Urban daily life routines and human exposure to environmental discomfort

Abstract

This study suggests a shift in focus from studying environmental discomfort in urban strategic stations, from which average results for the city or specific results for selected sites are deduced, and from measuring environmental conditions in fixed monitoring stations to a study in which we monitor, with mobile portable sensors, the exposure of people to environmental sources of discomfort while performing their daily life activities. Significant variations in sense of discomfort were measured in this study, and almost half of this variability was found to be explained while four independent environmental variables were considered: air quality (concentrations of CO), noise level, climatic variables (thermal load), and social loads. The study conducted in the city of Tel Aviv, which suffers from hot, humid summers and cool winters, and noise levels that reach the average levels of 85 dB, and relatively lower levels of exposure to the other potential stressors. These levels of combined exposures result in moderate levels of discomfort for young, healthy people once they experience the more stressing environments in the city. It is shown also that noise from other people is the most salient source of discomfort in Tel Aviv. Levels of discomfort accumulate during the working hours, either due to the impact of social loads or noise, but the subjects showed good coping abilities that enabled them to recover in late afternoons. It seems that thermal load does not have immediate impact, but rather cumulative ones, mainly during transitional seasons when subjects are less adaptive to extreme changes in weather.

Basement Car Parks A Domicile of Radon Pollution Validated By Discomfort Index

“…The high Discomfort index (DI) at low temperature and high RH increasing the radon concentrations attributed to the permeability of the soil that mobilizes radon into the spaces in the basement buildings. This was found in agreement with the observations of the previous investigators [2,3,6,9,22] and observed within the standard permissible limits [8,24,25,26]. The high radon concentrations in car parks from sites GVI and GIV attributed to the influence of (a) external sources from the soil, (b) poor car parks maintenance in these areas and, (c) exhaust smoke emanated from the cars due to frequent car parking by the residents in such populated areas.…”

“…This study observed an increasing trend of radon concentrations with RH. This was in line with the earlier findings [9,18,23,26]. Earlier [4,7,9,11] researchers hypothesized the influence of radon concentrations from the outdoor environment.…”

“…People living in large cities are subjected to greater risk to mortality due to high air temperature when compared to the surrounding country and calculated by Thom's formula [25], a computation of Discomfort Index (DI). Wind action, chemical pollutants and social load plays a role in the comfort of indoor occupants [26]. Investigations on radon and DI were made in these areas.…”

An Agent-Based Modeling Framework for Simulating Human Exposure to Environmental Stresses in Urban Areas

“…Leyk et al [45] presented a spatial individual-based model prototype for assessing the potential pesticide exposure of farm workers that tracked their individual movements and activities. Similarly, more complex modeling tools were developed for the quantification of human exposure to traffic-related air pollution within distinct microenvironments by using a GPS trajectory analysis of the individuals in the city area [10,24]. The findings of these approaches showed that people were exposed to environmental sources of discomfort while performing their daily life activities [7,10].…”

The impact of urban conditions on different tree species in public green areas in the city of Poznan

“…NO x , SO 2 , O 3 ), but they do not provide direct evidence for the influence of changes in the quality and cleanness of air in urbanised areas on the state of health and vegetation of plants (Honour et al 2009). Studies conducted in different cities in the United States have proved that trees growing in urbanised areas may reduce pollution consisting of ozone, suspended particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides (Paoletti et al 2011, Baumgardner et al 2012, Schnell et al 2012.…”