Premium
Building health assessed through environmental parameters after the OTS in the city centre of O xford, UK
Author(s) -
Thornbush Mary J
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
area
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1475-4762
pISSN - 0004-0894
DOI - 10.1111/area.12161
Subject(s) - pollutant , air quality index , air pollutants , atmosphere (unit) , environmental science , city centre , air pollution , environmental engineering , meteorology , chemistry , geography , archaeology , organic chemistry
The O xford Transport Strategy ( OTS ) implemented in the O xford city centre in J une 1999 had an environmental impact associated with reduced car traffic and improved air quality, particularly of SO 2 and CO . The effect on reductions in atmospheric pollutants and improved air quality is examined in this paper. By examining records of change associated with specific traffic records and mean annual measures of pollutants, including NO 2 , NO X , SO 2 , CO , O 3 and PM 10 , it is possible to relate trends over 15 years (between 1997 and 2012) and evaluate the impacts on buildings. Specifically, this study reveals that soiling was reduced following the OTS and that building decay features stabilised. This occurred when there were reduced levels of traffic on some streets and improved air quality (at O xford Centre, High Street and generally at S t E bbes) in the O xford city centre. Reduced concentrations of all measured pollutants (except O 3 at the urban background site; with the least reductions in NO 2 and PM 10 and greatest reductions in NO X , SO 2 and CO ) indicate a cleaner urban atmosphere since the OTS . Since O 3 was the only traffic pollutant that slightly increased in the post‐ OTS atmosphere, its impact on building stone merits more research.