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The Alerting Effect from Rising Public Awareness of Air Quality on the Outdoor Activities of Megacity Residents

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  • Ki-Kwang Lee

    (School of Business Administration, Dankook University, Yongin 16890, Korea)

  • YoungKi Park

    (Department of Information Systems & Technology Management, School of Business, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA)

  • Sang-Pil Han

    (Department of Information Systems, W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA)

  • Hyun Cheol Kim

    (Air Resources Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, College Park, MD 20740, USA
    Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA)

Abstract

This study investigated how the public awareness of air quality affects people’s decisions to participate in outdoor activities. Given that the keyword search volume of particulate matter (PM) in Seoul, South Korea started to grow dramatically only after November 2013, we defined two periods (low and high public awareness of PM) and conducted a series of comparative analyses to investigate the impact of public awareness of air quality on the relationship between PM level and people’s outdoor activities. In the low public awareness period, people’s outdoor activities measured by the number of daily subway passengers did not significantly vary over PM levels, even in the ’unhealthy’ range (80 < PM 10 < = 150 µg/m 3 ). On the contrary, during the high awareness period, people’s activities were significantly affected by the PM level, even in the ’moderate’ range. Specifically, the perceived safety threshold of PM 10 level that people use to decide for engaging outdoor activities has decreased from 120 to 70 µg/m 3 . These results suggest that public awareness of air quality and its harmful ramifications on health is a key determinant of outdoor activities rather than PM 10 concentration itself. Thus, this study alludes to a need for more timely and effective dissemination of air quality information to the public as much as for curbing anthropogenic emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Ki-Kwang Lee & YoungKi Park & Sang-Pil Han & Hyun Cheol Kim, 2020. "The Alerting Effect from Rising Public Awareness of Air Quality on the Outdoor Activities of Megacity Residents," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-12, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:820-:d:312067
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Keiser, David A. & Lade, Gabriel E. & Rudik, Ivan, 2018. "Air pollution and visitation at U.S. national parks," ISU General Staff Papers 201807180700001621, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    2. J. Lelieveld & J. S. Evans & M. Fnais & D. Giannadaki & A. Pozzer, 2015. "The contribution of outdoor air pollution sources to premature mortality on a global scale," Nature, Nature, vol. 525(7569), pages 367-371, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yeeun Shin & Suyeon Kim & Jinsil Park & Sang-Woo Lee & Kyungjin An, 2022. "Effectiveness of Particulate Matter Forecasting and Warning Systems within Urban Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.

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