards or pay an additional daily charge to travel within the ULEZ area. To prevent emissions entirely, his plan also calls for 80% of all journeys in London to be taken by active travel (walk and cycle) by 2030. Though all of these measures are a step in the right direction, some argue that they should go much further. For example, according to a Transport for London (TfL) assessment the London T-charge (officially known as the Emissions Surcharge) introduced in 2017 will only save 1–3 % of NOx (nitrogen oxides) emissions — which it describes as only “a minor improvement” [10].
Lurmann et al. [11] argue that “for many cities facing the challenge of reducing air pollution to meet health-based standards, the emission control policies and pollution reduction programmes adopted in southern California should also serve as an example of the potential success of aggressive, comprehensive, and integrated approaches”. They further argue that
Policies targeting on-road mobile emissions were the single most important element for observed improvements in the Los Angeles region. However, the programme’s overall success was the result of a much broader approach designed to achieve emission reductions across all major pollutants and emissions categories.
Southern California has been successfully improving air quality since 1992 — after they established the evidence for both the short- and long-term effects of pollutants on children's health.
Unfortunately, many governments are reluctant to make such major changes or introduce radical policies for “fear of a negative public backlash” [14]. As Ockwell et al. note, when it comes to the environment, this seems especially true:
the environment is widely viewed as ‘bad politics’ where precious political capital is often wasted on unpopular, vote-losing policies
So instead of effective actions, they tend to rely and focus on fig leaf interventions that are politically more favourable but have only marginal impacts on the sources of pollution.
Reframe the narratives around air pollution
For most people, air pollution is still invisible. Few are aware of the serious health risks that they are exposed to every day. Awareness of air pollution is highly mediated. Inspired by and building on Olga Kuchinskaya’s work on the Politics of Invisibility, the way that we experience pollution is highly mediated by ways of visualisation, mapping and measuring equipment, as well as narratives presented by the media, politicians, and experts; therefore how these representations are produced matters (detailed in my next blog post on The reasons why we don’t see pollution)
Achieving a commitment to cleaner air will depend on these narratives and how they are communicated to the public by those with political or economic influence.
Note: Construction sites also have a huge impact on local air quality. This will be detailed in the following blog posts.
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References:
[1] London Plan Chapter 6.: London’s Transport. Parking addendum to chapter 6. Parking for residential development. Maximum residential parking standards. Notes. Available at: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/london-plan/current-london-plan/london-plan-chapter-six-londons-transport-0
[2] London Plan Chapter 6.: London’s Transport, Policy 6.13 Parking (2017) Available at: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/london-plan/current-london-plan/london-plan-chapter-six-londons-transport/pol-27
[3] [11] Investigation into light commercial traffic. Appendix 1. p.4. Available at: https://www.london.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/s52363/Appendix%201%20-%20Light%20Commercial%20Traffic%20views%20and%20information.pdf
[4] Personal conversation with Dr. Gary Fuller. Gary is an air pollution scientist at King’s College London. His research focuses on the sources of urban air pollution and how these affect people’s health. Follow him on Twitter @drgaryfuller. His column, Pollutionwatch on the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/series/pollutionwatch
[5] Creutzig and He. (2008) Climate change mitigation and co-benefits of feasible transport demand policies in Beijing. Transport. Res. Part D (2008), p.1. Available at: http://www.mcc-berlin.net/~creutzig/trd.pdf
[6] A World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review (2002) Cities on the Move. p.9. Available at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTURBANTRANSPORT/Resources/cities_on_the_move.pdf
[7] Warerkar, T. (2017) Times Square’s transformation into a pedestrian-friendly space captured in photos. Published: 19 April, 2017. Available at: https://ny.curbed.com/2017/4/19/15358234/times-square-snohetta-before-after-photos
[8] Schwartz, A. (2016) The woman responsible for nearly 400 miles of bike lanes in New York City reveals how she did it. Published: 29 March, 2016. Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/janette-sadik-khan-on-transforming-city-streets-2016-3?r=US&IR=T
[9] The Blog by Copenhagenize Design Co. 117 Safer Intersections in Copenhagen. Published July 19 2008. Available at: http://www.copenhagenize.com/2008/07/117-safer-intersections-in-copenhagen.html
[10] Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. New environmental requirements for ships cut air pollution by half. Published 8 October 2015. Available at: http://mfvm.dk/english/news/new-environmental-requirements-for-ships-cut-air-pollution-by-half/
[11] Nierynck, R. 2017. T-charge will cost £23m a year, GLA Tories claim. Published: 12 January 2017. Available at: http://www.airqualitynews.com/2017/01/12/t-charge-will-cost-23m-year-gla-tories-claim/
[12]Lurmann, F. W., Avol, E. & Gilliland, F. D . (2015) Emissions reduction policies and recent trends in Southern California’s ambient air quality. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association. March 2015. 65(3): pp. 324–35. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25947128
[14] Carter, N., & Ockwell, D. G. 2007. New Labour, new environment? An analysis of the Labour government’s policy on climate change and biodiversity loss. Report prepared for Friends of the Earth, London.
[15] Ockwell, D. & Whitmarsh, L. & O’Neill, S. (2009). Reorienting Climate Change Communication for Effective Mitigation: Forcing People to Be Green or Fostering Grass-Roots Engagement?. Science Communication. Vol 30, Issue 3, pp. 305–327. Published January 7, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547008328969
[16] Warerkar, T. (2017). Times Square’s transformation into a pedestrian-friendly space captured in photos. Curbed NY. Posted: 19 April 2017. Available at: https://ny.curbed.com/2017/4/19/15358234/times-square-snohetta-before-after-photos
