Special Issue "Air Quality: Sustainability of Human Society"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Ecology and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Andy Chan
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, 43500, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Interests: air pollution modeling; computational fluid dynamics
Prof. Li Li
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China
Interests: air pollution modeling; air pollution sources and formation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Air quality is intrinsically related to the sustainability of human societies. This connection is not only related to human health, but to other aspects including socioeconomic sustainability and natural ecosystem livelihood. Air-pollution-imposed climate change and extreme weather hazards in particular pose great risks to human livelihoods.

While there is a large number of studies concerning monitoring, prediction, and improvement of air quality, there is comparatively little literature discussing the relationship between air quality and health, climate, ecosystem, agriculture, and economics leading to the sustainability of human societies. Such literature would definitely enhance the understanding of our policymakers so that more inclusive policies are enacted to ensure the long-term sustainability of human societies. 

The focus of this Special Issue (SI) is on addressing this apparent gap in knowledge. The aim is to collect works addressing the relationship between air quality with the various long-term sustainability issues of human societies. We would like to invite all aspects of research, especially multidisciplinary works, that tackle the issue in a holistic manner that can enrich our knowledge on the aforementioned issues.

The topics covered in this SI include but are not limited to the following possible topics:

  • Review of air quality and human society sustainability;
  • Climate change and air quality;
  • Effects of air quality on agriculture, agronomy, and food security;
  • Air quality on ecosystem changes;
  • Energy and air quality;
  • Effects of air quality on population health;
  • Air quality changes on disease dispersion;
  • Air quality effects on business and economy;
  • Extreme weather patterns associated with air quality;
  • Recent advances on air quality prognostic and diagnostic technologies;
  • Air quality monitoring and surveillance;
  • Adaptation to air quality changes;
  • Geographical aspects of air quality changes;
  • Human behavioral or psychological changes associated with air quality.

Prof. Andy Chan
Prof. Li Li
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 papers will be 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 1900 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 quality
  • sustainability
  • human societies
  • energy
  • economic developments
  • agriculture
  • spatiotemporal variations
  • health
  • societal changes
  • human behavior

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
A Comparative Study on Air Pollution Characteristics in Four Key Cities during 2013 in Guangxi Province, China
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1612; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041612 - 03 Feb 2021
Viewed by 372
Abstract
Based on ambient air quality data of the four key cities (Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, and Beihai) in Guangxi, China, along with an analysis of the main emission sources, topographic features, weather conditions, and backward trajectories, the variation of main air pollutants and pollution [...] Read more.
Based on ambient air quality data of the four key cities (Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, and Beihai) in Guangxi, China, along with an analysis of the main emission sources, topographic features, weather conditions, and backward trajectories, the variation of main air pollutants and pollution episodes in the four cities were studied. Results showed that air pollution was most serious in Liuzhou and Guilin, followed by Nanning and Beihai. PM2.5 was the dominant pollutant in each city, followed by O3, PM10, and NO2. Concentrations of SO2 and CO did not exceed their National Ambient Air Quality Standard Grade II limit values. In the cities, the concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and SO2 were high during fall and winter and low during spring and summer, while the concentrations of O3 were high during fall and low during the other seasons. Concentrations of CO were low during summer and high during the other seasons in Nanning and Liuzhou, while they were high during spring and winter and low during summer and fall in Guilin and Beihai. In these cities, pollution episodes resulted mainly from stagnant accumulation and showed characteristics of regional pollution. However, pollution levels and durations for each city were different due to differences in main pollution sources, local geography, and weather conditions. The influences of air masses on the four cities were similar. They were mainly influenced by local emission sources in the spring, while during autumn, long-distance transportation from Hunan and Hubei was significant. In winter, air pollution in Nanning and Beihai was mostly affected by local emission sources, and that in Liuzhou and Guilin was mainly affected by long-distance transportation from the south and northeast of Guangxi. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Quality: Sustainability of Human Society)
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: The impact of ambient air quality on inbound tourist over China
Authors: Zhang Wei; Liu Ziqiang; Zhang Yujie; Elly Yaluk; Li Li
Affiliation: Business School, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250358, China. School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China.
Abstract: Based on the changes of air quality and the number of inbound tourists in 31 provincial capitals of China, we employed the grey relational analysis method to evaluate the change of inbound tourists and the average annual concentration of PM10, SO2 and NO2 from 2009 to 2019. We considered the number of overnight foreign tourists including tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan received by 31 provinces as the index to evaluate the change of inbound tourists, whereas the indicators to evaluate the change of ambient air quality included the average annual concentration of PM2.5 from 2013 to 2019; the 95th percentile daily average concentration of CO; the 90th percentile 8h O3 concentration and the excellent and good rate of API from 2009 to 2012 and from 2013 to 2019. In this study, we explore the inter-provincial differences in the grey relational coefficient of ambient air quality and the number of inbound tourists in China under different environmental standard systems in 2009-2012 and 2013-2019. Results indicate that: (1) the changes of ambient air quality in 31 provinces in China affects the number of inbound tourists. In the years with better ambient air quality, the number of inbound tourists generally increased, and the provinces with better ambient air quality received more inbound tourists; (2) there are significant inter-provincial differences in the impact of ambient air quality on the number of inbound tourists in 31 provinces of China. Mostly, tourism of the provinces in Central, North and Eastern China is greatly affected by air quality, as opposed to the provinces in Northeast, Northwest and Southwest China; (3) Under different air quality evaluation standards, changes in ambient air quality have different impacts on changes in the number of inbound tourists. Different environmental quality indicators have different impacts on the number of overnight inbound tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and foreigners in different provinces, and some indicators have high consistency on the number of overnight inbound foreign tourists and tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in some provinces. This study analyzes the reasons for the changes of the above indicators, and puts forward corresponding suggestions and strategies for improving the ambient air quality and promoting high-quality development of inbound tourism in China. Keywords: ambient air quality; inbound tourists; grey relational grade analysis; China

Title: Assessment of the Effect of Clean Air Action Plan on Air Quality and Associated Health Benefits in Sichuan Basin
Authors: Juihui Chen; Xiaoqiong Feng; Ling Huang; Min He; Yuan Li; Elly Yaluk; Li Han; Junjie Wang; Li Li
Affiliation: School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Sichuan Academy of Environmental Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China. School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China.
Abstract: Based on the emissions inventory in Sichuan Basin in 2017 and the air pollution control measures adopted during the Three-year Clean Air Action Plan of each city, a baseline and reduction emission inventory was established. We further applied the WRF/CMAQ modeling system and concentration-response algorithm to calculate the reduction of PM2.5 concentration and the avoided premature deaths due to implementation of air pollution control measures. Results indicate that the emissions of SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and VOCs in the Sichuan Basin have been reduced by 42.6, 105.3, 40.2, and 136.5 Gg, respectively, due to implementation of the three year clean air action plan. SO2 emission reductions mainly came from the control of non-electric industries, industrial boilers and ultra-low emission transformation of power plants, which accounted for 49%, 26% and 24% of the total SO2 emission reductions respectively, whereas mobile sources contributed the most in reducing NOx emissions, with contribution of 57%. PM2.5 emission reductions mainly came from the control of non-electric industries, dust and open biomass burning with a combined emission reduction of 85%. VOCs emission reduction mainly came from the control of industries, solvent use and mobile sources, accounting for 45%, 19% and 15% respectively. We also found that the emission reduction of NOx, PM2.5 and VOCs in Chengdu is significantly higher than that of other cities, which are about 3.4~15.4 times, 2.2~40.1 times and 4.3~24.4 times of other cities, respectively. In Sichuan Basin, the average reduction rate of PM2.5 concentration due to air pollution control measures is 5%, with the highest contribution from industry, mobile source and dust emission control. The decrease rate in each city ranges between 1%~10%, and the decreasing ratio in Chengdu, Dazhou, Zigong and other cities is relatively high. We also found that the number of premature deaths avoided due to air pollution control measures in the Sichuan Basin is 23,000, out of which Chengdu and Dazhou had the most significant health benefits, with 6,043 and 2,713 premature deaths avoided respectively.

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