Regional planning or neighborhood design? curbing air pollution exposure of pedestrians and other road users in urban micro-environments

最近，研究已经建立了建筑环境，身体活动和肥胖之间的强关联。这导致人们普遍认识到，紧凑、混合用途的城市形式会降低对汽车的依赖，并促进替代交通模式。尽管对城市友好的环境有好处，但它们也可能带来风险：紧凑的混合用途城市形式促进了活跃的交通，但它可能会减少交通排放的分散，因为它会将污染物困在街道峡谷中，从而放大街道空气污染。拟议的研究计划通过探索实施设计指南和创新的区域政策来解决这一困境，这些政策可以改善街道空气质量，同时保持建筑密度，活动集中度和交通流量，这些都是对城市友好的建筑环境所需要的。具体而言，我们将实现四个主要目标： 1-提高目前对运输微环境中个人暴露的认识 2-评估道路设计、交通和各种控制措施对暴露的影响 3-评估地方一级干预措施对区域空气质量的影响 4-在区域一级分析曝光的公正性 为此，将为蒙特利尔选定的城市微观环境开发交通、运输业务、车辆排放、空气质量和行人流动的综合模拟。此外，还将为蒙特利尔开发一个区域空气质量模型，并将其与当地规模的模型连接起来，从而生成一个空气质量和暴露的混合模型。 拟议的计划将首先对科学产生重大影响;就建筑形式和环境质量之间的相互作用而言，仍然有很多问题没有得到很好的理解。它还将通过在设计和决策中引入新的层面，在规划机构中产生积极的变化。

Recently, research has established a strong association between the built environment, physical activity, and obesity. This has led to a general understanding that compact, mixed-use urban form results in lower automobile dependency and promotes alternative modes of transport. Despite the benefits of pedestrian-friendly environments, they could also pose risks: while compact, mixed-use urban form promotes active transportation, it may reduce the dispersion of traffic emissions by trapping pollutants in street canyons thus magnifying street-level air pollution. The proposed research program addresses this dilemma by exploring the implementation of design guidelines and innovative regional policies that improve street-level air quality while maintaining the building density, concentration of activities, and traffic flows that pedestrian-friendly built environments require. In particular, we will address four main objectives: 1- Improve current understanding of personal exposure in transport micro-environments 2- Assess the effects of road design, traffic, and various controls on exposure 3- Assess the impacts of local-level interventions on regional air quality 4- Analyze the justice of exposure at the regional level For this purpose, an integrated simulation of traffic, transit operations, vehicle emissions, air quality, and pedestrian movements will be developed for selected urban micro-environments in Montreal. In addition, a regional air quality model for Montreal will be developed and linked with the local-scale models thus generating a hybrid model of air quality and exposure. The proposed program will first have a great impact on the science; there is still a great deal that is not well understood in terms of the interactions between the built form and environmental quality. It will also create a positive change in planning agencies by introducing a new dimension to design and decision-making.