Investigating people awareness towards traffic-related air pollution
M C Adriana1*, A S Wartaman1, H M Taki1

Urban and Regional Planning Department, Universitas Trisakti, Jakarta 11510, Indonesia

Abstract

Air pollution is one of the main factors causing adverse health effects, such as cardiovascular disease, morbidity, and even mortality to the human. During the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, the effects become more prominent, where studies found the link between air pollution and covid-19 severity and lethality through its impact on chronic disease. In the urban environment, transport is known to be one of the significant factors causing air pollution. This paper aims to investigate people awareness of traffic-related air pollution by comparing three streets in London which have different traffic levels. Air pollution is measured by particulate number concentration (PNC) and people^s awareness is measured by their dwell time outside cafés and restaurants. Results show that although traffic does have impact on roadside air pollution, other factors such as bus number, cooking activities, and smoking also emit significant air pollution, yet no evidence of relationship was highlighted. By correlation and multivariate linear regression, study indicates that air pollution and traffic level significantly affecting people dwell time, where they tend to spend longer time in high polluted and more traffic-crowded areas. According to this perspective, it shows the unawareness o people towards air quality in their surroundings.

Keywords: air pollution , traffic-related , particulate number concentration

Topic: Symposium on Energy and Environmental Science and Engineering