The Impact of Land Use Patterns on Nitrogen Dioxide: A Case Study of Klaipėda City and Lithuanian Resort Areas

Urban air pollution remains a significant environmental and public health issue, especially in European coastal cities such as Klaipėda. However, there is still a lack of local-scale knowledge on how land use structure influences pollutant distribution, highlighting the need to address this gap. This study addresses this by examining the spatial distribution of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) concentrations in Klaipėda’s seaport city and several inland and coastal resort towns in Lithuania. The research specifically asks how different land cover types and demographic factors affect NO 2 variability and population exposure risk. Data were collected using passive sampling methods and analyzed within a GIS environment. The results revealed clear air quality differences between industrial/port zones and greener resort areas, confirmed by statistically significant associations between land cover types and pollutant levels. Based on these findings, a Land Use Pollution Pressure index (LUPP) and its population-weighted variant (PLUPP) were developed to capture demographic sensitivity. These indices provide a practical decision-support tool for sustainable urban planning, enabling the assessment of pollution risks and the forecasting of air quality changes under different land use scenarios, while contributing to local climate adaptation and urban environmental governance.