Arup Global Research Challenge: Novel technologies to understand relationships between green infrastructure and environmental quality in cities

世界上大约一半的人口生活在城市地区，不断涌入城市的移民催生了更大的城市，甚至是特大城市。快速城市化和更密集的人类活动导致了不利的环境变化，耗尽或损害了环境/生态系统服务；最终损害了经济活动的可持续性。城市污染也会影响自然环境的健康。人们早就认识到，绿色基础设施(GI)，如树木、草地、水体，可以提高城市环境的质量。GI可以缓解某些类型的城市污染，也可以受到城市污染的影响。然而，GI和城市污染以及其他环境质量指标之间的相互作用仍然知之甚少。通过更好地理解这些关系，可能会更好地将GI整合到城市的设计和运营中。新的监测和建模技术，如无线传感网络、无人机和众包，可以更好地了解地理信息与城市环境质量之间的关系。因此，该项目的目的是探讨如何利用新的建模和监测技术来更好地了解城市内地理标志资源对环境质量的潜在影响。该项目最初将涉及详细审查可用于监测城市环境质量(例如生态、噪音、湿度、温度、氮氧化物、颗粒物、挥发性有机化合物和臭氧)的新技术。随后将在一项小规模试验性实验研究中采用选定的这些技术，以监测约克一个地点一种或多种类型的绿色基础设施与环境质量之间的关系。这项试点研究将使人们了解应如何设计这些研究、如何分析数据以及提供关于地理信息系统影响的高时间和空间分辨率数据。

About half of the world's population lives in urban areas and ongoing migration into city has given rise to larger cities or even megacities. Rapid urbanization and more intensive human activities have led to adverse environmental changes that deplete or impair environmental/ecosystem services; ultimately compromising the sustainability of economic activity. Urban pollution can also impact the health of the natural environment. It has long been recognised that Green Infrastructure (GI), such as trees, grassland, waterbodies, can enhance the quality of city environments. GI can mitigate against some types of urban pollution as well as be affected by urban pollution. However, the interplays between GI and urban pollution and other measures of environmental quality are still poorly understood. By better understanding these relationships, it may be possible to better integrate GI into the design and operation of cities. New monitoring and modelling technologies, such as wireless sensing networks, drones and crowdsourcing, could provide a better understanding of the relationships between GI and the quality of city environments. The aim of the project is therefore to explore how new modelling and monitoring technologies could be used to better understand the potential impact of GI resources within cities on environmental quality. The project will initially involve a detailed review of what new technologies are available for monitoring environmental quality (e.g. ecology, noise, humidity, temperature, NOx, particulates, volatile organic compounds and ozone) in cities. A selection of these technologies will then be employed in a small-scale pilot experimental study to monitor the relationships between one or more types of green infrastructure and environmental quality in a site in York. This pilot study will provide an understanding of how these studies should be designed, how the data should be analysed as well as providing data at high temporal and spatial resolutions on the impacts of the GI.