IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i8p1565-d159649.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Examining the Impacts of Urban Form on Air Pollution in Developing Countries: A Case Study of China’s Megacities

Author

Listed:
  • Chunshan Zhou

    (Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Urbanization and Geo-simulation, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
    These authors contribute equally to this work.)

  • Shijie Li

    (Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Urbanization and Geo-simulation, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
    These authors contribute equally to this work.)

  • Shaojian Wang

    (Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Urbanization and Geo-simulation, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China)

Abstract

Urban form is increasingly being identified as an important determinant of air pollution in developed countries. However, the effect of urban form on air pollution in developing countries has not been adequately addressed in the literature to date, which points to an evident omission in current literature. In order to fill this gap, this study was designed to estimate the impacts of urban form on air pollution for a panel made up of China’s five most rapidly developing megacities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Guangzhou) using time series data from 2000 to 2012. Using the official Air Pollution Index (API) data, this study developed three quantitative indicators: mean air pollution index (MAPI), air pollution ratio (APR), and continuous air pollution ratio (CAPR), to evaluate air pollution levels. Moreover, seven landscape metrics were calculated for the assessment of urban form based on three aspects (urban size, urban shape irregularity, and urban fragmentation) using remote sensing data. Panel data models were subsequently employed to quantify the links between urban form and air pollution. The empirical results demonstrate that urban expansion surprisingly helps to reduce air pollution. The substitution of clean energy for dirty energy that results from urbanization in China offers a possible explanation for this finding. Furthermore, urban shape irregularity positively correlated with the number of days with polluted air conditions, a result could be explained in terms of the influence of urban geometry on traffic congestion in Chinese cities. In addition, a negative association was identified between urban fragmentation and the number of continuous days of air pollution, indicating that polycentric urban forms should be adopted in order to shorten continuous pollution processes. If serious about achieving the meaningful alleviation of air pollution, decision makers and urban planners should take urban form into account when developing sustainable cities in developing countries like China.

Suggested Citation

  • Chunshan Zhou & Shijie Li & Shaojian Wang, 2018. "Examining the Impacts of Urban Form on Air Pollution in Developing Countries: A Case Study of China’s Megacities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-18, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:8:p:1565-:d:159649
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1565/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1565/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lisa Schweitzer & Jiangping Zhou, 2010. "Neighborhood Air Quality, Respiratory Health, and Vulnerable Populations in Compact and Sprawled Regions," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 363-371.
    2. Wang, Shaojian & Fang, Chuanglin & Wang, Yang, 2016. "Spatiotemporal variations of energy-related CO2 emissions in China and its influencing factors: An empirical analysis based on provincial panel data," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 505-515.
    3. Theodore J. Mansfield & Daniel A. Rodriguez & Joseph Huegy & Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson, 2015. "The Effects of Urban Form on Ambient Air Pollution and Public Health Risk: A Case Study in Raleigh, North Carolina," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(5), pages 901-918, May.
    4. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    5. Fang, Chuanglin & Wang, Shaojian & Li, Guangdong, 2015. "Changing urban forms and carbon dioxide emissions in China: A case study of 30 provincial capital cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 519-531.
    6. William P. Anderson & Pavlos S. Kanaroglou & Eric J. Miller, 1996. "Urban Form, Energy and the Environment: A Review of Issues, Evidence and Policy," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 33(1), pages 7-35, February.
    7. Wang, Shaojian & Fang, Chuanglin & Guan, Xingliang & Pang, Bo & Ma, Haitao, 2014. "Urbanisation, energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions in China: A panel data analysis of China’s provinces," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 738-749.
    8. Tanaka, Shinsuke, 2015. "Environmental regulations on air pollution in China and their impact on infant mortality," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 90-103.
    9. Baltagi, Badi H., 1996. "Testing for random individual and time effects using a Gauss-Newton regression," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 189-192, February.
    10. Matteo Convertino & L James Valverde Jr, 2013. "Portfolio Decision Analysis Framework for Value-Focused Ecosystem Management," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(6), pages 1-14, June.
    11. Hixson, Mark & Mahmud, Abdullah & Hu, Jianlin & Bai, Song & Niemeier, Debbie A. & Handy, Susan L & Gao, Shengyi & Lund, Jay R & Sullivan, Dana C & Kleeman, M J, 2010. "Influence of Regional Development Policies and Clean Technology Adoption on Future Air Pollution Exposure," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt64p3m31g, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    12. Wang, Shaojian & Liu, Xiaoping & Zhou, Chunshan & Hu, Jincan & Ou, Jinpei, 2017. "Examining the impacts of socioeconomic factors, urban form, and transportation networks on CO2 emissions in China’s megacities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P1), pages 189-200.
    13. Colin Vance & Ralf Hedel, 2007. "The impact of urban form on automobile travel: disentangling causation from correlation," Transportation, Springer, vol. 34(5), pages 575-588, September.
    14. Luis Alberiko Gil-Alaña & Carlos Pestana Barros & Zhongfei Chen, 2016. "The persistence of air pollution in four mega-cities of China," NCID Working Papers 04/2016, Navarra Center for International Development, University of Navarra.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mei Wu & Guangwei Zhang & Liping Wang & Xiaoping Liu & Zhengwei Wu, 2022. "Influencing Factors on Airflow and Pollutant Dispersion around Buildings under the Combined Effect of Wind and Buoyancy—A Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Diana Saadi & Emanuel Tirosh & Izhak Schnell, 2021. "The Relationship between City Size and Carbon Monoxide (CO) Concentration and Their Effect on Heart Rate Variability (HRV)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-13, January.
    3. Zhujun Dai & Duanyang Liu & Kun Yu & Lu Cao & Youshan Jiang, 2020. "Meteorological Variables and Synoptic Patterns Associated with Air Pollutions in Eastern China during 2013–2018," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-19, April.
    4. Awais Piracha & Muhammad Tariq Chaudhary, 2022. "Urban Air Pollution, Urban Heat Island and Human Health: A Review of the Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-19, July.
    5. Dongsheng Zhan & Qianyun Zhang & Xiaoren Xu & Chunshui Zeng, 2022. "Spatiotemporal Distribution of Continuous Air Pollution and Its Relationship with Socioeconomic and Natural Factors in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-17, May.
    6. Chaosu Li & Yan Song & Li Tian & Wei Ouyang, 2020. "Urban Form, Air Quality, and Cardiorespiratory Mortality: A Path Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-14, February.
    7. Ramesh Chandra Das & Tonmoy Chatterjee & Enrico Ivaldi, 2021. "Sustainability of Urbanization, Non-Agricultural Output and Air Pollution in the World’s Top 20 Polluting Countries," Data, MDPI, vol. 6(6), pages 1-16, June.
    8. Rong Wu & Yongli Zhang & Meilin Dai & Qingyin Li & Changlong Sun, 2023. "The Heterogeneity of the Drivers of Urban Form in China: Perspectives from Regional Disparities and Development Stage Variations," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-20, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ramesh Chandra Das & Tonmoy Chatterjee & Enrico Ivaldi, 2021. "Sustainability of Urbanization, Non-Agricultural Output and Air Pollution in the World’s Top 20 Polluting Countries," Data, MDPI, vol. 6(6), pages 1-16, June.
    2. Wang, Shaojian & Shi, Chenyi & Fang, Chuanglin & Feng, Kuishuang, 2019. "Examining the spatial variations of determinants of energy-related CO2 emissions in China at the city level using Geographically Weighted Regression Model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 95-105.
    3. Changlong Sun & Yongli Zhang & Wenwen Ma & Rong Wu & Shaojian Wang, 2022. "The Impacts of Urban Form on Carbon Emissions: A Comprehensive Review," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-20, August.
    4. Shi, Kaifang & Chen, Yun & Li, Linyi & Huang, Chang, 2018. "Spatiotemporal variations of urban CO2 emissions in China: A multiscale perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 218-229.
    5. Liu, Xiaoping & Ou, Jinpei & Chen, Yimin & Wang, Shaojian & Li, Xia & Jiao, Limin & Liu, Yaolin, 2019. "Scenario simulation of urban energy-related CO2 emissions by coupling the socioeconomic factors and spatial structures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1163-1178.
    6. Wang, Wei-Zheng & Liu, Lan-Cui & Liao, Hua & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2021. "Impacts of urbanization on carbon emissions: An empirical analysis from OECD countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    7. Wang, Shaojian & Wang, Jieyu & Zhou, Yuquan, 2018. "Estimating the effects of socioeconomic structure on CO2 emissions in China using an econometric analysis framework," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 18-27.
    8. Fang, Chuanglin & Wang, Shaojian & Li, Guangdong, 2015. "Changing urban forms and carbon dioxide emissions in China: A case study of 30 provincial capital cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 519-531.
    9. Wang, Shaojian & Li, Guangdong & Fang, Chuanglin, 2018. "Urbanization, economic growth, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions: Empirical evidence from countries with different income levels," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2144-2159.
    10. Shi, Kaifang & Yu, Bailang & Zhou, Yuyu & Chen, Yun & Yang, Chengshu & Chen, Zuoqi & Wu, Jianping, 2019. "Spatiotemporal variations of CO2 emissions and their impact factors in China: A comparative analysis between the provincial and prefectural levels," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 170-181.
    11. Chen, Jing & Zhou, Chunshan & Wang, Shaojian & Li, Shijie, 2018. "Impacts of energy consumption structure, energy intensity, economic growth, urbanization on PM2.5 concentrations in countries globally," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 94-105.
    12. Wang, Shaojian & Zeng, Jingyuan & Liu, Xiaoping, 2019. "Examining the multiple impacts of technological progress on CO2 emissions in China: A panel quantile regression approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 140-150.
    13. Shijie Li & Chunshan Zhou & Shaojian Wang & Shuang Gao & Zhitao Liu, 2019. "Spatial Heterogeneity in the Determinants of Urban Form: An Analysis of Chinese Cities with a GWR Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, January.
    14. Zhixiong Wang & Fuhan Li & Zihan Xie & Qingyin Li & Yongli Zhang & Meilin Dai, 2023. "Decoupling CO 2 Emissions from Economic Growth in China’s Cities from 2000 to 2020: A Case Study of the Pearl River Delta Agglomeration," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-14, September.
    15. O'Brien, Raymond & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2003. "Testing the exogeneity assumption in panel data models with "non classical" disturbances," Discussion Paper Series In Economics And Econometrics 0302, Economics Division, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton.
    16. Xiaoxu, Xing & Qiangmin, Xi & Weihao, Shi, 2024. "Impact of urban compactness on carbon emission in Chinese cities: From moderating effects of industrial diversity and job-housing imbalances," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    17. Sun, Xudong & Li, Jiashuo & Qiao, Han & Zhang, Bo, 2017. "Energy implications of China's regional development: New insights from multi-regional input-output analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 118-131.
    18. Diana Saadi & Emanuel Tirosh & Izhak Schnell, 2021. "The Relationship between City Size and Carbon Monoxide (CO) Concentration and Their Effect on Heart Rate Variability (HRV)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-13, January.
    19. Yongxing Li & Wei Guo & Peixian Li & Xuesheng Zhao & Jinke Liu, 2023. "Exploring the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of CO 2 Emissions through a Combination of Nighttime Light and MODIS NDVI Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-17, August.
    20. Badi H. Baltagi, 1999. "Specification Tests in Panel Data Models Using Artificial Regressions," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 55-56, pages 277-297.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:8:p:1565-:d:159649. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.