Modeling human exposure to air pollutants in an urban area

A modeling approach was applied to an urban area, in order to study the effects of urban canopy in favoring critical situations of exposure to traffic induced air pollutants. The atmospheric dispersion of NOx, emitted by road traffic, was simulated inside the urban canopy layer by means of the COPERT algorithm and the AUSTAL2000 dispersion model. As expected, high concentrations occurred inside street canyons with consequences on the human exposure. The positive effect of traffic management options, such as incentivizing the public transportation and excluding the most pollutant vehicles from the circulation, was also investigated.