A Report On Air Pollution In Hong Kong

Author : Priyantha S Edussuriya
Publisher : Open Dissertation Press
ISBN 13 : 9781361424193
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (241 download)

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Download or read book Urban Morphology and Air Quality written by Priyantha S Edussuriya and published by Open Dissertation Press. This book was released on 2017-01-27 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation, "Urban Morphology and Air Quality: a Study of Street Level Air Pollution in Dense Residential Environments of HongKong" by Priyantha S, Edussuriya, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of the thesis entitled Urban Morphology and Air Quality: A study of street level air pollution in dense residential environments of Hong Kong Submitted by Priyantha S. Edussuriya For the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Hong Kong in November 2006 Air pollution is a major threat to urban environments. Hong Kong's air quality has been rapidly deteriorating over the past two decades, not only in the territory's urban centers but also apparent in residential areas in and around the city. Although much is known about the sources of air pollution, little is known about the causes that contribute to high concentrations of polluted air at street level. Previous studies have explored relationships among air quality, physical urban form and microclimatic conditions at a city or macro level, but little research has been done on air pollution problems at the neighborhood or micro level. Lack of research progress in this area could be partly due to the complexity of the problem and complexity of urban fabric at the micro scale. Lack of awareness and knowledge about associations between urban morphology and street level air pollution at micro scale is a key factor that hinders mitigation efforts in most dense urban residential areas in Hong Kong. This study aims to address this gap by investigating associations between urban morphology and street level air pollutant concentration in dense residential environments in flat terrains in Hong Kong. It also aims to identify crucial morphological variables related to street level air pollutant concentration in such environments. The study postulates that there is an association between urban morphology and street level air pollutant concentration, and that manipulation of these crucial urban morphological variables could mitigate air pollutant concentration in dense residential areas. A theoretical model is developed to explain the complex relationships among street level air pollution, micro-meteorology and urban morphological dimension and to provide a methodological framework for this study at micro level. The study considered twenty urban residential areas for collecting real time street level air pollutant data and microclimatic data. Morphological variables were derived from secondary sources. Statistical methods were used for establishing correlations between urban morphological variables and street level air pollutant concentration. Computer simulations were performed with selected morphological variables to verify whether manipulation of these variables can mitigate poor street level air pollutant concentration. The study's findings established the validity of this theoretical model and statistically significant correlations between selected air pollutants, urban morphology and intervening micro-climatic conditions. The study reports the different strengths of relationships between air pollutants and urban morphology and micro-meteorology, and identifies crucial morphological variables and their direct and indirect effects on street level air pollution that need more attention in order to reduce impacts. In sum, it contributes to knowledge by validating the theoretical model, establishing hypotheses and resolving existing misconceptions. It has also developed a methodology that could be applied in similar research in complex urban fabrics. It identifies crucia