monitoring air quality at the person level, possibly using portable and easy-to-wear
monitors. These two factors, together with a dynamic view of exposition variations,
will result in a more comprehensive view on individual exposure. If this could be
combined with human biomonitoring, i.e. measuring the concentration of a certain
pollutant or one of its by-products in the human body, it would enrich our current
knowledge regarding the impact of air pollution on human health. This would
clearly necessitate the consideration of dynamic maps of population and pollution
(i.e. considering the hourly population living/working habits depending on age,
gender, activity… and modelling air quality maps with the same level of detail).
Most plans and projects are focused on long-term exposure that has much greater
public health impact. Not all acute effects are included in long-term impacts and
therefore short-term impact on morbidity and mortality might be underestimated.
Mortality and morbidity factors of long-term NO 2 and O 3 exposure should also be
investigated, as well as NO 2 exposure effects in particularly polluted environments
(i.e. busy roads).
Overall, the most critical element in respect of HIA is the lack of general
methods to deal with the multi-pollutant case. In all urban areas, in fact, citizens are
exposed to a cocktail of different pollutants, the combined effect of which is largely
unknown.
4.3.5 Responses (Methodologies to Design Measures)
The RESPONSES module includes methodologies that can be formalized and
implemented to design AQ plans. This is related on one side to the type of decisions
that can be assumed at local level and how they can be integrated into other policy
domains (decision variables), on the other side to the methodologies to select such
decisions (decision problem). It is clear that the two aspects are strictly interrelated,
and, for instance, the definition of the decision variables can affect the formalization
of the decision problem.
As to the first aspect, the inclusion of socio-economic aspects in the decision
problem formulation (e.g. the public acceptance of different measures) and the land
planning aspect should be considered in AQ plans. Such plans should also be
tightly connected with other policy areas (e.g. energy, transport, etc.) and related
plans.
Possibly, the main challenge in this field is the inclusion of
“non-technical/efficiency measures” within the planning options. The use of these
measures is now limited to scenario analysis, because it is very difficult to estimate
removal efficiencies and costs of such measures, particularly, because they impact
many other sectors beside air quality. For instance, car sharing has the potential to
reduce not only exhaust emissions, but also accidents and noise. How can the
overall cost be associated to the benefits in such diverse sectors? An additional
complexity is related to the use of these measures in an optimization framework;
from this point of view, new formal approaches need to be devised.
78
C. Belis et al.
monitors. These two factors, together with a dynamic view of exposition variations,
will result in a more comprehensive view on individual exposure. If this could be
combined with human biomonitoring, i.e. measuring the concentration of a certain
pollutant or one of its by-products in the human body, it would enrich our current
knowledge regarding the impact of air pollution on human health. This would
clearly necessitate the consideration of dynamic maps of population and pollution
(i.e. considering the hourly population living/working habits depending on age,
gender, activity… and modelling air quality maps with the same level of detail).
Most plans and projects are focused on long-term exposure that has much greater
public health impact. Not all acute effects are included in long-term impacts and
therefore short-term impact on morbidity and mortality might be underestimated.
Mortality and morbidity factors of long-term NO 2 and O 3 exposure should also be
investigated, as well as NO 2 exposure effects in particularly polluted environments
(i.e. busy roads).
Overall, the most critical element in respect of HIA is the lack of general
methods to deal with the multi-pollutant case. In all urban areas, in fact, citizens are
exposed to a cocktail of different pollutants, the combined effect of which is largely
unknown.
4.3.5 Responses (Methodologies to Design Measures)
The RESPONSES module includes methodologies that can be formalized and
implemented to design AQ plans. This is related on one side to the type of decisions
that can be assumed at local level and how they can be integrated into other policy
domains (decision variables), on the other side to the methodologies to select such
decisions (decision problem). It is clear that the two aspects are strictly interrelated,
and, for instance, the definition of the decision variables can affect the formalization
of the decision problem.
As to the first aspect, the inclusion of socio-economic aspects in the decision
problem formulation (e.g. the public acceptance of different measures) and the land
planning aspect should be considered in AQ plans. Such plans should also be
tightly connected with other policy areas (e.g. energy, transport, etc.) and related
plans.
Possibly, the main challenge in this field is the inclusion of
“non-technical/efficiency measures” within the planning options. The use of these
measures is now limited to scenario analysis, because it is very difficult to estimate
removal efficiencies and costs of such measures, particularly, because they impact
many other sectors beside air quality. For instance, car sharing has the potential to
reduce not only exhaust emissions, but also accidents and noise. How can the
overall cost be associated to the benefits in such diverse sectors? An additional
complexity is related to the use of these measures in an optimization framework;
from this point of view, new formal approaches need to be devised.
78
C. Belis et al.