Car restriction policies for better urban health: a low emission zone in Madrid, Spain
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Car restriction policies for better urban health: a low emission zone in Madrid, Spain ´ 1 · Jamal Toutouh2 Irene Lebrusan Received: 27 May 2020 / Accepted: 1 September 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract The design of most cities prioritizes the use of motorized vehicles, having a negative effect on urban health. A major concern in the European Union (EU) is air pollution, especially nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ), which causes many inhabitants health problems and decreases the quality of life. A non-expensive way to reduce pollutants is implementing road restriction policies, as the creation of low emission zones. In this work, we analyze the case of Madrid Central, a low emission zone deployed in Madrid, Spain. We evaluate if it was effective to reduce air pollutants and if there were a side effect, as pollution displacement, during its application. Drawing on open data, we analyze air quality at different points of the city, before and during the application of this measure. Taking into account the EU directives in terms of what healthy air means, we consider three metrics: (a) the trend of NO2 concentration in the air in both periods, (b) the difference between the NO2 concentration during both periods, and (c) the percentage of time in which the population is exposed to air with NO2 concentration under a specific threshold (healthy air as defined by the EU). According to the results, Madrid Central significantly reduces the NO2 concentration in the air and does not produce pollution displacement. Thus, the population breathes healthy air during more time, and there is a positive effect on the whole city. Keywords Urban health · Low emission zone · Pedestrianization · Air pollution
Introduction Urban concentration is the leading trend of nowadays societies; the amount of people living in urban areas is growing rapidly and is a worldwide phenomenon. Currently, 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas and it is expected to grow to 68% in the next 50 years (United Nations 2018). Resulting from this
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-020-00938-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Jamal Toutouh
[email protected] Irene Lebrus´an [email protected] 1
Institute for Global Law and Policy, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
2
Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
concentration of inhabitants, new challenges and social problems have emerged, standing out the health risks. Air pollution, road traffic congestion, and lack of safe spaces for physical activity are contributing to rising death rates from stroke, heart disease, cancer, respiratory illnesses, and injuries (World Health Organization 2018b). This is the undesired effect of an urban conceptualization which prioritizes the use of motorized vehicles, with different negative impacts over safety and reducing the quality of life. Nonetheless, a majo
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