Urban land use, air toxics and public health: Assessing hazardous exposures at the neighborhood scale
- Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and School of International and Public Affairs, 400 Avery Hall, 1172 Amsterdam Ave. New York, NY 10027 (United States)
Land use data are increasingly understood as important indicators of potential environmental health risk in urban areas where micro-scale or neighborhood level hazard exposure data are not routinely collected. This paper aims to offer a method for estimating the distribution of air toxics in urban neighborhoods using land use information because actual air monitoring data rarely exist at this scale. Using Geographic Information System spatial modeling tools, we estimate air toxics concentrations across neighborhoods in New York City and statistically compare our model with the US Environmental Protection Agency's National Air Toxic Assessment and air monitoring data across three NYC neighborhoods. We conclude that land use data can act as a good proxy for estimating neighborhood scale air toxics, particularly in the absence of monitoring data. In addition, the paper suggests that land use data can expand the reach of environmental impact assessments that routinely exclude analyses of potential exposures to urban air toxics at the neighborhood scale.
- OSTI ID:
- 20972038
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Vol. 27, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.eiar.2006.10.004; PII: S0195-9255(06)00126-0; Copyright (c) 2006 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0195-9255
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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