Establishing Transport for London's first evidence-based approach to strategic green infrastructure for improved roadside air quality & public health

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The overarching aim of this Innovation Placement at Transport for London (TfL) is to establish its first evidence-based approach to the use of strategic green infrastructure (GI) to improve roadside air quality (RAQ). TfL and its Chair, the Mayor of London, are committed to their Healthy Streets Approach, putting people and their health at the centre of design decisions. GI (i.e., trees, hedges and green walls) and 'clean air' are already integral to this, the latter one of its key indicators. However, TfL currently lacks an evidence-based method of using one in pursuit of the other: i.e., site-specific GI interventions to reduce the public's exposure to road transport emissions - strongly complementing TfL's existing efforts to reduce exposure (e.g. careful positioning of bus stops) and reduce emissions at source (e.g. electrification of buses). The impacts of GI on RAQ, be they positive or negative, depend critically on site-specific conditions, including: street geometry, existing RAQ at the base of the 'street canyon' and average air quality (AQ) aloft - as well as type, size and positioning of GI.The Placement will establish a robust approach to 'GI4RAQ' interventions to deliver reliable improvements in RAQ, initially based on qualitative ranking. Exploiting TfL's extensive Geographic Information System (GIS), the approach will also prepare for the application of a quantitative GI4RAQ platform (begun via a NERC Innovation Pathfinder; NE/S00582X/1) to numerous sites. The Placement will do so from within the organisation, ensuring compatibility with existing decision-making practices, through close collaboration between the Researcher and:- Yvonne Brown, Principal Policy Analyst for Air Quality and Climate Change at TfL- John Parker, Arboriculture and Landscape Manager at TfL & Chair of the London Tree Officers Association- Lucy Saunders, Developer of the Healthy Streets Approach & Lead for Integration of Transport and Public Health in London at TfL / GLA.The Greater London Authority (GLA) governs transport, policing, economic development and emergency planning across the capital. It created TfL to deliver its transport services. The LoS evidence strong support from both:- Lilli Matson, Director of Transport Strategy at TfL, and- Peter Massini, Lead for Green Infrastructure at the GLAThe Placement will further develop the Researcher's relationships with TfL and the GLA (and those of the University of Birmingham; UoB) he initiated through the Pathfinder, as 'Co-I/Researcher'. Links to the GLA offer a unique opportunity to influence policy: the Local Plan of each London borough council must conform with the GLA's London Plan; and local authorities across the UK look to it for the direction of travel as they develop their Local Plans. Peter Massini outlines in his LoS how the Placement's outputs will contribute to the next London Plan (due to be published 6 later), particularly a proposed 'Air Quality Positive' policy. An established relationship between the UoB and Birmingham City Council (valued in the Pathfinder and underpinning an upcoming NERC RISE programme focussed on West Midlands AQ) will ensure the approach to GI4RAQ in London is directly transferrable to Birmingham.The UoB has a long and mature track record in urban AQ research, including the soon-to-be commissioned Urban Air Observatory, funded through a NERC capital grant, and current international NERC-funded research programmes in India and China (NE/P016499/1 & NE/N007077/1). Throughout its AQ research, the UoB has sought to translate results into solutions-focused, decision-support for practitioners and policy-makers, such as its recent 'First Steps in Urban Air Quality' guide (http://epapers.bham.ac.uk/3069/) and the award-winning AIRUSE LIFE+ programme output (http://airuse.eu/). This proposal builds on further NERC funding (CLAIRE-UK, NE/I012567/1 & CityFlocks, NE/N003195/1) and ERC funding (FASTER; ERC-2012-AdG32082).