Article
Environmental Sciences
Yanjun Hu, Han Wang, Hai Yan, Qian Han, Xinge Nan, Kechun Zhao, Zhiyi Bao
Summary: Grasping information about street trees through street view imagery is crucial for quantifying their ecological benefits and costs. This study used Baidu Street View to investigate the distribution, size structure, and diversity of street trees in Hangzhou. The dominant species in Hangzhou was Cinnamomum camphora, and the diversity of street trees was lower and less uniform in newer urban areas. Furthermore, as distance from the city center increased, the size and diversity of street trees varied. The use of street view imagery simplifies data collection and aids in strategy development for urban environmental management.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Chunping Miao, Pingping Li, Shuai Yu, Wei Chen, Xingyuan He
Summary: The morphology of urban street canyons plays a vital role in outdoor air quality and should be considered when designing tree planting schemes. This study conducted field investigations in residential areas to assess the reduction rate of particulate matter by trees in canyons with different aspect ratios and orientations. The results showed that street trees had the biggest impact on reducing the concentration of fine particulate matter in narrow canyons, while they were most effective in reducing the concentration of coarse particulate matter in wide canyons.
URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Xinyang Yu, Younggu Her, Wenqian Huo, Guowei Chen, Wei Qi
Summary: This study developed a framework using Baidu Street View images and a new Vegetation Greenery Index (VGI) to assess the spatio-temporal variation of street-side vegetation greenery. The proposed method accurately quantified vegetation greenery and identified locations of substantial change in urban greenery.
URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Tingting Yang, Suyin Zhou, Zhijie Huang, Aijun Xu, Junhua Ye, Jianxin Yin
Summary: In this paper, a comprehensive urban street tree dataset is proposed, consisting of 41,467 high-resolution images of 50 tree species, with 22,872 annotated images. The dataset includes subdatasets for leaves, trunks, branches, flowers, and fruits, captured under various conditions. Various vision algorithms were evaluated for tree species identification and instance segmentation tasks.
COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS IN AGRICULTURE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Pir Mohammad, Soheila Aghlmand, Ashkan Fadaei, Sadaf Gachkar, Darya Gachkar, Alireza Karimi
Summary: Urban valleys play a crucial role in improving pedestrian thermal comfort along urban streets, with parameters such as surface temperature, wind speed, and tree cover significantly impacting thermal conditions. The study revealed that combining low-albedo pavements with tree cover can be the most effective way to enhance thermal comfort in urban environments.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Geon Kang, Jae-Jin Kim
Summary: Vertical forests are environmentally friendly solutions for air quality and urban heat problems. Using a computational fluid dynamics model, this study found that while vertical forests can reduce fine particle deposition, there is an increase in fine particles in the lower layer of street canyons due to reduced wind speed. This highlights the need for a comprehensive evaluation and optimal design of vertical forests.
SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Ming-Hua Huang, Yu Huang, Jun-Ji Cao, Wen-Quan Tao
Summary: The study shows that air cleaning street lamps are more effective than reducing emissions from automobiles in improving air quality in street canyons. A better method to improve air quality is to combine emission reduction measures and air cleaning street lamps.
BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Junyou Liu, Bohong Zheng, Yanfen Xiang, Jia Fan
Summary: This study discusses the influence of tree height on PM2.5 concentration on both sides of city streets through a combination of field monitoring and ENVI-met simulation. The results show that roadside trees can increase PM2.5 concentration in narrow street canyons, while the absence of roadside trees allows PM2.5 from traffic sources to spread more easily. When the height of roadside trees is 5 meters and their crown widths are smaller, the PM2.5 concentration is relatively low. However, there is no optimal height of roadside trees for PM2.5 pollution in street canyons, and the selection of tree height should be based on the specific situation.
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Tianhong Zhao, Xiucheng Liang, Wei Tu, Zhengdong Huang, Filip Biljecki
Summary: Based on machine learning, a new application of street view imagery is introduced to estimate large-area high-resolution urban soundscapes. This approach enables low-cost but accurate and detailed sensing of urban soundscapes, providing an alternative means to generate soundscape maps.
COMPUTERS ENVIRONMENT AND URBAN SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Gautham Krishnamoorthy, Monika E. Kuznia, KayLee M. Smith, Wayne S. Seames, Yueming Wang, Jost O. L. Wendt
Summary: Recent experiments and numerical simulations showed a significant increase in ash deposition rates in oxy-coal combustion systems, with aerodynamic effects playing a dominant role and simplistic modeling approaches leading to inaccurate predictions. The study highlights the importance of considering aerodynamics and particle size distributions in predicting deposit characteristics.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Chunping Miao, Shuai Yu, Yuanman Hu, Miao Liu, Jing Yao, Yue Zhang, Xingyuan He, Wei Chen
Summary: This study conducted a seasonal field investigation in a street canyon in Shenyang, China, and found that street trees have varying effects on particulate matter concentration near ground level throughout different seasons, sometimes beneficial, and sometimes worsening pollution levels.
SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
William R. Selbig, Steven P. Loheide, William Shuster, Bryant C. Scharenbroch, Robert C. Coville, James Kruegler, William Avery, Ralph Haefner, David Nowak
Summary: This study using an experimental design found that street trees have an impact on managing urban stormwater runoff, with tree removal leading to an increase in surface runoff volume. However, tree removal did not significantly affect peak discharge. Based on the research, the runoff volume reduction benefit was estimated at 6376 liters per tree.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Studies
Robert Richardson
Summary: This article explores how policy implementation in urban design governance is shared among actors beyond their specific sector responsibilities and motivations. Using a case study of a Scottish local authority, the study highlights the unique role of design review panel members in street-level implementation and how their discretion is influenced by both public and private interests.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Mehrdad Karimimoshaver, Rezvan Khalvandi, Mohammad Khalvandi
Summary: The configuration of urban street-canyons, especially the aspect ratios of buildings, plays a crucial role in directing wind flow and affecting air temperature changes and urban heat islands. Studies have found that ratios of H/W=1 and L/W=2 are the most suitable for temperature reduction and UHI control.
SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jian Hang, Xuemei Wang, Jie Liang, Xuelin Zhang, Luolin Wu, Yaxing Du, Yifei Zhang, Riccardo Buccolieri
Summary: This study investigates the impact of urban trees on O3-NOx-VOCs chemistry and pollutant dispersion in street canyons using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The results show that the aerodynamic effects of trees have a greater impact on photochemical pollutant concentrations than BVOCs emission and dry deposition. Moreover, the study reveals that the emissions from trees, vehicles, and the background contribute to O3 production. Overall, this study provides an effective tool for developing sustainable urban policies.
ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
J. L. Santiago, E. Rivas, A. R. Gamarra, M. G. Vivanco, R. Buccolieri, A. Martilli, Y. Lechon, F. Martin
Summary: This study investigates the health impacts of atmospheric pollution in urban environments and evaluates different approaches to estimate population exposure. The results suggest that a spatial resolution of 1 km x 1 km or finer is required to obtain accurate estimates of total population exposure and health-related externalities. Furthermore, using air quality monitoring station concentrations can lead to significant errors in terms of population exposure.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jose-Luis Santiago, Beatriz Sanchez, Esther Rivas, Marta G. Vivanco, Mark Richard Theobald, Juan Luis Garrido, Victoria Gil, Alberto Martilli, Alejandro Rodriguez-Sanchez, Riccardo Buccolieri, Fernando Martin
Summary: This article studies the effects of the measures considered for 2030 in the Spanish National Air Pollution Control Programme (NAPCP) on air quality. High spatial resolution modeling shows that in the emission scenarios for 2030, annual mean NO2 concentrations are estimated to be below 40 μg/m³ only with the additional measures of NAPCP.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Alberto Martilli, Beatriz Sanchez, Jose Luis Santiago, Domingo Rasilla, Gianluca Pappaccogli, Fernando Allende, Fernando Martin, Carlos Roman-Cascon, Carlos Yaguee, Felipe Fernandez
Summary: Accurate simulation of dispersion during wintertime thermal inversions is crucial for understanding the phenomena and improving air quality strategies. This study used WRF with the BEP-BEM scheme to simulate dispersion during a thermal inversion episode in Madrid, Spain. Results showed spatial variability of dispersive conditions, with pollutants accumulating in topographical depressions. Additionally, a simple empirical method for deriving NO2 from NOx concentrations was proposed. The model was also used to derive information useful for air pollution abatement strategies, such as optimizing emissions throughout the diurnal cycle.
ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH
(2022)
Editorial Material
Forestry
Esther Rivas, Jose-Luis Santiago, Beatriz Sanchez
Article
Food Science & Technology
Laura Rustioni, Alessio Altomare, Gvantsa Shanshiashvili, Fabio Greco, Riccardo Buccolieri, Ileana Blanco, Gabriele Cola, Daniela Fracassetti
Summary: This research evaluates the composition of wines made with white grapes susceptible to sunburn symptoms. The canopy management of 'Verdeca' grapevines in South Italy was studied, with grapes vinified under different conditions. The quality and quantity of grapes produced were significantly affected, with smaller sunburned berries found on unshaded bunches. The winemaking process also had an impact on the resulting wines, with higher pH and extraction of phenolics observed in wines made with sunburned grapes.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Andrea Zonato, Alberto Martilli, Jose Luis Santiago, Dino Zardi, Lorenzo Giovannini
Summary: Various urban canopy parameterizations have been developed to account for the effects of buildings on mean flow and turbulent fields in mesoscale meteorological models. However, these parameterizations often require tuning for different urban configurations. This study presents a new turbulence closure model that directly solves the equations for turbulent kinetic energy and its dissipation rate independently of turbulence length scales.
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Antonio Esposito, Myrtille Grulois, Gianluca Pappaccogli, Olga Palusci, Antonio Donateo, Pietro Salizzoni, Jose Luis Santiago, Alberto Martilli, Giuseppe Maffeis, Riccardo Buccolieri
Summary: This paper proposes a methodology to calculate four morphological parameters of urban areas in five cities in Italy. The results show an increase in building height and plan area index from south to north. The proposed methodology can be replicated in other cities and is useful for classification and studying urban heat island effects.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Haonan Pan, Yihan Luo, Liyue Zeng, Yurong Shi, Jian Hang, Xuelin Zhang, Jiajia Hua, Bo Zhao, Zhongli Gu, Riccardo Buccolieri
Summary: This study investigates the thermal regulation of green and blue infrastructure (GBI) on different types of urban pedestrian walkways in Guangzhou. The results show that green infrastructure has the strongest cooling effect on outdoor air temperature (Ta) on cloudy evenings, while blue infrastructure exhibits the highest correlations with Ta cooling on clear afternoons. Both green and blue infrastructure have a greater cooling effect in low-rise areas compared to high-rise areas. The integrated GBI has a higher cooling intensity in high-rise areas, but slightly lower cooling potential during noon and afternoon in low-rise areas.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Xin Guo, Mingjie Zhang, Zhi Gao, Jianshun Zhang, Riccardo Buccolieri
Summary: Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted to study the spatial distribution of traffic-related PM2.5 in typical neighborhoods in Nanjing, China. The dispersion of pollutants was analyzed along horizontal and vertical directions, and the near-facade concentration on different floors was assessed. The study quantified the harm to residents' health caused by excessive concentration and provided insights for improving early design.
SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jian Hang, Xuemei Wang, Jie Liang, Xuelin Zhang, Luolin Wu, Yaxing Du, Yifei Zhang, Riccardo Buccolieri
Summary: This study investigates the impact of urban trees on O3-NOx-VOCs chemistry and pollutant dispersion in street canyons using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The results show that the aerodynamic effects of trees have a greater impact on photochemical pollutant concentrations than BVOCs emission and dry deposition. Moreover, the study reveals that the emissions from trees, vehicles, and the background contribute to O3 production. Overall, this study provides an effective tool for developing sustainable urban policies.
ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Beatriz Sanchez, Matthias Roth, Pratiman Patel, Andres Simon-Moral
Summary: Differences in land surface characteristics produce spatial and temporal variability in air temperature, creating an urban heat island effect. A simple equation is developed to map the intensity of the urban heat island phenomenon in Singapore based on specific weather conditions, showing good agreement with observations. The resulting maps can be used to assess population vulnerability and inform urban planning strategies.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Antonio Donateo, Olga Palusci, Gianluca Pappaccogli, Antonio Esposito, Alberto Martilli, Jose Luis Santiago, Riccardo Buccolieri
Summary: This study examines the Urban Heat Island (UHI) in a Mediterranean city and evaluates its impact on human thermal comfort, considering heat wave effects. The UHI intensity peaked at night in the city's core and was weaker during the central hours of the day. The study highlights the importance of implementing measures to mitigate thermal discomfort, especially during high temperatures exacerbated by the UHI effect.
SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
J. L. Santiago, E. Rivas, B. Sanchez, M. G. Vivanco, M. R. Theobald, J. L. Garrido, V. Gil, R. Buccolieri, A. Martilli, A. Rodriguez-Sanchez, F. Martin
Summary: This paper aims to assess the impact of individual measures for NOx emission reduction on NO2 concentrations in an urban district of Madrid City, and analyzes the effect of electric vehicles in reducing vehicle exhaust emissions. The study found that the promotion of electric vehicles can have a certain impact on NO2 concentrations, but achieving EU limits requires stronger traffic emission reductions.
AIR QUALITY ATMOSPHERE AND HEALTH
(2023)