Air Pollution in Urban and Industrial Areas
A special issue of Environments (ISSN 2076-3298).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 19379
Special Issue Editors
Interests: air pollution; renewable energy; sustainability; environmental analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
As guest editor of Environments, I would like to invite you to submit a paper to the Special Issue, Air Pollution in Urban and Industrial Areas. Environments publishes articles and communications in the interdisciplinary area of environmental technologies and methodologies and environmental protection and pollution prevention. Detailed information on the journal can be found at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/environments
According to the European Environment Agency’s 2019 Air Quality Report, cities represent an environment characterized by many emission sources that significantly contribute to the daily total particle exposure for humans. Due to population growth, the economy and industrial production are concentrated in urban areas, which leads to a high level of urban transport. In particular, urban freight transport is another contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.
Airborne particle concentration levels in cities are mostly related to anthropic urban activities/sources, such as industrial and residential sectors (heating) and vehicular traffic, i.e., sources characterized by combustion processes mainly producing high levels of particulate matter (PM), sub-micrometric, and ultrafine particles. Recent epidemiological studies have demonstrated that exposure to these concentrations can lead to respiratory and circulatory health problems. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified particulate matter, a major component of air pollution, as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1).
Different measures should be taken regarding vehicle technologies, distribution optimization, and regulations. Furthermore, some policies and interventions, such as the promotion of sustainable urban mobility actions (such as different urban transport strategies ranging from car-pooling, expanded electric vehicle (EV) use to bike-sharing) are needed to improve urban air quality and to reduce the impact of such sources on the urban environment in terms of human exposure.
Air pollution in industrial areas is still a topic of great health and social relevance. In the last few decades, conventional industrial processes (e.g., concrete, steel, and plastic production, waste incineration, and thermoelectric energy generation) have undergone several changes to mitigate their environmental burden. Nevertheless, such processes are still a major source of air pollutants. On the other hand, novel industrial processes related to a circular economy (waste recycling, biomaterials production, renewable energy generation, etc.) are experiencing rapid growth; while their global impact on climate change mitigation is well known, little information is available on their local impact on air quality.
In this framework, new research is needed to provide updated information on air pollutant emissions in urban and industrial areas. Interest can be focused on regulated pollutants or emerging pollutants, including volatile organic compounds, polyaromatic, halogenated, flame retardants, siloxanes, greenhouse gases, biologically active molecules, and nanoparticles.
This Special Issue is open to the subject area of urban and industrial air pollution. The keywords listed below provide an outline of some of the possible areas of interest.
Dr. Francesco Petracchini
Dr. Valerio Paolini
Dr. Valeria Rizza
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Environments is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Air pollution
- NOx
- Particulate matter
- Residential heating
- Road traffic emissions
- Sustainable mobility
- Industrial emissions
- Pollutant dispersion
- Outdoor air quality
- Global health
- Population exposure
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