Understanding air quality and its role in urban transportation

There is scarcely a city in the entire world that is not affected by air pollution. This is bad, for the citizens, the environment, and the economy. In this session, you will understand what air quality is, what the main pollutants and their sources are, how to measure them, and the contribution of urban transport to this ubiquitous problem.

When it comes to sustainable mobility planning, it is essential to understand air quality and its role in urban transportation. This is the first of two sessions on air quality, that will give an overview of the differences between Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and air pollution, the main air pollutants, their impact on health and their main sources and the contribution of transport to air pollution. Furthermore, this session explores tools and methods for an air quality assessment in your city and is drawing valuable insights from an air quality study in Yaoundé. We collected a few highlights from this session for you (NOTE: To watch the session recording in English please activate subtitles in the menu settings of the video on YouTube):

• Who is most exposed to road traffic pollution? Listen to Juliette Laurent's conclusion on the most important transport-related air pollution factors and specific issues.
• What data and tools should be used to diagnose transport-related air pollution? Listen to a summary here.
• Did you know that an air quality monitoring system can be built up step by step from just a few reference stations? If you have a limited budget, find out how to start air quality monitoring in your city with just two measuring stations, and how to choose their location.
• Micro-sensors are in full development thanks to their low investment cost, but they also have limitations and shortcomings. Find out here what to look out for before integrating microsensors into a monitoring system.
• Find out why communication and public information should not be forgotten when installing an air quality monitoring system.
• Find out how cities in other continents are working with Airparif to improve their air quality management systems.
• Diagnosis, action plan and implementation: follow in detail the steps followed by the air quality improvement project in Yaoundé.
• See how the air pollution map overlaps with Yaoundé's main roads and most densely populated areas
• Discover how the comparison of data between weekdays and weekends has shown the strong influence of travel on air quality.
• In addition to traffic intensity, the presence of unpaved roads also greatly increases air pollution. Find out how.
• How can a mass transport project improve air quality? The project in Yaoundé offers encouraging perspectives.

You can also watch the full recording on our YouTube channel (please activate subtitles in English or your preferred language).The session presentation is available in English via the link below.