IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/urbpla/v5y2020i4p45-58.html

Public Perception of Urban Air Quality Using Volunteered Geographic Information Services

Author

Listed:
  • Sonja Grossberndt

    (Environmental Impacts and Sustainability Department, NILU—Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Norway)

  • Philipp Schneider

    (Urban Environment and Industry Department, NILU—Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Norway)

  • Hai-Ying Liu

    (Environmental Impacts and Sustainability Department, NILU—Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Norway)

  • Mirjam F. Fredriksen

    (Software and Hardware Development Department, NILU—Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Norway)

  • Nuria Castell

    (Urban Environment and Industry Department, NILU—Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Norway)

  • Panagiota Syropoulou

    (DRAXIS Environmental S.A., Greece)

  • Alena Bartoňová

    (Urban Environment and Industry Department, NILU—Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Norway)

Abstract

Investigating perceived air quality (AQ) in urban areas is a rather new topic of interest. Papers presenting results from studies on perception of AQ have thus far focused on the individual characteristics leading to a certain AQ perception or have compared personal perception with on-site measurements. Here we present a novel approach, namely applying volunteered geographic information (VGI) technologies in urban AQ monitoring. We present two smartphone applications that have been developed and applied in two EU projects (FP7 CITI-SENSE and H2020 hackAIR) to obtain citizens’ perception of AQ. We focus on observations reported through the smartphone apps for the greater Oslo area in Norway. In order to evaluate whether the reports on perceived AQ contain information about the actual spatial patterns of AQ, we carried out a comparison of the perception data against the output from the high-resolution urban AQ model EPISODE. The results indicate an association between modelled annual average pollutant concentrations and the provided perception reports. This demonstrates that the spatial patterns of perceived AQ are not entirely random but follow to some extent what would be expected due to proximity of emission sources and transport. This information shows that VGI about citizens’ perception of AQ has the potential to identify areas with low environmental quality for urban development.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonja Grossberndt & Philipp Schneider & Hai-Ying Liu & Mirjam F. Fredriksen & Nuria Castell & Panagiota Syropoulou & Alena Bartoňová, 2020. "Public Perception of Urban Air Quality Using Volunteered Geographic Information Services," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 45-58.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v5:y:2020:i:4:p:45-58
    DOI: 10.17645/up.v5i4.3165
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/3165
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/up.v5i4.3165?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christian Oltra & Roser Sala, 2018. "Perception of risk from air pollution and reported behaviors: a cross-sectional survey study in four cities," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(7), pages 869-884, July.
    2. Denise Howel & Suzanne Moffatt & Helen Prince & Judith Bush & Christine E Dunn, 2002. "Urban Air Quality in North‐East England: Exploring the Influences on Local Views and Perceptions," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(1), pages 121-130, February.
    3. Samuel D. Brody & B. Mitchell Peck & Wesley E. Highfield, 2004. "Examining Localized Patterns of Air Quality Perception in Texas: A Spatial and Statistical Analysis," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(6), pages 1561-1574, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Sonja Grossberndt & Philipp Schneider & Hai-Ying Liu & Mirjam F. Fredriksen & Nuria Castell & Panagiota Syropoulou & Alena Bartoňová, 2020. "Public Perception of Urban Air Quality Using Volunteered Geographic Information Services," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 45-58.
    2. Àlex Boso & Boris à lvarez & Christian Oltra & à lvaro Hofflinger & Arturo Vallejos-Romero & Jaime Garrido, 2019. "Examining Patterns of Air Quality Perception: A Cluster Analysis for Southern Chilean Cities," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(3), pages 21582440198, July.
    3. Nuno Canha & Ana Rita Justino & Carla A. Gamelas & Susana Marta Almeida, 2022. "Citizens’ Perception on Air Quality in Portugal—How Concern Motivates Awareness," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-17, October.
    4. Dalia M. Muñoz-Pizza & Mariana Villada-Canela & M. A. Reyna & José Luis Texcalac-Sangrador & Jesús Serrano-Lomelin & Álvaro Osornio-Vargas, 2020. "Assessing the Influence of Socioeconomic Status and Air Pollution Levels on the Public Perception of Local Air Quality in a Mexico-US Border City," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-22, June.
    5. Liliana Cori & Gabriele Donzelli & Francesca Gorini & Fabrizio Bianchi & Olivia Curzio, 2020. "Risk Perception of Air Pollution: A Systematic Review Focused on Particulate Matter Exposure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-27, September.
    6. Hausman, Catherine & Stolper, Samuel, 2021. "Inequality, information failures, and air pollution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    7. Séverine Deguen & Claire Ségala & Gaëlle Pédrono & Mounir Mesbah, 2012. "A New Air Quality Perception Scale for Global Assessment of Air Pollution Health Effects," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(12), pages 2043-2054, December.
    8. Hung‐Chih Hung & Tzu‐Wen Wang, 2011. "Determinants and Mapping of Collective Perceptions of Technological Risk: The Case of the Second Nuclear Power Plant in Taiwan," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 668-683, April.
    9. Smith, E. Keith & Henninger, Ella & de Lauriere, Camille Fournier & Koubi, Vally & Moolla, Raeesa & Beiser-McGrath, Liam F. & Bernauer, Thomas, 2025. "Strong demand for clean air policies in emerging markets and developing economies," OSF Preprints 92bst_v1, Center for Open Science.
    10. Zeynep Altinay & Eric Rittmeyer & Lauren L. Morris & Margaret A. Reams, 2021. "Public risk salience of sea level rise in Louisiana, United States," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 11(4), pages 523-536, December.
    11. Kevin Fox Gotham & Richard Campanella & Katie Lauve‐Moon & Bradford Powers, 2018. "Hazard Experience, Geophysical Vulnerability, and Flood Risk Perceptions in a Postdisaster City, the Case of New Orleans," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(2), pages 345-356, February.
    12. Juwon Chung & Seung-Nam Kim & Hyungkyoo Kim, 2019. "The Impact of PM 10 Levels on Pedestrian Volume: Findings from Streets in Seoul, South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-23, December.
    13. Zhihua Xu & Jingzhu Shan, 2018. "The effect of risk perception on willingness to pay for reductions in the health risks posed by particulate matter 2.5: A case study of Beijing, China," Energy & Environment, , vol. 29(8), pages 1319-1337, December.
    14. Maximilian Ueberham & Uwe Schlink & Martin Dijst & Ulrike Weiland, 2019. "Cyclists’ Multiple Environmental Urban Exposures—Comparing Subjective and Objective Measurements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-12, March.
    15. Ahmad Saleh Safi & William James Smith & Zhnongwei Liu, 2012. "Rural Nevada and Climate Change: Vulnerability, Beliefs, and Risk Perception," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(6), pages 1041-1059, June.
    16. Timothy M. Chukwu & Stephen Morse & Richard J. Murphy, 2022. "Spatial Analysis of Air Quality Assessment in Two Cities in Nigeria: A Comparison of Perceptions with Instrument-Based Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-21, April.
    17. Zhiwei Wang & Qiang Liu & Bo Hou, 2022. "How Does Government Information Service Quality Influence Public Environmental Awareness?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-15, December.
    18. Jiawen Cao & Jin Chen, 2021. "The Impact of an Authoritarian Personality on Pro-Environmental Behaviour for Air Pollution Mitigation through Interactions with Social Norms," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-20, September.
    19. Boso, Àlex & Oltra, Christian & Hofflinger, Álvaro, 2019. "Participation in a programme for assisted replacement of wood-burning stoves in Chile: The role of sociodemographic factors, evaluation of air quality and risk perception," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1220-1226.
    20. Chia-Lee Yang & Chi-Yo Huang & Yi-Hao Hsiao, 2021. "Using Social Media Mining and PLS-SEM to Examine the Causal Relationship between Public Environmental Concerns and Adaptation Strategies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-23, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:cog:urbpla:v5:y:2020:i:4:p:45-58. 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: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.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.