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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (17 October 2023) | Viewed by 6375

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Rui Chen

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Guest Editor

Institute of Urban Safety and Environmental Science, Beijing Academy of Science and Technology, Beijing 100054, China
Interests: health impacts of environmental pollutants; occupational health; toxic mechanisms; dosages; exposure assessment and risk assessment

Prof. Dr. Guohua Qin

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Guest Editor

College of Environment and Resource, Research Center of Environment and Health, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China
Interests: PM2.5; environmental pollution; environmental toxicology; ecotoxicology; cardiovascular toxicity; glucose and lipid metabolism disorder

Dr. Shanshan Wang

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Guest Editor

Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology for Agro-products, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100054, China
Interests: ecotoxicology and environmental safety; testing technology for emerging pollutants in food and environment; risk assessment and control

Dr. Xiangjing Gao

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Guest Editor

Department of Occupational Health and Radiation Protection, Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease, Hangzhou 310051, China
Interests: occupational health; health risk of nanoparticles; hearing loss

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Urbanization has led to an increase in population density in cities, resulting in the release of pollutants or pollution factors of anthropogenic origin into the urban environment. This increases the risk of human exposure to these adverse factors. To ensure a safe and habitable urban environment for residents and a sustainable development of cities, it is essential that we improve our understanding of the interactions between urban environment and human health.

This Special Issue seeks to disseminate the latest high-quality, interdisciplinary research on the characterizations of urban environment-related pollutants or pollution factors and associated human exposure and possible adverse consequences to their health. These pollutants or pollution factors include, but are not limited to, man-made chemicals, plastics, metals and heavy metals, PM_2.5, noise, and electromagnetic radiation. We welcome the submission of reviews, original research articles, short communications, systematic reviews, and case studies targeting any of these issues. We also welcome papers that report significant advances in any aspect of related developments.

Prof. Dr. Rui Chen
Prof. Dr. Guohua Qin
Dr. Shanshan Wang
Dr. Xiangjing Gao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

EHS (environment, health, and safety)
PM2.5
fine and ultrafine particles
bioaerosol
air pollution
water pollution
microplastics
nanoparticles and nanomaterials
noise and vibration
electromagnetic radiation
organic chemicals
metals and heavy metals
pollution prevention and control
epidemiology
adverse effects and toxicity impacts
toxic effects and toxicology mechanism
dose effect
AOP (adverse outcome pathway)
ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion)
risk assessment
analytical techniques

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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23 pages, 4447 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Influence of New-Type Urbanization and Environmental Pollution on Public Health: A Spatial Durbin Model Study

by Kang Wu, Ruonan Wang, Yuechi Zhang, Rangke Wu, Yanting He, Bei Li and Yili Zhang

Sustainability 2023, 15(23), 16144; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316144 - 21 Nov 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 789

Abstract

The rapid pace of urbanization in recent years, accompanied by the tension between urbanization and environmental pollution as well as public health, has become increasingly prominent, potentially constraining the normal pace of urbanization development, environmental sustainability and public health enhancement. This paper aims to clarify the relationship between new urbanization, environmental pollution and public health from both local and spatial perspectives, using a spatial Durbin model and a mediating effects model based on panel data from 275 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2020 and to test the existence of regional heterogeneity with a sub-sample of three major regions: eastern, central and western China. After incorporating environmental pollution as a variable across the entire scope of China, it was found that the new-type urbanization was related to public health in a ‘positive U-shaped’ form in terms of both local and spatial spillover effects (β₂ = 14.5620, β₃ = −17.8938, p < 0.05; θ₂ = 19.2527, θ₃ = −29.0973, p < 0.1) and environmental pollution exerts a negative impact on public health (β₁ = 6.3704, θ₁ = 2.5731, p < 0.05). A “reverse U-shaped” local effect was observed between new-type urbanization and environmental pollution (β₂ = 0.6281, β₃ = −0.5315, p < 0.05). Environmental pollution plays a partially mediating role in the impact mechanism of new-type urbanization on public health. There was regional heterogeneity in the relationship between new-type urbanization, environmental pollution and public health. The empirical results for the western regions and the whole of China were generally consistent, but the differences were significant between the eastern and central regions. In the eastern region, new-type urbanization and public health were related in an ‘inverted U-shaped’ form from the perspective of local and spatial spillover effect, and in the central region, there was an ‘inverted U-shaped’ form from the perspective of local effect. There was a threshold effect relationship between new-type urbanization and environmental pollution and between new-type urbanization and public health. At the same time, there was regional heterogeneity in the relationships between the three. Therefore, this paper argues that governments should formulate scientific urban planning and sustainable development policies that take into account the actual situation of each region and aim to promote sustainable urbanization, environmental quality and public health as a whole. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Environment and Human Health)

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19 pages, 882 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pesticides, Heavy Metals and Plasticizers: Contamination and Risk Assessment of Drinking-Water Quality

by Noman Adil, Kamran Ashraf, Masooma Munir, Muhammad Mohiuddin, Asim Abbasi, Umair Riaz, Asad Aslam, Samy A. Marey, Ashraf Atef Hatamleh and Qamar uz Zaman

Sustainability 2023, 15(17), 13263; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151713263 - 04 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2131

Abstract

This study highlights the impact of formal agricultural practices and their adverse effect on the deterioration of underground water quality, with special emphasis on toxic elements, including pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, plasticizer accumulation and heavy-metal contamination. A comprehensive study was conducted at various recently developed societies of Sadiqabad that were formerly used for agricultural purposes. Ten various societies were selected, and three samples from each society were collected from different regions of these areas. Data regarding the physicochemical properties, metal contamination and accumulation of pesticide residues were determined using standard protocols. The results revealed that almost all the physicochemical properties of water samples selected from these sites were close to the WHO’s recommended limits. The range for physicochemical properties was pH (6.4–7.7), electrical conductivity (168–766 µ S cm⁻¹), turbidity (6–17 NTU), total hardness (218–1030 mg L⁻¹), chloride contents (130–870 mg L⁻¹) and phosphate contents (2.55–5.11 mg L⁻¹). Among heavy metals, lead and arsenic concentrations in all sampling sites were found to be above the recommended limits. The decreasing pattern in terms of water-quality deterioration with respect to physicochemical properties was FFT > USM > CRH > UCS > CHS > MAH > FFC > CGA > GIH > AGS. Overall, 95 different kinds of toxic elements, including pesticides, herbicides, plasticizer, etc., were detected in the groundwater samples. The toxic compounds in the groundwater were categorized into pesticides, herbicides, plasticizer, plant growth regulators, fungicides, acaricides and insecticides. Most of these parameters showed peak values at the Fatima Fertilizer Company area and Chief Residencia Housing Society. Pesticide contamination showed that water-filtration plants have a big positive impact on the drinking quality of water. Proper monitoring of the pesticides must be performed, as the majority of the pesticides showed low priority. The monitoring method of the pesticides needs to be updated so that the occurrence of recently authorized pesticides is demonstrated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Environment and Human Health)

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13 pages, 2600 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exposure Concentrations and Inhalation Risk of Submicron Particles in a Gasoline Station—A Pilot Study

by Xiangjing Gao, Peng Wang, Yong Hu, Yiyao Cao, Weiming Yuan, Yuqing Luan, Changjian Quan, Zhen Zhou and Hua Zou

Sustainability 2023, 15(12), 9455; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129455 - 12 Jun 2023

Viewed by 741

Abstract

Gasoline is a globally used primary fuel. The submicron particles at gasoline stations have not been extensively investigated. This study aimed to evaluate the exposure concentrations and inhalation risk of submicron particles at a gasoline station. Temporal variations in particle concentrations and size distributions were measured using a real-time system. The effective doses of submicron particles deposited in different organs were analyzed using a computational fluid dynamics model and the value of environmental monitoring (including the size distributions of particles by number). The number concentration (NC) was higher during working hours than that of the background. Submicron particles gathered predominantly at 30.5 nm and 89.8 nm during working time. The effective doses of submicron particles deposited in the olfactory system and lungs were 0.131 × 10⁻³ and 0.014 mg, respectively, of which 0.026 × 10⁻³ mg potentially reached the brain. In a female worker with 3 years of exposure, the average daily effective doses in the olfactory system, lungs, and brain were 2.19 × 10⁻⁷ mg/kg·d⁻¹, 2.34 × 10⁻⁵ mg/kg·d⁻¹, and 4.35 × 10⁻⁸ mg/kg·d⁻¹, respectively. These findings indicated that workers at this gasoline station had a high inhalation risk of submicron particles. This study provides baseline data on submicron particles at gasoline stations and a critical basis for investigating disease risk in longitudinal epidemiological studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Environment and Human Health)

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Review

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18 pages, 2606 KiB

Open AccessReview

Systematic Review of Degradation Processes for Microplastics: Progress and Prospects

by Peng Xiang, Ting Zhang, Qian Wu and Qiang Li

Sustainability 2023, 15(17), 12698; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151712698 - 22 Aug 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2005

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) have been shown to be more hazardous than large plastics. In recent years, many studies have confirmed the hazards of MPs to organisms and summarized various MP degradation techniques, but there is a lack of discussion on the prospects of the application of these degradation techniques and their degradation efficiency. Therefore, this paper reviewed the degradation techniques of MPs, such as adsorption, direct photodegradation, photocatalytic oxidation, electrochemical oxidation, and biological methods, and their application prospects. By focusing on the biodegradation mechanism and degradation efficiency, the potential for efficient and sustainable development of biodegradation processes and the prospect of large-scale application are highlighted, enabling readers to better understand the current status of research on MP biodegradation. This review provides direction for research on MP degradation, suggestions for governmental environmental governance and policy development, and references for the sustainability and large-scale application of MP biodegradation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Environment and Human Health)

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