IN-PERSON London. Section B

Abstract

Air pollution is recognised as a major environmental threat for public health. Despite a great effort to improve air quality and reduce emissions from the pollution sources, most European cities still have exceedances of legal limits and new recommendations of WHO are hardly to be fulfilled. The main objective of the current work is twofold: (i) to present a structured overview of main issues for urban air quality focusing on the contribution of different pollution sources and (ii) quantitative evaluation of air pollution and reduction measures. The methodology considered in this work is based on integrated modelling system considering transportation modelling (VISUM), emission modelling (QTraffic) and air pollution dispersion modelling (ADMS-Roads). The methodology was applied for air quality assessment and evaluation of traffic related pollution reduction measures in a Portuguese medium-size city (Coimbra). Based on Origin-Destination data, road network and fleet composition, emissions from road traffic are quantified with hourly resolution and at road segment level. Additionally, urban morphology is considered for modelling the dispersion of air pollution. In this presentation, an overview of different examples for Coimbra air quality modelling will be summarised focusing on quantitative contribution of different pollution sources (road traffic versus residential combustion), the relevance of non-exhaust traffic emissions (brake, tyre and road surface wear) and some advantages and limitations of local policy measures, such as Low Emission Zones, will be discussed based on modelling results obtained for urban scale and stressing the importance of air quality for cities’ livability.