Urban form and atmospheric pollution: assessing impacts in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract As cities have increased their role in concentrating the world's population, they have also become critical sources of pollution. This article investigates the possible impacts of urban form on air pollutant concentrations. Given the nascent state of this research field in urban studies in Brazil, we start with a panoramic view of the problem. Then the paper discusses the state of the art on interactions between pollution, natural elements and climate conditions; explores some air pollution impacts on humans and the environment, and the literature on relations between air quality and urban form, pointing to a general lack of research in the field. It suggests a way of modeling and testing these relation in a case study in the city of Rio de Janeiro. It does so exploring statistical methods to understand the distribution of key urban pollutants, namely sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matters (PM); along with morphological variables (ground space index and building verticality); and meteorological factors (wind direction and speed, rainfall and air temperature). Results point to grades of influence of the ground space index and building verticality on pollutants concentration and suggest new avenues for empirical and methodological work.摘要 随着城市在集聚全球人口方面的作用日益凸显，其也已成为污染的重要源头。本文探究了城市形态对空气污染物浓度的潜在影响。鉴于巴西城市研究领域中该研究方向尚处于起步阶段，本文首先对该问题进行全景式梳理。随后，本文探讨了污染、自然要素与气候条件之间相互作用的研究现状；梳理了空气污染对人类与环境的部分影响，以及围绕空气质量与城市形态关系的相关文献，并指出该领域普遍存在研究缺口。本文提出了一种可在里约热内卢市案例研究中对上述关联进行建模与验证的方法，该方法通过统计方法解析关键城市污染物的分布特征，即二氧化硫（sulfur dioxide, SO₂）、一氧化碳（carbon monoxide, CO）以及颗粒物（particulate matters, PM）；同时纳入形态变量（地面空间指数（ground space index）与建筑垂直度（building verticality））以及气象因子（风向、风速、降雨量与气温）开展分析。研究结果表明，地面空间指数与建筑垂直度对污染物浓度存在不同程度的影响，并为该领域的实证与方法论研究指明了新方向。